Subj : iOS 18 is downgrading Live Activities widgets in one key way To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Mon Sep 02 2024 10:45:05 iOS 18 is downgrading Live Activities widgets in one key way Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2024 09:42:42 +0000 Description: Apple says it's restricting the rate at which Live Activities can be updated on the iPhone screen. FULL STORY ====================================================================== We're expecting both an iPhone 16 series unveiling and a full release of iOS 18 at Apple's September 9 event next week and it looks like the new iPhone software is set to downgrade the functionality of Live Activities in one important way. According to 9to5Mac , Apple is restricting the rate at which these widgets can refresh themselves which is going to cause problems for apps that want to show real-time activity information, such as cycling speed as you've moving. These Live Activities widgets were introduced with iOS 16 in 2022, and they work like enhanced notifications on the lock screen or in the Dynamic Island : they can keep you up to date with sports scores, for example, or the estimated arrival time of an approaching cab. In feedback sent to one developer , Apple says Live Activities were "never intended to be used to create real-time experiences", despite a mention of real-time fitness metrics on the official Live Activities guide for iOS developers. The write idea So it is official now. LiveActivities were never designed for real-time experiences :/ https://t.co/Zc1musx6ae pic.twitter.com/IjOq8uV2J7 August 28, 2024 Apple goes on to explain that each update from a Live Activities widget requires data to be written to the storage on the iPhone which, if it's happening constantly, can contribute to wear and tear inside the handset. What's more, with iOS 18, each of those updates needs to be synced to an Apple Watch, if one is connected. While the downgrade will disappoint some, it should improve battery life and the lifespan of the internal iPhone storage. It seems that update intervals are now set at 5-15 seconds, though this won't affect anything with a timer (like a notification showing a delivery driver arrival time): in this case starting the timer is just one action, with no refreshes needed in order for the timer to count down. Apple announced a wealth of new features that will be arriving with iOS 18 at its WWDC 2024 event in June, and next Monday the beta-testing process for the software should be coming to an end which means it'll then be pushed out to all compatible iPhones. You might also like iOS 18 is bringing live sports scores to your iPhone lock screen The Clean Up tool in iOS 18 shows the Pixels are still way ahead Going hands-on with Apple Intelligence in the iOS 18 beta ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/ios-18-is-downgrading-live-activities- widgets-in-one-key-way --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .