8 Ways to Fix Live Activities Not Working in watchOS 11

Live Activities is probably the most loved watchOS 11 feature. Designed to make tracking real-time information like live football scores and Uber rides incredibly simple, it has managed to win a lot of hearts. Unfortunately, many users have reported that the Live Activities is not working on their Apple Watches. If you have also run into frustrating Live Activities issues on your Apple Watch, I have got you fully covered with some handy fixes. Read on…

Fix Live Activities Not Working on Your Apple Watch

Aside from the software bugs, culprits like app incompatibility, wrong configuration, and app-related glitches could be spoiling your party.

1. Ensure That Your Apple Watch Apps Support Live Activities

Bear in mind that the Live Activities for watchOS is still a work in progress.
Therefore, it’s going to take a while for third-party apps to support this real-time information tracking feature. Before moving any further, make sure your apps are compatible with Live Activities.

2. Make Sure You Have Enabled Live Activities for the Apps in Question

Another important thing that you should do right off the bat is to make sure that the apps are allowed to use the Live Activities feature on your Apple Watch.

  • Go to the Watch app on your iPhone > General > Auto Launch.
Choose Auto Launch in Watch app on iPhone
  • Now, select Live Activities Settings.
  • After that, scroll down to find the app in question and select it. After that ensure that the toggle for Allow Live Activities is turned on. 
Choose Live Activities Settings in Watch app on iPhone

3. Be sure That the Live Activities are Allowed to Launch Automatically 

It’s worth pointing out that the watchOS 11 lets you automatically launch Live Activities on your Apple Watch. If this auto-launching feature has been disabled, it might be causing the problem. 

  • Head over to the Watch app on your iPhone > General > Auto Launch > Live Activities Settings > Turn on the switch for the Auto Launch Live Activities.
  • Note that watchOS 11 lets you show Live Activities in the Smart Stack. If the Live Activities don’t show up in the Smart Stack, make sure you have enabled this setting.
  • Go to the Watch app on your iPhone -> Smart Stack ->
    After that, ensure that the toggles for Allow Live Activites and Auto-Launch Live Activites are enabled.
  • Notably, you can also allow or disallow the Live Activites of a specific app to appear in the Smart Stack as per your needs.

4. Mirror iPhone Live Activities on Your Apple Watch

Courtesy of the seamless integration, watchOS provides a neat way to mirror your iPhone Live Activities on your paired Apple Watch.

  • On your connected iPhone, dive into the Watch app -> General -> Auto-Launch -> Live Activities Settings.
  • Scroll down to the Mirror iPhone Live Activities From section and choose the app which Live Activities you would like to mirror on your Apple Watch.
  • After that, ensure that the toggle for Mirror Live Activity from the iPhone is turned on.

5. Disable/Enable Live Activities

Many a time, you can fix the Live Activities problem by just turning it off and on. Given the fact that it’s pretty simple and often works reliably, I would suggest you give it a go as well.

  • On your iPhone, launch the Watch app -> General -> Auto-Launch -> Live Activities Settings -> turn off the toggle for Allow Live Activities.
  • Then, restart your Apple Watch. Once your smartwatch has rebooted, go to the Watch app and re-enable the toggle for “Allow Live Activities.
  • Now, start tracking a live activity like flight status or Uber ride to check if the problem is gone. If it has, you are good to go.

6. Update the Problematic Apps

If Live Activities are not working when using specific apps on your Apple Watch, try updating those apps.

  • To get it done, launch the App Store on your Apple Watch -> Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and tap on Account -> Updates -> Then, you can update all Apple Watch apps at once or do it one by one.

7. Hard Reset Your Apple Watch

Should the Live Activities problem continue to haunt your Apple Watch, why not try the hard reset solution? Well-known for fixing persistent watchOS issues, it deserves a chance.

  • To do so, hold down the side button and the Digital Crown simultaneously until the Apple Watch screen turns completely dark and the Apple logo shows up on the screen.
Hard Reset Apple Watch Ultra
Image courtesy: Apple

8. Update Software

If nothing has worked in bringing the ill-functioning live activities back on track, there is a decent chance that a software bug might be behind the issue.

  • To update your Apple Watch, go to the Watch app on your iPhone -> General -> Software Update -> download and install the watchOS update.
  • Once your Apple Watch has been updated, kickstart a live activity to figure out if you have eventually overcome the roadblock. Hurrah!
Posted by
Rajesh Mishra

Editor-in-Chief: Rajesh Mishra (Your beloved “R.K” 360 Reader Voice) is a Shakespearean poet at heart who turned a tech nerd while having a secret rendezvous with iPhone 4. When that rendezvous turned obsession, he let go of his hard-core political journalism in favour of the lifelong love-affair with technology. In a career spanning one and a half decades, Mr. Mishra has crafted over 8K articles and around 2K YouTube videos. He is probably the only journalist alive with this unique achievement. When he is not at his desk, you may find him either engrossed in a Deathmatch or chasing Wordsworth!

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