Discovering the Optimal Method to Monitor Election Outcomes on an iPhone
Folks who can't get enough of the elections and wish to stay updated minute by minute, Apple News has something fresh for you, coming late Tuesday (via Apple Insider). They're incorporating the Live Activities feature for election results, allowing users to witness the changing electoral count for each candidate in real-time on their iPhones. This feature will show up on the Dynamic Island and also appear as a live widget on your lock screen.
To activate Live Activities for the elections, navigate to Settings on your iPhone, scroll down to Face ID & Passcode, enter your passcode, then proceed to Live Activities. Enable the toggle if it's not already switched on. afterward, open the Apple News app and choose the "Follow the 2024 election live" option from the homepage. If it's not there, you can check either under Top Stories or in the menu for "Election 2024 Special Coverage." Once you tap on that, you'll receive notification that Live Activity is enabled. To pause or disable it, click on the banner again in Apple News.
Please note that the full Dynamic Island experience is only available for users with an iPhone 14 Pro or later, as older iPhones lack this feature. However, even if you're using an older model, you can still view the live widget on your lock screen. Apple Watch users can also track election results in real-time with the widget displaying live activity on their wrists, as long as their Watch runs watchOS 11.
Alternatively, there are election-tracking apps available for download on your iPhone. While this method gets the job done, it may require a bit more effort to install the app then wait for push notifications or occasionally open the app for the latest updates.
The Dynamic Island is particularly well-suited for such activities. It allows you to monitor the results even while scrolling through Instagram. Apple has previously used Dynamic Island for activities such as sports and music, but election results are intriguing. Some people, such as my coworker, might find this highly stress-inducing, but you can always turn it off or take a break.
It’s common for apps to provide limited-time, special election-focused features or offers. For instance, Uber is offering discounted rides to polling stations today. You can get 50% off up to $10. Lyft is offering a similar discount on rideshare, bike-share, and scooters.
In the future, tech enthusiasts may expect more real-time features like Live Activities for various events, not just elections, on their tech devices, such as Apple's iPhone 14 Pro and later models. On the other hand, relying on election-tracking apps requires installing the app and regularly checking for updates, which might not provide the same level of seamless integration as Live Activities.
