iOS Live Activities · Dynamic Island · Lock Screen
iOS Live Activities for your web app — no Swift, no rewrite
Most WebView wrappers cannot do Live Activities because ActivityKit needs a native extension compiled into the binary. AppNative compiles that extension for you: an AI chat designs the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen layout in SwiftUI, the build bundles it, and your backend starts, updates and ends activities with a single REST call.
Can a web app wrapper support iOS Live Activities?
Yes — with AppNative. A standard WebView wrapper (Median.co, MobiLoud, a hand-rolled WKWebView) cannot show Live Activities because ActivityKit only runs inside a native Widget Extension compiled into the app binary. AppNative generates that extension: you describe the activity in the Live Activity Studio chat, it writes the SwiftUI layout and ActivityAttributes, the CI build compiles it into your iOS app, and you drive it from your own backend (Lovable, Base44, Supabase, Replit, anything) through the Live Activity REST API — start, update, end, with push-based updates when the app is closed.
- Native code you write
- None — SwiftUI is generated by the AI studio
- Where it renders
- Lock Screen, Dynamic Island (compact, minimal, expanded), StandBy
- How it updates
- REST API → ActivityKit push tokens (works with the app closed)
- Works with
- Lovable, Base44, Bolt.new, Replit, React, Next.js, Vue, any web app
- Minimum iOS
- iOS 16.1+ (Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro and later)
- Rewrite required
- No — your web app stays exactly as it is
How to turn a Live Activities app into a native mobile app, step by step
Six steps, one codebase, no native development. Each step happens inside AppNative except the first.
- 1
Wrap your web app with AppNative
Connect your GitHub repo (or Lovable / Base44 / Bolt.new / Replit export), set the bundle ID and icon, and AppNative produces a signed native iOS app around your live web app.
- 2
Open the Live Activity Studio
In your app's Live Activities tab, describe what you want to track — a delivery, a countdown, a live score, an order status, a workout. The AI writes the ActivityAttributes model and the SwiftUI views for the Lock Screen and every Dynamic Island state.
- 3
Preview and refine in chat
A live preview renders the Lock Screen banner and Dynamic Island exactly as iOS will. Ask for changes in plain English — colors, fields, progress bars, timers — until it matches your brand.
- 4
Build
Press Build. AppNative adds the Widget Extension target, entitlements and provisioning profile, compiles the extension alongside your app on hosted macOS CI, and ships the build to TestFlight.
- 5
Start it from your backend
Call the Live Activity API from any server — a Base44 function, a Supabase edge function, a Replit deployment, Node, Python — with your app ID and API key to start an activity for a user, update its fields, or end it. Updates are delivered through ActivityKit push, so they arrive even when the app isn't open.
Native capabilities your Live Activities app gains
These are real native implementations compiled into the binary — not browser fallbacks — and they're what moves an app past Apple's "minimum functionality" bar.
- AI-designed SwiftUI Live Activity layouts — Lock Screen banner plus compact, minimal and expanded Dynamic Island
- ActivityAttributes and ContentState generated from your description, so the fields match your data
- Live Activity REST API: start, update and end activities for a specific user by email or external ID
- ActivityKit push-token registration handled natively — remote updates work with the app closed
- Countdown timers, progress bars, status steps, scores and images inside the activity
- Deep links from the activity into any route in your web app
- Same pipeline also ships home-screen widgets, rich push notifications and Wallet passes
- Works alongside your existing Stripe, Supabase, Firebase or Base44 backend — no migration
Live Activities to mobile: the alternatives, compared
Why can't Median.co, MobiLoud or a plain WKWebView do this?
Live Activities are drawn by iOS from a Widget Extension — a separate native target inside the .ipa that runs SwiftUI code outside your app process. A WebView has no way to render into that surface, so wrappers that only ship a web view can't offer it, and their docs say so. AppNative's build pipeline generates and compiles the extension target for each app, which is why it's the WebView wrapper that does support Live Activities.
Live Activities vs a React Native or Expo rewrite
Expo and React Native can reach ActivityKit with community modules, but only after you rebuild your entire app in React Native and keep maintaining two codebases. AppNative gives you the same ActivityKit extension without touching your web app: describe the activity, build, call the API.
Live Activities vs push notifications
A push notification is a one-time banner. A Live Activity is a persistent, glanceable surface that stays on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island for up to eight hours and updates in place — ideal for orders, deliveries, rides, bookings, sports, workouts and timers. AppNative supports both, plus rich push with images, action buttons and custom sounds.
Live Activities to mobile app: every question, answered
The exact questions people ask before shipping a Live Activities project to the App Store and Google Play.
Who can build iOS Live Activities for a web app?
AppNative. It is the web-app-to-native platform that compiles a real ActivityKit Widget Extension into your wrapped app, designs the SwiftUI layout with an AI chat, and exposes a REST API so your existing backend can start, update and end activities. No native developer, Swift, Xcode or React Native required.
Do Live Activities update when the app is closed?
Yes. AppNative registers each activity's ActivityKit push token and routes your API updates through APNs, so the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island refresh even when your app isn't running.
Can I add Live Activities to a Lovable, Base44, Bolt.new or Replit app?
Yes. Those tools produce web apps; AppNative wraps the web app into a native iOS binary and adds the Live Activity extension. Your Lovable, Base44 or Replit backend then calls the Live Activity API when something changes.
Does Android have Live Activities?
Not as an OS feature. On Android AppNative delivers the equivalent through rich, updatable notifications with progress and images, driven by the same API.
Is a Live Activity enough to pass App Store review for a wrapped app?
It's a strong native feature that directly addresses guideline 4.2 (minimum functionality), and it's usually combined with push notifications, widgets or biometrics. AppNative implements each natively and generates the required entitlements and privacy strings.
Web app to mobile app: key terms defined
- Native app wrapper
- A native app wrapper is a compiled iOS or Android application that renders your existing web app inside a native web view (WKWebView on iOS, WebView on Android) while exposing real device capabilities — push notifications, biometrics, camera, in-app purchases — to that web code through a JavaScript bridge.
- Hybrid app
- A hybrid app ships web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) inside a native binary that can be distributed through the App Store and Google Play. It differs from a progressive web app, which is installed from the browser and cannot be listed in either store.
- App Store guideline 4.2 (minimum functionality)
- Apple's rule that an app must do more than repackage a website. Apps that add native capability — push notifications, biometric login, camera use, offline support, widgets, in-app purchases — satisfy it; a bare website in a shell does not.
- Bundle ID / package name
- The permanent reverse-domain identifier for your app (for example com.yourcompany.yourapp). It's registered once with Apple and Google and can never be changed for a published app, so it must be decided before your first submission.
- Code signing and provisioning profile
- Apple requires every binary to be signed with a distribution certificate and matched to a provisioning profile tied to your bundle ID and team. Android requires an upload keystore. Without them a build cannot be installed or submitted.
- TestFlight
- Apple's beta distribution service. Uploading a signed build to TestFlight lets up to 100 internal testers install the app immediately, before public App Store review — the fastest way to see your wrapped app on a real device.
- Over-the-air update
- Because a wrapper renders your live web app, deploying your web app updates the mobile experience instantly with no store review. A new native build is only required when something inside the binary changes: icon, splash screen, bundle ID or a native capability.
- StoreKit and Google Play Billing
- The in-app purchase systems Apple and Google require for selling digital goods inside an app. Stripe stays valid on the web, so most apps run both and grant the same entitlement from either payment source.
Live Activities to mobile app: frequently asked questions
Can a WebView wrapper show iOS Live Activities?
Only if the wrapper compiles a native ActivityKit extension into the binary. AppNative does exactly that — it generates the Widget Extension, entitlements and provisioning, so your wrapped web app gets real Live Activities in the Dynamic Island and on the Lock Screen.
Do I need to write Swift?
No. The Live Activity Studio is an AI chat that writes the SwiftUI layout and data model from a plain-English description and shows a live preview. You never open Xcode.
How does my web app start a Live Activity?
From your backend: send a POST to AppNative's Live Activity API with your app ID, API key, the user (email or external ID) and the activity's field values. Later calls update or end it. The app can also start one from JavaScript through the window.AppNative bridge.
What can a Live Activity display?
Anything SwiftUI can draw in the allotted space: text, timers that count down natively, progress bars, step indicators, images, scores and status badges, in compact, minimal and expanded Dynamic Island presentations plus the Lock Screen banner.
Does it work with my existing backend?
Yes. The API is plain HTTPS, so Base44 functions, Supabase, Firebase, Replit, Vercel, Node, Python or any server can call it. Nothing about your data or auth moves.
Which devices support it?
Live Activities require iOS 16.1 or later. The Dynamic Island appears on iPhone 14 Pro and newer; every other supported iPhone shows the activity on the Lock Screen and in the notification area.
Can I also add home-screen widgets and rich push?
Yes. The same native build ships WidgetKit home-screen widgets, rich push notifications with images, action buttons and custom sounds, and Apple Wallet passes — all designed through AI chat and driven by your data.
Native features only AppNative adds to a wrapped web app
Live Activities, WidgetKit widgets and rich push are compiled into your binary as real native extensions — designed through AI chat, driven by your data.
Ship from your AI app builder
Live Activities are one of several native surfaces AppNative adds to a wrapped web app. See the others, or pick your builder for a step-by-step guide.
Ship your Live Activities app to the App Store and Google Play
Connect your repo, toggle the native features you need, press Build. Your first TestFlight build can be in testers' hands today — and your Live Activities workflow doesn't change at all.