Master iPhone Live Activities: Design Guidelines for Dynamic Island

Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro series replaces the long‑standing notch with Dynamic Island, and on September 23 2022 Apple updated its Live Activities design guidelines, which are presented here in translation.

Live Activities

Live Activities display the latest information from your app, allowing users to see event or task progress at a glance.

They help users continuously track tasks such as food‑delivery countdowns or live sports scores. Devices that support Dynamic Island can show Live Activities around the front‑facing camera; devices without Dynamic Island only show brief banners on the lock screen when the update is important enough to interrupt the user.

Display Modes

Compact . Used when a single Live Activity is active. It occupies two split areas—one around the camera and one at its tail—forming a unified visual on Dynamic Island. Tapping opens the app for more details.

Minimal . When multiple Live Activities run, two are shown in a circular minimal form on Dynamic Island; tapping opens the app for details.

Expanded . Triggered by a long‑press on Compact or Minimal, revealing more content.

Best Practices

Provide a clear start and end for each Live Activity; avoid activities longer than 8 hours and end them promptly when the task finishes.

Show only essential information; let users tap to view full details in the app.

Update only when necessary and avoid frequent or unimportant notifications.

Never display sensitive information directly; use summaries and require a tap for details.

Do not use Live Activities for ads or promotions.

Allow users to control start and stop actions, offering a stop/cancel button in the app.

When a user taps a Live Activity, navigate them to the correct location in the app.

Consider removing the activity from the lock screen promptly after it ends; the system may keep it visible for up to 4 hours unless you specify an earlier removal.

Designing Effective Live Activities

Ensure consistent information and design across the Compact layout’s head and tail sections, using color to link related content.

Create a unified layout between Compact and Expanded modes so users can easily recognize and track progress.

Maintain consistent design between lock‑screen and Expanded presentations.

Adapt to different screen sizes; Live Activities scale automatically. Use the technical specifications values as guidance.

When customizing background colors or opacity on the lock screen, verify sufficient contrast, especially for tint colors in dark mode. Note that the background of the Dynamic Island itself cannot be customized, only the text, icons, and surrounding border.

Match corner radii between content and the Live Activity’s rounded edges, using SwiftUI containers to adjust corners.

Use standard margins (20 pt) for clarity, tightening only when necessary for images or buttons.

Choose colors that work well with user‑customized lock‑screen wallpapers.

Support both light and dark modes, as well as the dimmed lock‑screen appearance.

Use animations sparingly, only when content updates warrant user attention; note that animations are not shown in dimmed mode.

Technical Specifications

Dynamic Island uses a 44 pt corner radius that matches the front‑facing camera’s shape.

Live Activity Sizes – All dimensions are in points (pt).

Original article: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/components/system-experiences/live-activities/