“Hole in the API” or why iOS 18 doesn’t update Live Activities as often as iOS 17
Apple has confirmed that getting real-time updates from apps via the Live Activities feature is no longer possible in iOS 18, and here’s why.
Apple introduced Live Activities alongside iOS 16 in 2022 as a way for apps to update information like delivery times in near real-time on the Lock Screen and within the Dynamic Island. Apple even mentions that a sports app could provide “live in-game information” for its live activity while a workout app could “show real-time fitness metrics and offer interactive controls to pause or cancel the workout.”
Apple even provided a switch in Settings to allow for more frequent updates for Live Activities, but it’s gone in iOS 18 because the feature no longer provides real-time updates. Apple told one app developer that this is by design because allowing frequent, near real-time updates drains the battery faster.
Why does iOS 18 update Live Activities less frequently?
Developer Nico wrote on X that iOS 17 allowed him to update the live activity for his bike speed tracking app almost every second.That’s no longer the case, as these updates occur every 5-15 seconds on iOS 18. “Before, I could see my bike’s speed in real-time on my Lock Screen,” he wrote. “Now this metric is worthless,” he added.
Nico inquired Apple about this and received a response confirming the change, saying each live activity update writes data to the disk. “Each one of those updates requires writing data to disk, increasing NAND wear. And in iOs 18, each one of those updates needs to be synced to a paired watch,” Apple explains.
Apple says real-time updates were never intended behavior despite its support page providing examples of real-time updates for sports and fitness apps. “Live Activities were never intended to be used to create real-time experiences,” Apple replied Nico. “That we allowed this was a hole in the API. That hole is fixed in iOS 18.”
What about sports updates, countdowns and timers?
Not all apps need actual on-the-second updates, but some do. For example, the Apple Sports app provides near-instantaneous updates via its live activity.
Reading about this change, a recent article about iOS 18’s stopwatch gaining a live activity sprung to mind. The stopwatch live activity only updates the first 60 seconds in real time. After that, the live count is no longer visible. “When the display goes into sleep mode, the time is redacted until it wakes up again,” he explained.
Time-based apps like Uber and Lyft won’t be affected because only the estimated time of arrival is an actual update—the live activity is running the countdown timer on its own. In Nico’s own words, “Text with a countdown will still update live because the end date is initially set and the live activity will display that,” he wrote.
“Live Activities” were never meant to be live?
I’m wondering how this might affect music players, like Apple’s own music app, which has a live now playing activity. Apple is bending the truth by saying the feature was “never intended to be used to create real-time experiences.”
Hello, it’s right there in the name! Let me this straight. You’re telling me something called “Live Activities” was never meant to “create real-time experiences?” Am I missing something?
If you’re experiencing issues with live activity updates from your favorite apps, including updates not being delivered at all, our Live ACtivity troubleshooting tips are a good place to start.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2024/09/03/ios-18-live-activities-no-real-time-updates/
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