The Lock Screen,
live.
A Live Activity is the one notification people never swipe away: a countdown to the guild war, the score of the match they are in, the energy bar refilling, the order on its way. OpenPush starts it, updates it and ends it — from the console or two REST calls — on your own APNs credentials. Android gets the same moments as Live Updates. Included on the free plan.
One activity, three pushes, done.
The event a game runs every weekend, on the Lock Screen of everyone who opted in — started by push before they open the app, updated as the clock runs, ended with the result.
The same two endpoints OneSignal documents, field for field — a migration keeps its calls. Schema and rules in the reference.
Five activities every app needs.
Each one ships with the launch as a template: a typed attribute and content-state schema the server validates, a widget layout in the SDK, and a demo timeline the console can play to your own phone. Copy the one closest to yours; change the fields.
Live-event countdown
Ends-at time, your rank, the gap to the next rank. Starts by push before the event; ends with the result.
Tournament and match score
Two sides, a status line, a progress bar. Updates as often as the match does; ends with the final score.
Energy and lives refill
The next-refill time, the count so far, a tap that deep-links into the game. Ends when the bar is full.
Season pass and event progress
Tier, points to the next reward, days left. Updates on each qualifying event your app records.
Order and delivery
The non-game one: status, ETA window, the courier's last step. Ends on delivery with a final frame.
Live Updates, the same way
Android renders start, update and end as one ongoing notification with a progress style, promoted where the OS allows it. One send, both platforms.
Tokens, windows, and an honest end.
Update tokens and push-to-start tokens
When a device opens an activity, the SDK registers its update token against the activity id; every update fans out to every device on that id. A push-to-start token, registered per activity type, lets you start the activity by push on devices that have not opened the app. Both are handled by the SDK with disk-persisted retries.
Eight hours active, four hours stale
The server only targets devices inside Apple's activity windows, so an update never goes to a token that cannot show it. An ended activity is final — the API answers with a clear error rather than a silent no-op — and every start, update and end is a message in your report, with confirmed receipts and taps.
Live Activities questions.
Is this really free?
Yes — Live Activities and Android Live Updates are included on the free plan to a million MAU per app, with no cap on total subscribers using them.
Do I need a new widget for every template?
The SDK ships a default attributes type that decodes any content state, so you can start with the default widget and one layout. Each template above also ships its own widget layout you can drop into your widget extension. Unity apps get a bundled default widget and the injection to use it.
Can I try it without writing code?
Yes. The OpenPush.ai App links your phone to the console; the sample workspace has a Live Activities lab that plays a whole timeline — start, updates, end — to your device. The app →
What about very large activities?
Update fan-out is bounded per activity today; we publish the exact figure on /limits after our benchmark runs against real providers rather than guessing here. If you run a stadium-sized activity, tell us and we will plan it with you.