Lucky owners of iOS 16 may reap the benefits of a newly presented feature known as live activities. This option eliminates the need to unlock the screen to get real-time data from apps on your device. Convenience, agility, and accuracy are the hallmarks of this feature.
Our article will investigate the best app practices for leveraging user engagement with live activities.
Live Activities: What Is It?
The Live Activities are new in iOS 16 and can show information on the user’s lock screen or in Dynamic Island for iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. Thus, you can see things like a sports score, the status of the food order, or the ride coming without unlocking the iPhone.
The pivotal features of this option are:
- Real-time updates. The information is shared promptly, ensuring that every detail you receive is up-to-date.
- Live Activities are simple, compact, and informative, containing only the key information the user might need to see immediately.
- Interactive. Some Live Activities enable you to engage with the data in some way, like pausing a timer or canceling a ride.
- Dynamic Island integration. For iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, Live Activities can be used on Dynamic Island. You can interact with some Live Activities directly from the lock screen or Dynamic Island, such as pausing, resuming a workout, or skipping a song.
Guide on How to Use Live Activities
Live Activities simplifies access to crucial data and keeps the users updated, even on issues they are prone to neglecting or overlooking. To get 100% benefits from this feature, iPhone owners need to undergo some settings algorithms:
- Ensure you are using an iOS 16 or a later version.
- There are many apps now that support Live Activities. This feature can be built into many of the apps in use today, such as sports apps, delivery food apps, and apps that use car-hailing services.
- Using Live Activities helps increase productivity. For example, you can start recording a workout, ordering a meal, or calling a car.
- The Live Activity will show on your lock screen or Dynamic Island. You can view the real-time notifications without pulling down the notification center or unlocking the phone.
Live Activities: Apps Data that Can Be Displaced
Choosing an app with a built-in Live Activity feature is key to staying ahead of the curve.
Explore the application that boosts users’ awareness of the data traces via the apps on their iOS 16 device:
- Transport Apps (Uber, Lift) – display the vehicle’s real-time position, anticipated arrival time, and journey progress on the lock screen or Dynamic Island.
- Food Delivery (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Instacart) – notify users about the preparation of a delivery order, the location of a delivery person available to deliver the order, and the estimated delivery time.
- Healthcare Apps (Nike Run Club, Strava, Peloton) – share information on the ongoing session and statistical data, including distance, pulse rate, speed, and calories burned.
- Finance and Trading Apps (Robinhood, Coinbase) – finance apps that give details of stock or cryptocurrency’s current price or alert when it hits a certain price.
- Music and Media Apps (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible) – depict the progression of songs, the controls of the music playing, or the music currently playing.
- Shopping Apps (Amazon, eBay) – track bids and auctions in real-time or delivery changes.
- Weather Apps (CARROT Weather, WeatherBug) – disclose headline alerts or constantly changing events that may be severe.
The App Store description in Apps sections such as ‘What’s new’ or ‘Features’ states that Live Activities are deceptively promoted. You can look up more apps by searching for “Live Activities” on the App Store.
5 Top Practices to Boost User Engagement
Positive and convenient Live Activities experiences make users stick to this feature regularly. Moreover, iOS users cherish the brand’s status and the features’ perks. For instance, here are some features users value most:
- Increased efficiency: You do not have to keep on using your phone all the time to get the latest information you need.
- Improved user experience: Live Activities gives a more immersive look at up-to-date information from feature-supporting applications compared to other system services.
- Enhanced app functionality: The unified view of app activities and the ability to use Live Activities help developers build better and more influential applications.
Let’s explore strategies to motivate iOS users to take advantage of Live Activities and enhance engagement.
1. Personalization
Personalization improves the relevancy of your Live Activities by giving consumers choice over what they see. A fitness app, for example, could show users their heart rate and speed, but a delivery app could display either the driver’s position or the expected arrival time.
Why does it matter? Customization enhances the experience, increasing pleasure and retention.
2. Provide Real-Time, Contextual Updates
Delivering timely and appropriate updates is critical to a successful Live Activities deployment. Whether it’s live sports scores, delivery tracking, or fitness information, consumers rely on these notifications to keep updated without opening the app.
Why is this important? Outdated or irrelevant information can annoy users and increase the churn rate.
3. Maintain Visual Simplicity
Clean and minimal design guarantees that consumers immediately grasp the content. Live Activities have limited space, particularly in small forms. Therefore, clarity is critical.
Why does it matter? Overloaded or crowded designs impair readability and usefulness, discouraging participation.
4. Encourage Interactive Items
Adding interactive elements like CTA allows users to engage directly with a Live Activity. For example, a ride-hailing app could include buttons to contact the driver or update the destination.
Why does it matter? Interactive features reduce the need to open the app, enhancing user engagement.
5. Optimize for Platform Functionality
Each platform has aspects that can enhance Live Activities, including Dynamic Island and lock screen widgets. Designing for these features will make them unobtrusive and add to the users’ classy experience.
Dynamic Island is a versatile and responsive area that displays the ongoing processes on devices such as the iPhone 14 Pro. It organizes informational updates and supervision tasks within a single interface, minimizing unproductive app switching.
Lock screen widgets allow users to view or perform something important without needing to unlock the device. They are more convenient than regular icons as they allow direct, quick access to one or several sensitive actions or information from the locked status, improving utility and user experience.
Why does it matter? Utilizing platform-specific features increases the value of Live Activity and its correspondence with users’ expectations. In this way, developers ensure they are working and tightly integrated with the rest of the application.
Wrapping up
Live Activities have changed the user experience with applications, providing updates and quick access from the lock screen or Dynamic Island. Through approaches such as personalization, real-time updates, visual simplicity, interactivity, and platform optimization, developers can design experiences that will engage and satisfy clients.
This feature is not only an addition but also means that apps have the chance to become unique in the market by providing value in the best way possible. Whether you want to follow delivery, record fitness activities, or control your financial situation, Live Activities makes your app an indispensable tool in people’s lives.
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