Adding iOS 16 “Live Activity” widget to Lock Screen

[okets]

Hello,
May I suggest adding support for the new iOS 16 feature of Live Activity widget?
This can be designed to be attached to a list of entities and will show their state or selected attribute.
In order to make it more useful, several layouts can be offered (big, medium, small, text only…)

This is a feature I have been waiting for a long time.
A lot of things that currently implemented in notifications can be replaced with this widget, like security updates, offline devices and many, many more!

please consider this feature. 🙏🏻

[Camatobe]

Can also think of some kind of status indication for running tasks.

Like:
Washing machine is on (show live activity card on Lockscreen and in dynamic Island when unlocked)
Display Name of Machine + State of washing_cycle_name and remaining time.

Or:
When switching a bool, show live activities and the location of wife and remaining km to home zone ^^

[zacwest]

Live Activity is pretty limited in a way that isn't obvious. First, it can't last indefinitely - there's a max time limit. It also can't live-update; it requires either the app running (without any additional permissions for long-life) or push notifications (crafted with the data to update it). The app also has to be open to start it. Not sure these limitations make sense for HA.

[okets]

@zacwest
I am familiar with the limitations of Live Activity.
Though it has to start when the app is running, the max-time limit is 8 hours.
a "Live Activity" is not a mini-app, it should be used to keep you connected to ongoing events.
there are so many scenarios that qualifies as a "Live Activity" in home assistant. once open, you can interact with the app for 8 hours through the lock screen, without opening the app!
I rely heavily on Actionable Notifications for background operations of ongoing events. a live activity widget could be a more elegant way of communicating with Home Assistant.

Since "Live Activity" is basically a widget, it might be a good idea to first write a more dated widget for home assistant, displaying it as a "live activity" later will be very easy.
my suggestion is to write a jinja-template configurable widget according to this layout:

each section will be bound to a template (or an entity state for the less technical users).
each section will have a "click action" that can be a URL or a service call.
displaying it on the lock screen as a live activity will be a bonus.

[dotMorten]

What if we could initiate it with a normal activity? Like one the event where the widget wants to show you get a normal notification, and you then click the "show activity" button in the notification to start it?

[BRid37]

Live Activities can be started without opening the app since iOS 17.2 :)

[timvdsm]

Instead of a "Live Activity" lockscreen widget ... why not just add some general configurable HA lockscreen widgets for IOS 16? For example: show a specific sensor status/climate temperature/garagedoor status/....

[S10XtremeNLow]

I would like live tile for monitoring 3d printing status - which is only needed when it’s actually printing

[k-janssens]

Not home assistant related, but Octopod for Octoprint already has a live activity for showing print progress (you will need this plugin for realtime updates) ... and you need Octoprint also obviously

[johntdyer]

The source for the client is open source https://github.com/gdombiak/OctoPod

[rwjack]

This would be amazing, no need to unlock and open the app, just control stuff from my lock screen..

[bgoncal]

I like the idea to bring customizable features to life and see how people would use it, and I think live activities is a good example, maybe not everybody has use cases but it would definitely be interesting to explore.
Anyone in this thread would like to adventure on a PR for this?

[neyzm]

+1. Would be nice to have a live activity for my Washer Dryer.

[user858753257]

That would be my main usecase too .

LG doesent offer this right now 😔

[mat1990dj]

Live activities are not intended to stay forever on the lock screen, they're only relevant during a period in time (washer running, navigation active,...)
I would definitely love to be able to display a live activity via an action

[joeu1998]

I too would love to see this, for all the reasons others have already listed above. Primarily washer and dryer, but I can also think of other use cases similar to the Boolean on/off example mentioned. Any chance for this in 2025?

[mat1990dj]

I just thought also something like this having seen my neater live activities, for instance when the heat turns on, for it to tell me the current temperature, the target temperature and the room that is requesting heat. Also for cooling

[ericrall]

+1 lots of ideas for this including my recent nyc alternate side parking smarts in hass

[Yodie98]

+1

[Phil7989]

+1

[Mermyx]

+1

[michaelthompson1991]

+1

[dnestico]

+1

[sriramsv]

+1

[hansw1204]

+1

[michaelthompson1991]

+1

[The-Croz]

+1 Definitely would love for this to be developed.

[mzspicoli]

+1

[mm98]

+1

[milioo]

+1

[rogermeletta]

+1

[dotMorten]

My idea for this: When my car starts charging, I want a live activity showing the current state of charge etc, and update as it goes. Once charging is done, it'll close again. Currently doing this with notifications on start and end, but don't want to see the current progress as constant notifications every time the percentage goes up 1%.

[mat1990dj]

Ooohh yesses car charging! I also thought about robot cleaning

[neyzm]

Reposted in the new FR repo, makes sure to upvote for more exposure.

https://github.com/orgs/home-assistant/discussions/84

[freechurros]

+1
Also commented and upvoted the post linked above.

[AkdM]

+1!
I'd also love to see Live Activities support in Home Assistant. It would make so many automations instantly glanceable without opening the app. A few great uses I can think of:

• Garage door: show progress while it's opening/closing
• EV charging/appliances: track charging progress or washing machine cycle
• Car preheating/defrosting: countdown until it's done
• Irrigation system: progress while watering zones
• Robot vacuum: cleaning cycle to track current cleaning progress
• Underfloor heating warm-up: progress while the system heats up.
• 3D printer: print progress (even tho it's already the case with many 3D printers)

Damn there's so many usage that would make Home Assistant even more useful.

[netit2]

+1

[onlytobeking]

+1

[cbhhargava]

Yes please!