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Getting Started

Start sending push notifications to your iPhone in under 5 minutes.

1. Install the iOS App

Download PushWard from the App Store on your iPhone running iOS 26 or later.

ℹ Info

PushWard requires iOS 26+ for Live Activity support.

2. Sign In and Get Your Key

Open the app and sign in with your Apple ID. This creates your PushWard account and automatically generates a default integration key (hlk_) with full activity management access.

Copy your integration key from the app's settings screen. You'll need it for all API requests.

💡 Tip

For production use, create separate integration keys with scoped access for each service instead of sharing the default key.

3. Create an Activity

Activities are the things you want to track on your Lock Screen. Each activity has a unique slug and a display name.

Create an activity 
curl -X POST https://api.pushward.app/activities \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hlk_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "slug": "my-build",
    "name": "My Build"
  }'

The activity starts in the ENDED state. Your devices are automatically subscribed.

4. Start a Live Activity

Send your first push notification by updating the activity state to ONGOING. This starts a Live Activity on your device's Lock Screen.

Start the Live Activity 
curl -X PATCH https://api.pushward.app/activity/my-build \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hlk_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "state": "ONGOING",
    "content": {
      "template": "generic",
      "progress": 0.0,
      "state": "Starting...",
      "icon": "arrow.triangle.branch",
      "accent_color": "cyan"
    }
  }'

5. Update and End

Send updates to change the progress and status text. End the activity when you're done.

Update progress 
curl -X PATCH https://api.pushward.app/activity/my-build \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hlk_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "state": "ONGOING",
    "content": {
      "template": "generic",
      "progress": 0.75,
      "state": "Running tests...",
      "icon": "arrow.triangle.branch",
      "accent_color": "cyan"
    }
  }'
End the Live Activity 
curl -X PATCH https://api.pushward.app/activity/my-build \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hlk_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "state": "ENDED",
    "content": {
      "template": "generic",
      "progress": 1.0,
      "state": "Complete",
      "icon": "checkmark.circle.fill",
      "accent_color": "green"
    }
  }'
💡 Tip

After ending, the Live Activity remains visible on the Lock Screen for up to 4 hours (iOS behavior). The activity returns to ENDED state and can be started again.

Next Steps