How to track US election results live on your iPhone or iPad
Learn how to track and follow real-time results of the 2024 presidential election happening today in the United States on your iPhone and iPad.
US voters are choosing their next president between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. However, calling the race could take several days depending on how close things will be in swing states Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Instead of anxiously checking social sites and polarized news media every few minutes, why not track the election results live on your iPhone and Apple Watch? Apple’s editorial team has prepared a special section in the News app dedicated to the election, and you can get real-time updates via Live Activities.
Introduced alongside iOS 16, the Live Activities feature displays up-to-date glanceable snippets of information from compatible apps on the lockscreen, in StandBy Mode and within the Dynamic Island. With watchOS 11 and iOS 18, these updates also appear on your Apple Watch face in the Smart Stack.
How to track US election results live on your iPhone
To receive real-time updates for the 2024 United States presidential election, open the News app on your iPhone or iPad, select the Today tab at the bottom and hit the banner labeled “Follow the 2024 election live” at the top of the app or underneath the Top Stories section. If you don’t see the banner, select the Following tab and find it under the Special Coverage section.
A popup appears when the live activity has been enabled. Whenever there are election updates, they’ll appear on your iPhone’s lockscreen and within its Dynamic Island. You can dismiss a live activity by swiping across the Dynamic Island area.
AppleInsider reports the live activity will have a large lockscreen widget that will open the latest election coverage in the News app when tapped. “The Dynamic Island will show the electoral count for each candidate continuously,” as well as Senate and House election results, the publication notes.
“Only devices with a Dynamic Island will get the special UI,” the publication notes. The Dynamic Island is found on the iPhone 14 Pro models, as well as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 lineups.
On Apple Watch, the widget will appear within the Smart Stack, available when you turn the Digital Crown button on the watch face. “It isn’t clear how long Apple News will keep the Live Activity active, as it could be days before preliminary calls are made on the results and final tallies aren’t due until December 11,” it reads.
How to enable Apple News in unsupported countries
Apple News is available in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, according to Apple’s iOS and iPadOS Feature Availability page. Folks in other countries won’t see the News app on their homescreen. Thankfully, there’s a workaround to enable Apple News if it is unavailable in your country.
As our step-by-step tutorial explains, changing your device region in Settings > General > Language & Region to one of the countries where Apple News is available, like the United States, will do the trick. The News app icon should appear on your homescreen. If not, restart your device.
