Expo Live Updates & Activities

Demo

iOS Live Activity

Android Live Updates

This module provides a unified API for using Live Activities on iOS and Live Updates on Android.

• iOS: Control Live Activities from your JavaScript code. The UI is built natively with SwiftUI.
• Android: Display and manage ongoing notifications with rich content and progress bars.

Installation

npx expo install expo-live-updates-activities

iOS Setup: Live Activities

Live Activities on iOS require a native Widget Extension. The easiest way to create one is by using the expo-apple-targets plugin.

Special thanks to Evan Bacon for creating the expo-apple-targets plugin, which makes this process much simpler.

1. Add the Widget Extension

First, install the expo-apple-targets plugin:

npx expo install expo-apple-targets

Next, create a directory for your widget, for example, example/targets/widget. Inside this directory, you'll need a few files to configure the widget.

2. Configure the Widget

You'll need to create the following files inside your widget directory (e.g., example/targets/widget):

• expo-target.config.js: Configures the native target.
• index.swift: The entry point for your widget.
• WidgetLiveActivity.swift: The main SwiftUI view for your Live Activity.
• Info.plist: The information property list for the widget.

You can refer to the example directory in this project for a complete working setup.

3. Run npx expo prebuild

After setting up your widget files, run npx expo prebuild --clean to generate the native Xcode project with your new widget target.

Android Setup: Live Updates

Android configuration is handled automatically by the Expo module. No extra setup is required.

API Usage

The module provides a simple API to manage live updates from your JavaScript code.

iOS API

startActivity(data)

Starts a new Live Activity.

• data (string): A JSON string containing the initial data for the activity.

import ExpoLiveUpdatesActivities from "expo-live-updates-activities";

ExpoLiveUpdatesActivities.startActivity(
  JSON.stringify({
    title: "Hello",
    subtitle: "World",
    description: "This is a test",
  })
);

updateActivity(data)

Updates an ongoing Live Activity.

• data (string): A JSON string containing the updated data.

ExpoLiveUpdatesActivities.updateActivity(
  JSON.stringify({
    title: "Hello",
    subtitle: "Updated Subtitle",
    description: "This is an updated test",
  })
);

endActivity(data, dismissalPolicy)

Ends the Live Activity.

• data (string): A JSON string containing the final data to display.
• dismissalPolicy ('immediate' | 'after' | 'default'): The dismissal policy for the activity.

ExpoLiveUpdatesActivities.endActivity(
  JSON.stringify({
    title: "Hello",
    subtitle: "World",
    description: "This is the final update",
  }),
  "immediate"
);

Android API

The Android API provides several methods for showing different types of live updates.

showStandardLiveUpdate(config)

Displays a standard notification with a title and text.

showBigTextLiveUpdate(config)

Displays a notification with an expandable big text section.

showCallLiveUpdate(config)

Displays a notification for an incoming or ongoing call.

showProgressLiveUpdate(config)

Displays a notification with a progress bar.

cancelLiveUpdate()

Cancels the ongoing live update.

Please refer to the example/App.tsx file for detailed usage of the Android API.