Hi all,
I'm currently implementing Live Activities using ActivityKit and facing a real-world limitation that I hope the community (or Apple) can clarify.
🔹 I can successfully start a Live Activity via APNs push (event: "start") even when the app is terminated — the Live Activity appears as expected on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island.
However, I need to update that Live Activity using the name I assigned in the push payload (e.g., match-123). This requires calling:
Airship.channel.trackLiveActivity(activity, name: activity.attributes.matchID)
…or equivalent code in native implementations to associate the activity with its push token.
❓The problem:
If the user has never launched the app, or hasn't opened it after the Live Activity was started via push, then there’s no chance for the app to run this tracking code.
So:
✅ Live Activity starts fine via APNs
❌ I can't track the activity and register it for future push updates (by name) until the app is launched
❌ Therefore, I can't update the Live Activity without knowing the token-name mapping
🔍 My question:
Is there any way to programmatically track or associate a Live Activity (started via push) with a name for APNs updates, without requiring the app to launch?
Or put differently:
Can the system automatically track the name → token mapping if the activity is started via push?
Is there any way (via entitlement, plist config, or system event) to allow registering the activity in the background (without user launch)?
💡 Notes:
I already use pushType: .token and NSSupportsLiveActivitiesFrequentUpdates
Live Activity content is fine; only the ability to send future updates is blocked without initial app launch
Using Airship SDK for push + activity tracking, but the question is general to iOS + ActivityKit behavior
Any insight on how apps like FotMob, Uber, or sports apps handle this situation would be really helpful!
Thanks in advance.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Widgets & Live Activities
Tags:
APNS
User Notifications
WidgetKit
ActivityKit