Widgets & Live Activities

RSS for tag

Discuss how to manage and implement Widgets & Live Activities.

WidgetKit Documentation

Posts under Widgets & Live Activities subtopic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

ProgressView in LiveActivities: missing functionality
Good afternoon all, I have a question about Live Activities, specifically ProgressView. Why are they so hard to customize? You can't even really, consistently make the bar a specific height in points. You can't provide any progress view style to make it richer and more dynamic. We want to build a progress bar that's built up of 3 components: a track with its value constant on 1.0 (the full progress) with a specific color, another track that's the actual progress from ProgressView(timerInterval:countsDown:), and some way to create a visual gap in between. The progress bar should also be bigger than the standard size from iOS, but that's also not possible. The corners become really ugly when you use the scaleEffect modifier. Please, if anyone has any ideas about customizing the ProgressView without me having to send push notifications to manually make sure the bar updates, comment down below.
0
0
51
1w
AlarmKit sometimes creates a blank (empty) Live Activity
Hi! My users have reported (and I have observed) a blank Live Activity where only a black capsule is shown in the dynamic island. When tapping that capsule, the app opens, but inside the capsule, nothing is shown. The Live Activity is created through the AlarmKit API like this: let identifier = UUID() Task { do { _ = try await AlarmManager.shared.schedule( id: identifier, configuration: .init( countdownDuration: countdownDuration, attributes: attributes, stopIntent: CancelTimerIntent(), secondaryIntent: RestartTimerIntent(), sound: Settings.shared.systemAlarmToneEnabled ? .default : .named(Settings.shared.alarmTone[.loop].filename) ) ) Log.debug("Alarm scheduled successfully: \(identifier.uuidString)") } catch { Log.error("Error scheduling alarm with id \(identifier.uuidString), error: \(error)") } } I've read some other forum posts where developers reported the same issue: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/807335 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/812006 I assume, it has something to do with state management. However, in my case, this only happens very rarely. I use the app on a daily basis and the issue with the blank live activity only occurs like once a month, so I cannot reproduce it. I also have some logic to resume an existing alarm or snooze: do { for alarm in try AlarmManager.shared.alarms { switch alarm.state { case .paused: try AlarmManager.shared.resume(id: alarm.id) case .alerting: try AlarmManager.shared.countdown(id: alarm.id) default: break } } } catch { Log.error("Error resuming alarm: \(error)") } Is there any way I can debug this issue properly? I have checked the Device Logs and the Console in Xcode and didn't find any hints. Only one log made me a little suspicious, but I read that this might happen occasionally and may be ignored: Couldn't read values in CFPrefsPlistSource<0x10ae0d080> (Domain: group.myappgroupidentifier User: kCFPreferencesAnyUser, ByHost: Yes, Container: (null), Contents Need Refresh: Yes): Using kCFPreferencesAnyUser with a container is only allowed for System Containers, detaching from cfprefsd Any ideas on how I could proceed to find the cause of this empty (apparently crashed) Live Activity?
0
0
40
6d
Prevent Live Activity from appearing on Apple Watch
Hello, I’m working on an iOS app where we have integrated ActivityKit to support Live Activities. Our app currently supports iOS 16.x and above, and we do not have an Apple Watch app or watchOS support. However, we noticed that when a Live Activity starts on the iPhone, it automatically appears on the Apple Watch as well. Since our app is not designed for Apple Watch, we would like to prevent the Live Activity UI from appearing on the watch. My questions: Is there any way to disable or prevent Live Activities from showing on Apple Watch via code? Are there any configuration options in ActivityKit or Widget configuration that can restrict Live Activities to iPhone only? Our current setup: Minimum iOS version: 16.x Using ActivityKit for Live Activities No watchOS target in the app Any guidance or recommended approach would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
0
0
22
20h
App widget not appearing in widget list (intermittent)
There seems to be a long running issue with WidgetKit where some users don't see the widget when trying to add to their Home Screen. (even after opening the app for the first time). I have been able to reproduce myself intermittently, and typically restarting the phone or re-installing the app fixes the problem. However, some of my users have encountered this and end up requesting refunds because they think the app is broken. Has anybody else experienced this issue? Would be great to get this bug resolved as it's frustrating for users.
1
2
638
Sep ’25
iOS Team Provisioning Profile does not include Activity Kit
I would like to add a Live Activity to my app, but unfortunately I always get an error message. When I go into the Identifiers via the Developer Portal and look at my app, there is no Activity Kit or Live Activity in the Capabilites that I could activate. In XCode I don't see the option for Signing & Capabilities either... Can anyone help me how to add this correctly? Thanks in advance!
1
1
204
Apr ’25
iOS Team Provisioning Profile oesn't include the com.apple.developer.activitykit entitlement.
I would like to add a Live Activity to my app, but unfortunately I always get an error message. When I go into the Identifiers via the Developer Portal and look at my app, there is no Activity Kit or Live Activity in the Capabilites that I could activate. In XCode I don't see the option for Signing & Capabilities either... Can anyone help me how to add this correctly? Thanks in advance!
1
0
192
Apr ’25
WidgetKit And Picture rotation
I'm developing a widget with WidgetKit, and I'm having a problem: I need to click on an image, and when I click it triggers a network request, the image automatically rotates clockwise, and when the network ends, the image automatically stops rotating. How to do that? My current idea is to click on the image and await the call to the network request. Should Toggle be used for the control corresponding to the picture? Because Toggle has two states. Then there is how to do image rotation, did not find support API.
1
0
116
Apr ’25
Calendar "Today's Events" Issue
Device: iPhone 16 Pro iOS version: 18.3.2 The calendar widget (on home screen) is displaying "No more events today" even though there is an appointment scheduled later in the evening on the same day. I have looked through all the settings and nothing seems to work. How do I get it to display events that are on the calendar for rest of the day today. It does correctly display events that are upcoming tomorrow and next week. Thanks, -Harry
1
0
140
Apr ’25
Live Activity - Firebase Cloud Messaging, APNs iOS 18+
Hello, We are using the Firebase Admin SDK (firebase-admin framework) to send push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for Live Activity updates in our iOS app. With the introduction of iOS 18, a new key "input-push-token": 1 has been added to the Live Activities push payload structure. 1) Can this new key ("input-push-token": 1) be used when sending payloads via FCM? We noticed that FCM is still using the push update format introduced in iOS 17.2. Will FCM be updated to support the new push structure introduced with iOS 18? Or is the "input-push-token" feature only available when sending notifications via direct APNs? 2) We are concerned about the expiration of the Live Activity start push token. If a user doesn't open the app for a long time, the token may expire, and this could result in failed updates. That’s why we are looking into the new "input-push-token" behavior in iOS 18. Do you have any recommendations on how to manage or prevent token expiration? Is there any official guidance on the lifespan of the Live Activity push tokens? Will FCM support the delivery of start/update/end Live Activity actions even when the app is completely terminated? We would highly appreciate any official clarification or roadmap regarding this. It would help us determine whether we should wait for FCM support or switch to sending notifications directly via APNs. Thank you for your help!
1
0
246
Apr ’25
[Widget] ChronoKit.InteractiveWidgetActionRunner.Errors.runnerClientError `There is no metadata for `
In our widget we include a button with an intent, making a network call to refresh some shared data in its perform(). Whether the call finishes in time or not is not important to us, what matters more is that the widget gets reloaded at the end and displays whatever data it has available with its transition animation. On iOS18.0 we see the widget being reloaded but on the latest version 18.4 this doesn't happen anymore. Going through the logs, on both devices we see this same flow: default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.853674 +0300 WidgetRenderer_Default Evaluating dispatch of UIEvent: 0x300e002a0; type: 0; subtype: 0; backing type: 11; shouldSend: 1; ignoreInteractionEvents: 0, systemGestureStateChange: 0 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.853691 +0300 WidgetRenderer_Default Sending UIEvent type: 0; subtype: 0; to windows: 1 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.853702 +0300 WidgetRenderer_Default Sending UIEvent type: 0; subtype: 0; to window: <WidgetRenderer.WidgetWindow: 0x5689b4000>; contextId: 0x8E401B8A default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.853735 +0300 SpringBoard Evaluating dispatch of UIEvent: 0x300af9420; type: 0; subtype: 0; backing type: 11; shouldSend: 1; ignoreInteractionEvents: 0, systemGestureStateChange: 0 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.853836 +0300 SpringBoard Sending UIEvent type: 0; subtype: 0; to windows: 1 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.853864 +0300 SpringBoard Sending UIEvent type: 0; subtype: 0; to window: <_UISystemGestureWindow: 0xb5a20d000>; contextId: 0x5A4C4C23 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.854862 +0300 SpringBoard Evaluating dispatch of UIEvent: 0x300aeeca0; type: 0; subtype: 0; backing type: 11; shouldSend: 1; ignoreInteractionEvents: 0, systemGestureStateChange: 0 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.854866 +0300 WidgetRenderer_Default [Timeline[<edited-bundle-identifier>::<edited-bundle-identifier>.<Widget>:widget:systemMedium::321.00/148.00/20.20:(null)]--A76785AED3F9::0xb5bc4c000)] Handle action default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.854892 +0300 SpringBoard Sending UIEvent type: 0; subtype: 0; to windows: 1 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.854901 +0300 SpringBoard Sending UIEvent type: 0; subtype: 0; to window: <SBHomeScreenWindow: 0xb5ad60000>; contextId: 0x71D69FA2 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.855015 +0300 WidgetRenderer_Default Handle action: <private> default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.855360 +0300 SpringBoard Allowing tap for icon view '<private>' default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.855376 +0300 SpringBoard Not allowing tap gesture to begin because we're not editing, the custom view controller's user interaction is enabled, and the effective icon alpha isn't zero. default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.856940 +0300 SpringBoard Icon touch ended: <private> default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.857474 +0300 backboardd contact 1 presence: none default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.857826 +0300 chronod Received action <private> for interaction <WidgetRenderSession--4632871937259503361-scene::C1F20222-CC99-45CC-B074-A76785AED3F9::0xb5bc4c000-[<edited-bundle-identifier>::<edited-bundle-identifier>.<Widget>:widget:systemMedium::321.00/148.00/20.20:(null)]> default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.858381 +0300 chronod [<WidgetRenderSession--4632871937259503361-scene::C1F20222-CC99-45CC-B074-A76785AED3F9::0xb5bc4c000-[<edited-bundle-identifier>::<edited-bundle-identifier>.<Widget>:widget:systemMedium::321.00/148.00/20.20:(null)]>] Handle interaction: <private> default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.858436 +0300 chronod Pausing reloads for: [<edited-bundle-identifier>::<edited-bundle-identifier>.<Widget>:widget] default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.869525 +0300 chronod [0xd180b2440] activating connection: mach=true listener=false peer=false name=com.apple.linkd.registry default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.870054 +0300 WidgetRenderer_Default Evaluating dispatch of UIEvent: 0x300e002a0; type: 0; subtype: 0; backing type: 11; shouldSend: 0; ignoreInteractionEvents: 0, systemGestureStateChange: 0 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.870124 +0300 SpringBoard Evaluating dispatch of UIEvent: 0x300af9420; type: 0; subtype: 0; backing type: 11; shouldSend: 0; ignoreInteractionEvents: 0, systemGestureStateChange: 0 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.870198 +0300 SpringBoard Evaluating dispatch of UIEvent: 0x300aeeca0; type: 0; subtype: 0; backing type: 11; shouldSend: 0; ignoreInteractionEvents: 0, systemGestureStateChange: 0 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.871831 +0300 linkd Accepting XPC connection from PID 129 for service "com.apple.linkd.registry" default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.871840 +0300 linkd [0x410cbe6c0] activating connection: mach=false listener=false peer=true name=com.apple.linkd.registry.peer[129].0x410cbe6c0 info 2025-04-10 15:05:26.876032 +0300 chronod Client requested ( "<LNFullyQualifiedActionIdentifier: 0xd17321b40, bundleIdentifier: <edited-bundle-identifier>, actionIdentifier: ReloadBalanceIntent>" ), got { } default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.877178 +0300 chronod [0xd180b2440] invalidated because the current process cancelled the connection by calling xpc_connection_cancel() default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.877377 +0300 linkd [0x410cbe6c0] invalidated because the client process (pid 129) either cancelled the connection or exited Then it followa with this on iOS18.4 : error 2025-04-10 15:21:32.964920 +0300 chronod [<WidgetRenderSession-7817322460413849944-scene::B5E4D7C4-91E1-4656-8175-C3C3C1CB894D::0xc733b8000-[<edited-bundle-identifier>::<edited-bundle-identifier>.<Widget>:widget:systemLarge::364.00/382.00/23.00:(null)~(null)]>] Encountered error when handling interaction: ChronoKit.InteractiveWidgetActionRunner.Errors.runnerClientError(Error Domain=WFLinkActionWorkflowRunnerClientErrorDomain Code=1 "There is no metadata for ReloadBalanceIntent in `<edited-bundle-identifier>`" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=There is no metadata for ReloadBalanceIntent in `<edited-bundle-identifier>`}) default 2025-04-10 15:21:32.964958 +0300 chronod [<edited-bundle-identifier>::<edited-bundle-identifier>.<Widget>:widget] Resuming reloads. Reload state paused -> clean info 2025-04-10 15:21:32.965013 +0300 chronod [interactionFailed] All diagnostics are disabled. Whereas on iOS18.0 it follows with a simplified error: error 2025-04-10 15:05:26.879005 +0300 chronod [<WidgetRenderSession--4632871937259503361-scene::C1F20222-CC99-45CC-B074-A76785AED3F9::0xb5bc4c000-[<edited-bundle-identifier>::<edited-bundle-identifier>.<Widget>:widget:systemMedium::321.00/148.00/20.20:(null)]>] Encountered error when handling interaction: Error Domain=ChronoKit.InteractiveWidgetActionRunner.Errors Code=1 default 2025-04-10 15:05:26.879065 +0300 chronod Resuming reloads for: [<edited-bundle-identifier>::<edited-bundle-identifier>.<Widget>:widget] but afterwards we see many lines describing the reload process. So it turns out that the intent fails(?) to execute on both OSes but iOS18.0 triggers a reload even so, which fits our purposes. What could the issue be? The intent is pretty standard, it contains only the title, localizedDescription and is defined only inside the widget.
1
2
186
Apr ’25
Why does a Live Activity get .dismissed by the system even when all conditions seem normal?
Hello, I'm working with Live Activities and noticed that sometimes an activity transitions to .dismissed, even though the user hasn't manually swiped it away and system conditions appear to be completely normal — such as: The activity is still within its intended 8-hour lifetime The battery level is high The app is active or recently active The activity is lightweight (not using frequent updates) According to the ActivityKit documentation: /// The Live Activity ended and is no longer visible because a person or the system removed it. case dismissed This doesn’t clarify why the system would dismiss an activity when all conditions seem fine. Additional context: When reviewing system logs via Console.app, we’re seeing messages such as: liveactivitiesd Removing activity from replicator: 381F3DDC-585B-4021-B075-548606F543DA for relationship IDs: [C7AB9C2A-49DD-43FC-BB58-D768ECF9D354] This suggests that the system is actively removing the activity, but there’s no API or reason provided that helps us understand why this is happening. Questions: What are the system-level triggers that could cause a Live Activity to be dismissed under normal conditions? Is there a known set of heuristics (e.g., memory pressure, resource constraints) that might apply? Is there a way to distinguish between system-triggered dismissal and user-initiated swipe-to-dismiss? Any best practices to reduce the likelihood of unexpected system removal? This is especially important for our use case, where users rely on Live Activities to view real-time flight and boarding information — and losing the activity unexpectedly negatively affects user experience. Thanks in advance for any insight!
1
0
204
Jun ’25
Are push-to-start tokens app wide or per type?
Confusion Based on the fact that the subscription is requested on a Activity type, I assumed that the push-to-start tokens would be different. But the push-to-start token for WidgetExtensionAttributes and WidgetExtensionAttributesOther were identical. This is misleading. The code below prints identical tokens even though the name of the token and their underlying schema are different. Code Sample func getTokens() { Task { if let data = Activity<func getTokens() { Task { if let data = Activity<WidgetExtensionAttributes>.pushToStartToken { print("exists:", data.hexadecimalString) } else { print("requesting pushToStartToken") for await ptsToken in Activity<WidgetExtensionAttributes> .pushToStartTokenUpdates { let ptsTokenString = ptsToken.hexadecimalString print("new:", ptsTokenString) } } } Task { if let data = Activity<WidgetExtensionAttributesOther>.pushToStartToken { print("other exists:", data.hexadecimalString) } else { print("other requesting pushToStartToken") for await ptsToken in Activity<WidgetExtensionAttributesOther> .pushToStartTokenUpdates { let ptsTokenString = ptsToken.hexadecimalString print("other new:", ptsTokenString) } } } }>.pushToStartToken { print("exists:", data.hexadecimalString) } else { print("requesting pushToStartToken") for await ptsToken in Activity<WidgetExtensionAttributes> .pushToStartTokenUpdates { let ptsTokenString = ptsToken.hexadecimalString print("new:", ptsTokenString) } } } Task { if let data = Activity<WidgetExtensionAttributesOther>.pushToStartToken { print("other exists:", data.hexadecimalString) } else { print("other requesting pushToStartToken") for await ptsToken in Activity<WidgetExtensionAttributesOther> .pushToStartTokenUpdates { let ptsTokenString = ptsToken.hexadecimalString print("other new:", ptsTokenString) } } } } Activity Types struct WidgetExtensionAttributesOther: ActivityAttributes { public struct ContentState: Codable, Hashable { var age: Int } var addresses: [String] } struct WidgetExtensionAttributes: ActivityAttributes { public struct ContentState: Codable, Hashable { var emoji: String } var name: String } Docs After much investigation I noticed the wording of the docs kind of hint that the push-to-start token is per ActivityKit as it says: An asynchronous sequence you use to observe changes to the token for starting a Live Activity with an ActivityKit push notification. But docs and the API don't align well. Questions Is it correct that the push-to-start token is per app? If so then is there a reason that that API designers decided to still have to pass a specific type and not just make a request without passing a type? Should I maybe file a radar? Is it correct to say push-to-start is per app, while update tokens are per instance. i.e. if I have two soccer matches, then unless the push-to-start token was refreshed by the OS, then both would use the same push-to-start token, however each match would have a unique update token?
1
0
304
May ’25
Effective use of .disfavouredLocations API
I have a Health & Fitness widget that runs on iPhone and Apple Watch. As Health data access requires the device to be unlocked, the iPhone widget is already slightly limited in capability because of updates. With widgets further expanding to places like CarPlay, I know I can use the .disfavouredLocations{} API to try and prevent it being offered there. This is crucial as the widget functionality would be basically non-existent as your device is locked during CarPlay use. My problem is, on the Mac despite using the .disfavouredLocations{.iPhoneWidgetsOnMac} etc...., the widget can still be added in the "other unsupported section". And yet, in that section the Apple Fitness app widget is no where to be seen. Is there an API I am missing to completely remove a widget from the Mac widget gallery and hopefully CarPlay, Standby etc.... (all places where the device running the widget is usually locked -> No Health data)? Or does the Apple Fitness app have a private API to block it from these places where its function is not wanted and this isn't available to other apps?
1
0
162
Jun ’25