iOSActivityKit 1.0.0

iOSActivityKit

Use iOS ActivityKit Live Activities and the Dynamic Island from a .NET MAUI / .NET for iOS app — something the MAUI/.NET-iOS SDK doesn't support out of the box.

It works by pairing a tiny @objc Swift control bridge (shipped prebuilt as an .xcframework) with a thin C# layer that calls it over objc_msgSend. State is a generic string→string dictionary, so one prebuilt bridge works for any app — you only write your activity's SwiftUI.

var id = liveActivity.Start("sync", new Dictionary<string, string>
{
    ["progress"] = "0.0",
    ["phase"]    = "Preparing",
});

liveActivity.Update("sync", new Dictionary<string, string>
{
    ["progress"] = "0.42",
    ["phase"]    = "Downloading",
    ["message"]  = "12 MB of 30 MB",
});

liveActivity.End("sync",
    finalState: new Dictionary<string, string> { ["progress"] = "1.0", ["phase"] = "Done" },
    dismissAfter: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));

On Android / Windows / Mac Catalyst every call is a safe no-op, so you never need to wrap calls in platform checks.

How it fits together

  ┌──────────────── your MAUI app (C#) ─────────────────┐
  │  ILiveActivityService  ──►  LiveActivityServiceiOS   │
  │                              (objc_msgSend)          │
  └───────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────┘
                                   │  calls @objc LiveActivityBridge.shared
            ┌──────────────────────▼───────────────────────┐
            │  iOSActivityKitBridge.xcframework (prebuilt)  │  ← <NativeReference>
            │  start / update / end  on  ActivityKit        │
            └──────────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
                                   │  ActivityKit matches by type name
            ┌──────────────────────▼───────────────────────┐
            │  YOUR widget extension (.appex, SwiftUI)      │  ← <AdditionalAppExtensions>
            │  renders Lock Screen + Dynamic Island         │
            └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Both the bridge and your widget compile the same GenericActivityAttributes type (name "GenericActivityAttributes", a ContentState holding data: [String: String]). ActivityKit pairs a running activity with its UI by that type, which is why the prebuilt bridge and your hand-written widget find each other without you editing any Swift in the bridge.

Repository layout

Setup

1. Add the NuGet C# layer

<PackageReference Include="iOSActivityKit" Version="1.0.0" />

Register it (MAUI DI):

using iOSActivityKit;

builder.Services.AddLiveActivities();   // singleton ILiveActivityService

…then inject ILiveActivityService. Without DI, use LiveActivity.Current.

2. Reference the native bridge

Build it once (or use the prebuilt native/bridge/output/iOSActivityKitBridge.xcframework):

./native/bridge/build.sh

Then in your iOS .csproj:

<ItemGroup Condition="$([MSBuild]::GetTargetPlatformIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)')) == 'ios'">
  <NativeReference Include="path/to/iOSActivityKitBridge.xcframework">
    <Kind>Framework</Kind>
    <SmartLink>true</SmartLink>
  </NativeReference>
</ItemGroup>

3. Add your widget extension

The Live Activity UI must live in a widget extension. Copy native/widget-template/, customize SampleLiveActivity.swift, and embed it — full step-by-step in native/widget-template/README.md. Don't forget NSSupportsLiveActivities = true in your app's iOS Info.plist.

API

public interface ILiveActivityService
{
    bool    IsSupported { get; }
    string? Start (string name, IReadOnlyDictionary<string,string> state);
    void    Update(string name, IReadOnlyDictionary<string,string> state);
    void    End   (string name, IReadOnlyDictionary<string,string>? finalState = null,
                   TimeSpan dismissAfter = default);
    void    EndAll();
}

• name groups updates/ends and lets your SwiftUI switch layouts via context.attributes.name. Run several distinct activities by using different names.
• state values are plain strings — format numbers/dates yourself and parse them in SwiftUI (Double(context.state.data["progress"] ?? "")).

Requirements

• iOS 16.2+ at runtime (Dynamic Island 16.1, update/end 16.2). Older devices and other platforms degrade to no-ops.
• .NET 9 (net9.0-ios). The package also exposes a net9.0 no-op target so it restores cleanly for Android/Windows heads of a MAUI app.
• Xcode (to build the widget extension and, if you rebuild it, the bridge).

License

MIT — see LICENSE.