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iOS 18 is degrading Live Activities widgets in one key way

iOS 18 is degrading Live Activities widgets in one key way

We're looking forward to the unveiling of the iPhone 16 series and the full release of iOS 18 at Apple's September 9 event next week, and it looks like the new iPhone software is set to degrade Live Activities functionality in a major way.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple is restricting the rate at which these widgets can update, which will cause problems for apps that want to display real-time activity information, such as cycling speed as you move.

These Live Activities widgets were introduced with iOS 16 in 2022 and function as enhanced notifications on your Lock screen or Live Island – they can keep you up to date with sports scores, for example, or the estimated arrival time of an approaching taxi.

In comments sent to a developer, Apple says Live Activities were “never intended to be used to create real-time experiences,” despite a mention of real-time fitness metrics in the official Live Activities guide for iOS developers.

The idea of writing

So it's official now. LiveActivities were never designed for real-time experiences :/ pic.twitter.com/IjOq8uV2J7August 28, 2024

Apple goes on to explain that each update to a Live Activities widget requires data to be written to the iPhone's storage, which, if this happens constantly, can contribute to internal wear and tear on the phone.

Plus, with iOS 18, each of those updates must be synced to an Apple Watch, if one is connected. While upgrading to an older version will disappoint some, it should improve battery life and the lifespan of the iPhone's internal storage.

It looks like the update intervals are now set to between 5 and 15 seconds, although this won't affect anything with a timer (such as a notification showing a delivery driver's arrival time) – in this case, starting the timer is just an action, with no updates needed for the timer to count down.

Apple announced a slew of new features coming with iOS 18 at its WWDC 2024 event in June, and next Monday the software's beta testing process should come to an end, meaning it will then be shipped to all compatible iPhones.