Key Takeaways
- Live activity updates in iOS 18 will occur at longer intervals of 5-15 seconds.
- Apple has stated that Live Activities is not intended to be a real-time experience.
- This change is intended to reduce wear on memory hardware by limiting the update rate.
According to a report from 9to5Mac, Apple iOS18 Update , Live Activities Live activity is no longer so live. Currently, developers can update live activity every second, but it looks like that won’t be the case in iOS 18. iOS 18 beta The app’s live activity updates can only occur every 5-15 seconds.
We reached out to Apple and received the response that “Live Activities are not intended to be used to create real-time experiences,” and that the reason this is currently possible is due to a hole in the API that was fixed in iOS 18. It looks like all live activity updates in iOS 18 will take significantly longer than they do now.
What is Live Activity on iOS?
Interactive notifications with real-time updates
Apple/Pocket-lint
in iOS16 Update Apple has introduced a new feature called Live Activity, which displays large notifications on your lock screen that update every second in iOS 17. For example, if you use a sports app to follow a live game, the Live Activity notification can display the game’s real-time score in a notification on your lock screen. If you order an Uber, Live Activity Notifications It will show you in real time how much longer you have to wait before boarding your ride.
For example, if you’re using a sports app to follow a live game, live activity notifications will show you the real-time score of the game in a notification on your lock screen.
If you have an iPhone 14 Pro iPhone 14 Pro Max or either iPhone 15 The lineup also features live performances Dynamic Island will appear on your iPhone, letting you keep track of live updates as you continue to use your iPhone. If your phone doesn’t support Dynamic Island, you’ll get a temporary banner notification that pops up on your unlocked iPhone when your live activity updates.
The Live Activity feature offers a wide range of iPhone App A pedometer app can show your current step count in real time, a weather app can update you with information about when it will start to rain, and a flight tracker app can update your flight departure and arrival times as information changes.
iOS 18 changes Live Activities to reduce wear on memory hardware
It may take up to 15 seconds for the update to appear
Apple/Pocket-lint
Niko, the app developer who first tweeted about the iOS 18 live activity changes, previously let you know that the app’s live activity notifications were updated every second, which showed you the real-time speed of your bike. Bluetooth connection .
If you’re using iOS 18, your live activity will only update every 5 to 15 seconds. This means that the rate shown in your live activity notification can lag behind the actual current rate by up to 15 seconds. After reaching out to Apple, Nico received feedback that live activity was working as intended in iOS 18. In response, they stated that every update to your live activity requires writing data to your iPhone’s physical memory, which increases wear on the NAND chip. The update limit is intended to reduce this wear.
The response goes on to state that a flaw in the API meant that live activities could only be updated once per second, but that this has now been fixed. Oddly, the response also claims that “Live Activities are not intended to be used to create real-time experiences,” which is a bit odd for a feature that includes the word “live.”
For some live activities, such as live sports scores, updating every 15 seconds won’t make a huge difference. However, for apps that are trying to show true real-time data, this new limit will have a big impact on the usefulness of live activities. It’s unlikely that Apple will change its policy before the official release of iOS 18, so live activities will likely not be as live as they were before.
