A Faster Way to Deliver Order Status: Live Activities

The Yogiyo mobile team applied Live Activities to an actual product, making constantly changing information like order status appear directly on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Since this was a feature many users had requested, the key point is that it wasn't just an experiment but a case applied to a live service.

The purpose of Live Activities is to instantly update frequently changing data. In contrast, Push Notifications are suited to delivering new information once, so the right strategy is to use notifications for static information or one-time messages, and Live Activities for dynamic states like order progress.

Yogiyo had two requirements.

• Handle activity creation, updates, and removal in line with status changes from order completion to delivery completion
• When a user taps the activity, navigate directly to the order detail page

The second requirement was handled by leveraging existing Deep Linking, connected via widgetURL(_:). Getting to the order detail page was relatively simple, but the core challenge was how to reliably manage the activity itself.

There are broadly two management approaches. You can control it directly within the app using Activity.request() and activity.update(), but this method blocks updates when the app is in the background or terminated. On the other hand, using APNs allows the server to push status based on the Push Token, enabling remote updates to Live Activities even when the app isn't running.

Yogiyo ultimately chose server-centric management. There were three reasons.

• It can show the same order status across multiple devices on the same account
• Live Activities creation and updates are possible even when the app is off
• Exposure can be dynamically controlled from the server depending on the delivery type

They also outlined the most important constraints encountered during implementation. On the design side, the exposed area is limited and the Dynamic Island layout rules are strict, requiring adherence to the Human Interface Guidelines. Animation also came with many constraints, so they prioritized stability and built it mostly static.

The content side was even clearer. Live Activities is not meant for showing ads or promotions, and should only contain information directly related to an ongoing event or task. So separating promotional messages into Push Notifications and status changes into Live Activities becomes the most natural combination.

In the end, Live Activities served as an interface that extends in-app information system-wide. Through this, Yogiyo enabled users to check order status without opening the app, and by combining the server with APNs, delivered a consistent experience across multiple devices.