Live Activities have become one of my favorite iPhone features, and they recently got even better thanks to upgrades and expansions in iOS 26. Here’s everything new.
Fitness app adds Live Activities for workouts
Running workouts used to be an Apple Watch-only feature. But when AirPods Pro 3 introduced heart rate monitoring, Apple brought full workout support to the Fitness app on iPhone too.
One side benefit is that iOS 26’s Fitness app now starts a Live Activity whenever you start a workout.
Whether you begin the workout from your iPhone or Apple Watch, you’ll notice the new Live Activity on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. This makes it easy to keep track of how long you’ve been exercising, and lets you pause the workout as needed.
Scheduling Live Activities for later
Last year, Apple’s Sports app gained support for scheduling Live Activities so that they automatically trigger when a game starts.
In iOS 26, that same scheduling capability is now available to all third-party apps via a new developer API.
Once apps implement the scheduling feature, there could be all kinds of fascinating new use cases for Live Activities.
Live Activities for Wallet’s new boarding passes
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