NativePHP Live Activities Free#

Keep users up to date on deliveries and ongoing tasks with one PHP API. NativePHP Live Activities provides local iOS Live Activities and Android ongoing progress notifications, with optional Android promotion where the system allows it.

This free edition is based on the original v1.0.0 release. The API and examples below describe that version, including its eight bundled icons.

Want custom icons, countdowns, ETA, deep links, and more? Get the paid plugin. The full documentation describes the paid edition; this README is the reference for the free edition.

iOS#

Show a title, subtitle, progress, and a colored icon on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island on supported devices. Activities remain visible while your app is in the background.

Android#

Show an ongoing progress notification. On supported Android versions, the plugin also requests promotion to a Live Update, including a status-bar chip. Promotion depends on system support and user settings and is never guaranteed.

Quick start#

In an existing NativePHP Mobile app:

composer require vos/nativephp-live-activities-free
 
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=nativephp-plugins-provider
php artisan native:plugin:register vos/nativephp-live-activities-free
php artisan native:plugin:list

The VCS repository installs the free edition directly from Packagist; no paid-plugin credentials are needed. NativePHP Mobile's own requirements still apply. The free and paid editions share the same PHP namespace and cannot be installed together. Remove the free edition before installing the paid plugin.

During Laravel's normal Composer install/update flow, successful package discovery prints a short link to the paid edition. It is also shown by artisan package:discover, but not by ordinary Artisan commands or quiet package discovery. Composer --no-scripts or disabled Laravel auto-discovery skips this message.

Registration adds Vos\LiveActivities\LiveActivitiesServiceProvider to your app's App\Providers\NativeServiceProvider::plugins() list. Then rebuild:

php artisan native:run ios
# Or:
php artisan native:run android

The build hook installs the iOS widget extension automatically. Signed iOS device builds need provisioning for both the host app and its extension; simulator builds need no Apple developer account. On Android 13+, your app must request notification permission before starting an activity. This plugin does not display permission prompts.

PHP API#

use Vos\LiveActivities\ActivityContent;
use Vos\LiveActivities\ActivityIcon;
use Vos\LiveActivities\Facades\LiveActivities;
 
$activity = LiveActivities::start('delivery-42',
    ActivityContent::make('Preparing your order')->subtitle('In the kitchen')
        ->icon(ActivityIcon::Utensils)->color('#F97316')
);
 
LiveActivities::update($activity->id,
    ActivityContent::make('On the way')->progress(0.5)
        ->icon(ActivityIcon::Truck)->color('#06B6D4')
);
 
LiveActivities::all();
LiveActivities::capabilities();
LiveActivities::end($activity->id);

Use a unique key for each active activity and the returned native ID for updates and completion. Updates replace the content; ending removes the presentation immediately. Content builders are immutable, and progress ranges from 0.0 to 1.0.

Icons and accent colors#

Choose an icon using the ActivityIcon enum or its Lucide name:

$content = ActivityContent::make('Delivered')
    ->progress(1)
    ->icon('circle-check')
    ->color('#22C55E');

The bundled set includes circle-dashed, utensils, truck, circle-check, package, clock, download, and navigation. These are local Lucide icons; no network requests or additional runtime dependencies are needed. Their license notices ship in resources/icons/LICENSE.

Colors must use six-digit #RRGGBB hex notation. Unknown icon names and invalid colors throw ActivityException. Both settings are optional: the default icon is circle-dashed, with white on iOS and the system's default notification accent on Android. Updates replace the entire content, including icon and color, so include them in each update to retain your styling.

On iOS, the accent colors the icon, progress bar, and percentage. On Android, it sets the notification accent; status-bar icons stay monochrome and the system controls their tint and final presentation. Custom icon files require the paid edition.

Check availability before offering the feature:

$capabilities = LiveActivities::capabilities();
 
if ($capabilities->supported && $capabilities->enabled) {
    // The platform supports activities and the required permission is enabled.
}

promoted reports whether Android promotion can be requested, not whether an individual notification was promoted. push is currently false on both platforms.

Platform support#

Requires PHP 8.4+, Laravel 12, and NativePHP Mobile 4.5+. The OS minimums above match the package manifest, even where underlying native APIs support older versions.

The free content API supports a title, subtitle, numeric progress, a bundled icon, and an accent color with a fixed native layout. Custom icons, countdowns, ETA, and activity-specific deep links belong to the paid edition. Local updates require your app to be executing; a visible activity does not keep PHP running in the background.

Need more features?#

The paid plugin builds on this original release with custom icons, countdowns and ETA, activity-specific deep links, a fluent activity API, and more. Check the listing and release notes for feature availability.

Development#

Run package tests with composer test. The original demo is in examples/demo. The paid documentation site lives in docs/: run npm ci and npm run docs:build to validate it, or npm run docs:dev to preview changes.

License#

The free edition is MIT licensed. Bundled Lucide icons retain their third-party license notices.