FITIV Pulse shows your workout as a Live Activity on your iPhone Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, so you can check heart rate, zone, and elapsed time without unlocking your phone or opening the app. It runs for workouts on your iPhone and for Apple Watch workouts streamed to your iPhone. In strength workouts, it also shows your next set and rest timer, with buttons to log a set or adjust your rest.
What Are Live Activities on iPhone?
Live Activities are an iOS feature that keeps an app's live information on the Lock Screen while something is in progress, like a delivery, a sports score, or a workout. On iPhone models with a Dynamic Island, the same activity also shows at the top of the screen while you use other apps.
For workouts, that solves a simple problem. Your phone locks after a few seconds, and without a Live Activity, checking your heart rate means unlocking it and finding the app again. With one, the numbers are on the Lock Screen whenever you raise or tap your phone.
What FITIV Shows on the Lock Screen
For runs, rides, walks, and other cardio workouts, the Lock Screen view is built around your heart rate zone:
- Elapsed time, counting up live
- Your current zone by name, with the whole card tinted in that zone's color
- One large main metric, heart rate by default
- Four smaller metrics around it
- A heart rate zone bar showing where you sit across the five zones
The card follows the metrics you've set up for your workout screen. Out of the box, the four smaller slots show average heart rate, maximum heart rate, active calories, and FITIV Points. If you've swapped in pace, distance, cadence, or power on your workout screen, those show instead. When power is your main metric, the card names your power zone instead of your heart rate zone. If you set your main metric to heart rate and power together, the card shows both numbers side by side, with a background tinted by both zones.
During an interval workout from the Workout Builder, the center of the card shows the current interval and how far through it you are. When you pause, or auto-pause kicks in, the card dims until the workout resumes.
What You See in the Dynamic Island
On an iPhone with a Dynamic Island, FITIV uses it in three sizes:
| View | When you see it | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Compact | You're on the Home Screen or in another app | Workout icon in your zone color, and live heart rate in a zone-colored pill |
| Minimal | Other Live Activities are running too, so iOS shrinks FITIV to make room | Workout icon in your zone color |
| Expanded | You touch and hold the Island | Elapsed time, your zone and main metric, three more metrics, and the zone bar |
The compact view is the one you'll use most. With music or a map open, a glance at the top of the screen tells you your heart rate, and the color tells you your zone without reading anything. That helps in heart rate zone training, where the goal is to stay in one zone for a whole session.
Strength Workouts: Log Sets and Control Rest From the Lock Screen
When you follow a routine with planned sets in Weightlifting, the Live Activity switches to a layout built for the gym:
- The current exercise and the set you're on, such as "Set 2 of 4"
- The weight and reps for that set, and what's next
- A rest countdown with a progress bar
- Elapsed time and your heart rate in your zone color
It also has buttons, so you can run a lifting session from the Lock Screen or Dynamic Island:
- Log Set checks off the set you just finished.
- −15s and +15s shorten or extend your rest.
- Skip ends your rest early.
When your rest runs out, FITIV sends an alert: "Rest time is over! Log your next set." Your phone can sit on a bench or in a pocket between sets, and you never have to unlock it to keep the workout moving.
The strength layout needs a routine with planned sets. A quick-start lifting workout without them uses the standard cardio card instead.
Which Workouts Get a Live Activity
FITIV starts a Live Activity for each of these:
- iPhone-only workouts, such as a run or walk using the GPS in your iPhone (GPS tracking)
- Workouts with a Bluetooth heart rate monitor, like a chest strap or armband (Bluetooth heart rate monitors)
- Workouts with heart rate from AirPods Pro 3 or Powerbeats Pro 2 (AirPods)
- Apple Watch workouts, which FITIV streams to your iPhone as you go (Apple Watch)
- Interval workouts from the Workout Builder and strength workouts from Weightlifting
For Apple Watch workouts, the Live Activity shows on your iPhone while the watch does the recording. Streaming to your iPhone is on by default, under the Stream to iPhone option.
How to Turn On Live Activities for FITIV Pulse
Live Activities are controlled in your iPhone settings, not inside the app:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap FITIV Pulse.
- Turn on Live Activities.
- Make sure Notifications are allowed for FITIV Pulse too.
Then start a workout in FITIV Pulse on your iPhone or Apple Watch, and lock your phone. The Live Activity appears on your Lock Screen and stays there until you save or discard the workout, when it closes on its own.
If it doesn't appear, restart your iPhone and Apple Watch and try again. The help center guide to Live Activities has more troubleshooting steps. In the app, the Live Activities row on the More tab opens the same guide.
Live Activities Alongside Voice Coaching
Live Activities and Voice Coaching work well together. Voice Coaching reads your stats out loud on a timer, at set distances, or when your zone changes, so you don't have to look. The Live Activity is there for the moments you do look: one glance at the Lock Screen gives you the full picture. On a run, you might hear pace and zone changes as voice cues and check the Lock Screen at a traffic light or between intervals.
FITIV Pulse also has a separate Live Activity for GLP-1 medication: a fasting countdown after oral doses that need one, which you can turn off in the medication settings.
iPhone, Apple Watch, Dynamic Island, and AirPods are trademarks of Apple Inc. Powerbeats is a trademark of Beats Electronics, LLC. FITIV is an independent app and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pause or end a workout from the Live Activity?
Not for cardio workouts. The cardio Live Activity shows your stats but has no buttons, so you pause or end the workout in the FITIV Pulse app or on your Apple Watch. Strength workouts are different: you can log sets, add or remove 15 seconds of rest, and skip rest right from the Lock Screen.
Can I change which stats show in the Live Activity?
Yes. The Live Activity uses the same metrics you've chosen for your FITIV workout screen, so changing your workout screen metrics changes the Lock Screen card too. Heart rate is the main metric by default.
Does the Live Activity work if I start the workout on my Apple Watch?
Yes. FITIV streams Apple Watch workouts to your iPhone (Stream to iPhone is on by default), and your iPhone shows the Live Activity while the watch records the workout. Keep your iPhone nearby so it stays connected.
Do I need an iPhone with a Dynamic Island?
No. Every iPhone that supports Live Activities shows FITIV's workout card on the Lock Screen. The Dynamic Island views are an extra on the iPhone models that have one.
Why isn't my FITIV workout showing on the Lock Screen?
Check that Live Activities and notifications are both turned on for FITIV Pulse in your iPhone Settings, since FITIV needs both. If they are, restart your iPhone (and your Apple Watch, for watch workouts) and start a new workout.
