Apps can use Live activities to show information in real time on the lock screen or in the Dynamic Island. This is a type of notification that remains active until the end of the activity and is continuously updated. You may not want to do this and hide the Live activities on the Lock screen and Dynamic Island.
Because the ‘notification’ is updated in real time, it is no longer necessary to unlock your iPhone to see the standings of a match, for example, or to check when your food will be delivered. This does require a lot of energy and can have disadvantages for the battery life of your device.
Hide live activities
Live Activities notifications automatically appear on the Lock screen once you open the relevant application or receive a notification from it. The message remains visible on the lock screen or in the Dynamic Island. If desired, you can hide the notification using the steps below.
- Unlock the lock screen
- Swipe from right to left on the Live Activities notification
- Tap ‘Clear’
The notification is hidden and no longer shown during the duration of the activity, not even in the Dynamic Island. Do you still want to show the notification again? Then close the application completely and restart it. The notification with Live Activities will then appear again on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island.
Hide items only in Dynamic Island
If a certain task is active in the Dynamic Island, you can hide and close it only for the Island. Swipe from left to right or right to left on the Dynamic Island to hide the current task. This will not be stopped, but will be hidden in the Island. The activity remains active on the lock screen.
You can also do this if you have multiple items active. First the individual parts (dots) are hidden, then the ‘main task’. This way you can keep the Island tidy when you don’t want items visible.
Turn off Live Activities
Unfortunately, it is not possible to permanently disable the Live Activities feature. If an application offers the feature, it will always be visible on the lock screen. You can then ‘temporarily’ hide the notification via the steps above.
You can limit Live Activities to save battery life. To do this, go to Settings â–¸ Face ID & passcode â–¸ under ‘Access when locked’, disable ‘Live activities’. The content of the notification will then only be updated when the iPhone is unlocked.