Your Apple Watch can now raise your heart rate at will, with real-time US election update notifications

Apple News is providing real-time US election updates via Live Activities
The alerts will pop up on both the iPhone and Apple Watch
You can can turn on the Live Activities lock screen widgets in Settings

It’s election day in the US and it’s clear from social media and speaking to our US colleagues that stress levels are reaching a fever pitch as they wait to see who comes out ahead in the presidential race. However, for people who feel they aren’t yet stressed enough, or folks who really have no interest in sleeping tonight, Apple News is able to give iPhone and Apple Watch users real-time election updates through Live Activities.

Live Activities use lock-screen notifications, banners and the Dynamic Island to display up-to-date information about a live event or activity like a sports game score, how far away your Uber driver is, or the results of the 2024 US Presidential election.

So if you switch it on you can spend your election night with a constant visual reminder of which candidate is ahead with a live electoral count – with the lock-screen widget also giving you quick access to more in-depth election coverage.

How to turn on Live Activities

Two iPhones on a green and blue background showing how to turn on Live Activities

You can turn Live Activities on (or off) by going to the Face ID & Passcode section in Settings, then toggling the option in the menu. (Image credit: Apple / Future)

While they aren’t going to be for everyone, if you’re interested in turning on Live Activity reports for the US election (or other events) here’s what you need to do.

Firstly, go into your iPhone’s Settings app, find the ‘Face ID & Passcode’ section, enter your passcode when prompted, and under the ‘Allow Access When Locked’ subsection enable Live Activities if it isn’t already – this will switch on the Live Activities lock-screen widget.

Next you’ll want to open up Apple News on election night, then tap on the ‘Follow the 2024 election live’ banner and turn on the Live Activity. The banner should either appear on your home page (perhaps under Top Stories) or you can find it by going to the ‘Election 2024’ Special Coverage.

Phones without a Dynamic Island (iPhone 14 and earlier, ignoring the iPhone 14 Pro) will still get the lock screen widget, but they won’t see the constant live count at the top of their screen. As for Apple Watch users, once you switch the Live Activity on it should automatically appear on your smartwatch provided it runs watchOS 11.

It isn’t yet known how long Apple News will keep the Live Activity going, but it could be live for a while. Some presidential results have been announced in hours, some have taken days as states firm up their scores for each candidate. If at any point you wish to switch it off before the Activity ends just re-find the Apple News banner and switch the Live Activity off by tapping it again.

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