iOS vs Android

The same request shows a Live Activity on iPhone and a Live Update on Android. Here is where each one appears and how every template looks and behaves on both.

One request reaches all of your devices. An iPhone shows the activity as a Live Activity. An Android phone shows it as a Live Update, a notification that keeps itself current in the shade. The templates and content fields are the same on both, and nothing in the request is platform-specific. What changes is where each system lets the card appear and how much of a template it can draw.

ℹ Info

Apple Watch and CarPlay show the iPhone's Live Activity, so they follow the iOS column, and an iPad shows the Lock Screen card without the Dynamic Island. The PushWard Mac app has no Live Activities of its own: it lists ongoing activities in its notch island and menu bar.

Where an activity appears

Surface	iPhone (iOS 26+)	Android (12+)
Main card	Lock Screen card	A notification in the shade, promoted to the top of it on Android 16 and later
At a glance	Dynamic Island: a compact leading and trailing ear, or the minimal view when two activities share the island	One status bar chip (Android 16 QPR2 and later) with a short text, a running clock or the icon. The system hides it while PushWard is open
Expanded	Dynamic Island expanded view (touch and hold the island)	The expanded notification (pull it down). Buttons show only here
Lock screen	The Lock Screen card	The same notification, with its full content
StandBy	Full-screen card while the iPhone charges on its side	None
Watch	Smart Stack on a paired Apple Watch	None (no Wear OS app)
Car	CarPlay Dashboard	None
In the app	Activities tab; the detail screen previews the Lock Screen card, the Dynamic Island and the watch card	Activities tab; the detail screen previews the card expanded, collapsed and as the status bar chip

What each Android version shows

Android has improved ongoing notifications release by release, so the same activity looks richer on a newer phone:

Android	How the activity looks
12 and 13	A regular notification that updates in place, with a plain progress bar. Swiping it away hides it on that phone only
14 and 15	An ongoing notification: Clear all does not remove it and it stays on the lock screen, but on an unlocked phone it can still be swiped away on its own
16	A Live Update, promoted to the top of the shade and the lock screen, with segmented bars (steps) and points on the bar (timeline thresholds)
16 QPR2	Adds the status bar chip
17	Gauge and board become metric cards

Live Updates can be turned off per app in Android's notification settings. PushWard's activities then show as ongoing notifications, and the Activities tab offers a shortcut to the setting.

How updates arrive

	iOS	Android
Who draws the card	iOS, straight from the push. The PushWard app does not need to run	The PushWard app, which receives the push and posts the notification. It has to be signed in
Update with `sound`	The Lock Screen lights up and the Dynamic Island expands, with the named sound	A heads-up notification with the sound of PushWard's Live Updates channel. Sound names are not used
Update without `sound`	The card changes in place	The card changes in place, with no sound or vibration
Clocks	Countdowns, elapsed times and playheads tick on their own between pushes	The same, as a system clock in the notification header and the chip
Progress bars	With `live_progress`, the generic and steps bars fill on their own toward `end_date`	A bar moves when an update arrives. With `live_progress`, the time left to `end_date` counts down in the header and the chip instead
Update budget	iOS limits how often a Live Activity can update (see Limits)	No hourly budget. A quick burst of updates is merged, so the newest state shows within a few seconds

Android has two cases of its own. Force-stopping PushWard clears its cards until you open the app again, and after a restart they come back when you open the app or with the activity's next update. And if Android restricts PushWard's battery use, pushes do not arrive at all, so the app's setup asks you to lift that restriction.

Lifecycle

	iOS	Android
Ongoing at once	5 per account, on every device. Starting a sixth preempts the one with the lowest `priority` (on a tie, the least recently updated), and it comes back on its own when a slot frees up
Time limit	iOS stops a Live Activity after 8 hours. If the activity is still being updated, PushWard starts a fresh one in its place, for up to about 3 days	Android has no limit of its own, but the same rule ends an activity: at 8 hours unless it is still being updated, and after about 3 days at the latest
Stale (no update before `stale_ttl`)	The card dims and shows a stale badge, then PushWard ends the activity. A running timer, approval deadline or `live_progress` window holds it open until `end_date`	The header reads "Not updated recently", then the same
Ended	The final content stays on the Lock Screen until `dismissal_ttl` (or `ended_ttl`), 4 hours by default and at most	The card stops being ongoing, reads "Ended" and goes away after the same time; it can be swiped away before that
Swiped away	PushWard is told, and your activity is preempted on your other devices too. For an activity shared with you, only your phone drops it	The same on Android 14 and later. On 12 and 13 the card is hidden on that phone only
Bring it back	Restore Live Activity on the activity's detail screen	Restore Live Update on the activity's detail screen
Order	`priority` orders activities on the Lock Screen and decides which one gets the Dynamic Island	The shade keeps cards where they were first posted, newest on top. `priority` only decides preemption
Timer `alarm`	An alarm rings at `end_date` through silent mode and Focus, with Snooze and Dismiss	An alarm notification rings at `end_date` through silent mode, full screen where Android allows it, with Snooze and Dismiss. It needs the Alarms & reminders permission

Taps, buttons and fields

Field or action	iOS	Android
Tapping the card	Opens `tap_action`, else the activity in PushWard	Opens `tap_action`, else the PushWard app
Webhook `tap_action`	Runs in the background from a card without buttons; elsewhere, and from the Dynamic Island, the tap opens PushWard, which runs it	Runs in the background from a card without buttons; on a card with buttons the tap only opens PushWard
`url_action`, `secondary_url_action` (or `url`, `secondary_url`)	Two buttons on the Lock Screen card of generic, timer, steps, alert, gauge, board and log; steps and alert also show them in the expanded Dynamic Island. A webhook button shows that it was pressed	Two buttons on the expanded notification of the same seven templates. A webhook button fires with no visible change
`compact_label`	Replaces the leading ear	Becomes the text of the status bar chip
`compact_trailing_label`, `compact_trailing_icon`	Replace the trailing ear	Ignored: the chip is the only slot
`icon`	The SF Symbol or `mdi:` icon on every surface	The notification carries PushWard's own icon. An `https` `icon` or `image_url` shows as the card's picture, and the Activities tab draws SF Symbols as their Material counterparts
`image_url`, `image_thumbhash`	The artwork of generic, steps and media. The ThumbHash shows until the image loads, and in place of one the phone cannot reach	The same artwork, as the card's picture, without the ThumbHash
`icon`	The SF Symbol or `mdi:` icon on every surface	An `mdi:` icon, such as Home Assistant's defaults, is the notification's small icon, so the status bar and the chip show it; an SF Symbol keeps PushWard's own icon there. An `https` `icon` or `image_url` shows as the card's picture, and the Activities tab draws `mdi:` icons as they are and SF Symbols as their Material counterparts
`image_url`, `image_thumbhash`	The artwork of generic, steps and media. The ThumbHash shows until the image loads, and in place of one the phone cannot reach	The same artwork, as the card's picture, with the ThumbHash until it loads or in place of one it cannot fetch
`accent_color`	Tints the card	Tints the notification's icon and its bar
`background_color`, `text_color`	Color the card	Ignored: Android does not let a Live Update choose its colors

Templates at a glance

Template	Lock Screen	Dynamic Island (compact)	Android notification	Android chip
Generic	Progress bar, state, subtitle	Percentage, or time left	State and a bar at `progress`	Percentage, or time left
Timer	Large clock and ruler	Running clock	State, bar and a clock in the header	Running clock
Steps	Step indicator and step name	Ring, and the time left, step name or N/M	Step name and one bar segment per step	N/M, or time left
Alert	Severity band, time since fired	Time since fired, or severity	Full bar in the severity color, severity in the header	Time since fired, or severity
Gauge	Arc with min and max, large value	Value	Value and a bar (Android 17: a metric card)	Value
Timeline	Chart, with a legend for several series	Primary value	Primary value on a bar with threshold points	Primary value
Board	Grid of up to 4 tiles	First tile	Tiles as lines (Android 17: a metric card of 3 tiles)	First tile
Log	Newest lines	Age of the newest line	Up to 8 newest lines	Time since the newest line
Media	Artwork, scrubber, the buttons in `controls`	Artwork, elapsed time	Title, artwork and a scrubber	Elapsed time, or the playback state
Media	Artwork, scrubber, the buttons in `controls`	Artwork, elapsed time	Title, artwork, a scrubber, and previous, play/pause and next from `controls`	Elapsed time, or the playback state
Approval	Question, details, 2 to 4 options	Deadline, or ? until answered	Question, details, up to 3 option buttons	Deadline, or ? until answered

Each template

Each template below shows both phones, then the differences. The iPhone images are frames of the recordings on the template pages; the Android ones were captured on a Pixel 10a running Android 17, posting the same content. Clocks and values differ with the moment each was taken, the steps and approval islands come from other recordings of the same template, and where a recording never shows the compact island, the expanded one stands in. Where a table row is missing, both platforms behave the same.

Generic

3D Print on the iPhone Lock Screen at 82%, layer 98 of 120, with its bar and the time left

Dynamic Island with the printer icon and 56%

	iOS	Android
Card	Icon or artwork, name, percentage, state, bar, subtitle and `remaining_time`	Name, state (or the subtitle when there is no state), bar and artwork
Glance	Icon or artwork, and the percentage or time left	The percentage, or time left with `live_progress`
`live_progress`	The bar fills on its own toward `end_date`	The bar stays at `progress`; the time left counts down

Timer

	iOS	Android
Card	Large clock, ruler, a Paused or Ended pill	State and ruler as a bar, the clock in the header, Paused or Ended in the header
Counting up	Clock, the ruler toward `goal_seconds`, a "Started / Goal" caption; past the goal it turns orange	The same caption in the header and bar toward the goal, orange past it
Paused or done	The clock freezes; when done it shows `completion_message`, else a checkmark (Done in the Dynamic Island)	The time left is frozen text; when done the chip shows the completion message if it is 7 characters or less, else Done
`alarm`	An alarm at `end_date` with Snooze and Dismiss; Dismiss ends the activity

Steps

Washing Machine on the Lock Screen at step 3 of 4, Spin, with 0:02 left

Dynamic Island of a build at step 4 of 6

	iOS	Android
Card	Step name and state, a segmented or matrix step indicator	Step name, "Step 2 of 6" in the header, one bar segment per step in `step_colors`, sized by `step_weights`
Many steps	Up to 64 columns in the indicator	More than 10 steps collapse into three segments: done, current and remaining
Glance	A ring around the icon, and the time left with `live_progress`, else the step name or N/M	N/M, or the time left with `live_progress`
Buttons	Lock Screen card and expanded Dynamic Island	Expanded notification

Alert

	iOS	Android
Card	A band in the severity color (or `accent_color`) with the severity and the time since `fired_at` (Resolved once `ended_at` is set), then state and subtitle	Severity in the header, state, a full bar in the severity color (or `accent_color`)
Glance	Icon, and the time since it fired, else the severity	Time since it fired, else the severity
Buttons	Default labels Alert and Panel
Severity	Color and label only: `critical` does not break through silent mode or Do Not Disturb

Gauge

Oven Preheat on the Lock Screen: 234°C on an arc from 0 to 250°C

Dynamic Island with a thermometer and 215°C

	iOS	Android
Card	An arc with min and max, the value large with its unit; temperatures get warm and cold colors	Value and state, and a bar from `min_value` to `max_value`. Android 17: a metric card with value, minimum and maximum
Glance	The value with its unit

Timeline

System Health on the Lock Screen: a chart of CPU, Fan, GPU and SSD with a legend

	iOS	Android
Card	A chart of `history`, one line per series, with a legend when there are several	No chart. With a range (`min_value` and `max_value`, or the spread of `history`), the primary value on a bar with up to 4 `thresholds` as colored points; without one, the latest value of up to 5 series as lines
Glance	High and low with a trend arrow, and the primary value	The primary value
Buttons	None; a tap opens `tap_action`

Board

Home Sensors on the Lock Screen: tiles for Living Room, Bedroom, Power and Front Door

Expanded Dynamic Island with the four Home Sensors tiles

	iOS	Android
Card	A grid of up to 4 tiles with icons, values, units, trend arrows and colors; a tile can open a link	Up to 4 tiles as "label: value" lines with trend arrows. Android 17: a metric card of the first 3 tiles, with red, orange, yellow, green, mint, blue, cyan and teal tiles shown as the system's danger, caution, safe and info tones. Tile icons and tile links are not shown
Glance	The first tile's value

Log

CI Build on the Lock Screen with its newest log lines, warnings and errors in color

Expanded Dynamic Island of CI Build with its newest log lines

	iOS	Android
Card	The newest lines, as many as fit (3 to 8), colored by level	Up to 8 newest lines, with "Error:" and "Warning:" in front of those levels
Glance	Line count, and the age of the newest line	Time since the newest line
Full log	View Full Log on the activity's detail screen

Media

Arrival playing on the Lock Screen: poster, a scrubber at 1:02, playback and volume buttons

Expanded Dynamic Island of Arrival with playback buttons

	iOS	Android
Card	Artwork, title, artist, a scrubber with elapsed and remaining time, and the playback and volume buttons listed in `controls`	Title and artist, artwork as the picture, a scrubber. No playback controls
Card	Artwork, title, artist, a scrubber with elapsed and remaining time, and the playback and volume buttons listed in `controls`	Title and artist, artwork as the picture, a scrubber, and previous, play/pause and next buttons from `controls`. Stop, favorite, volume and the `extra` buttons are not drawn: Android shows three buttons at most
Glance	Artwork, and the elapsed time while playing	Elapsed time while playing, else Paused, Stopped or Buffering

Approval

	iOS	Android
Card	Question, up to 2 details, the deadline (the source once no deadline is counting down)	Question, up to 2 details and source; the deadline counts down in the header and chip
Options	2 to 4	Up to 3: Android shows at most three notification buttons, so a fourth is left off
After answering	The answer is sent in the background and the card shows which option won, or that it expired

Notification buttons

Notifications are not Live Updates, but their buttons differ between the two in the same way.

	iOS	Android
`actions`	Up to 10 buttons on a long press	The first 3 as buttons in the shade; the app's detail view lists them all
Coming in app version 1.20.0 on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and 1.1.0 on Android
`snooze`	A button per duration after the actions, on iPhone, iPad and Mac with PushWard 1.20 or later; none on Apple Watch	PushWard 1.1.0 or later: snooze buttons take only the slots of the 3 your actions leave free; the detail view lists every duration. Without permission for exact alarms, the notification can come back up to about 10 minutes late, and in deep Doze up to three quarters of the snooze late, an hour at most
Retract	Best effort: a force-quit app gets nothing and Low Power Mode delays it. PushWard 1.20 or later on iPhone, iPad and Mac; Apple Watch is skipped	Every Android device is sent to, at normal priority: in Doze it waits for a maintenance window, and an app the user force-stopped gets nothing until it is opened again. Versions before 1.1.0 only sync their inbox and leave the notification in the shade