- Apple offers live Election Day results on your iPhone home and lockscreen through its News app.
- You don’t need an Apple News+ subscription to access live election updates on iPhones.
- Here’s how to quickly enable the feature on your iPhone.
Apple News is in full-blown Election Day mode — and that includes a nifty feature that lets you track the results right from your iPhone lockscreen.
The winning candidate will need at least 270 electoral votes to secure victory, and you can keep up with where swing states land at a glance, without having to unlock your iPhone.
The feature is available via the News app, which is owned by Apple, and you don’t need an Apple News+ subscription to enable it.
To turn it on, start by opening up the News app on your iPhone.
Apple might prompt you to allow live election updates “starting Tuesday night” as soon as you open up the app. If so, click the “Follow Live” button and you’re all set.
Those who don’t get the pop-up message should check the “Today” section of the app. There, you should find another clickable prompt under the “Top Stories” banner that will enable real-time election results.
Apple News; Jordan Hart/BI
Once you’ve turned on the election tracker, you should receive a confirmation message that live activity has been scheduled.
The News app comes automatically downloaded to your iPhone, but if you have deleted it, you can re-download it from the App Store.
With polls closing on Tuesday night and many people voting after work, there’s no guarantee that a winner will be projected on Tuesday night. States like Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia will be critical for both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in this election.
For those who decide that having the results staring up at them from their phone’s lockscreen is too much, you can always pop back into the News app and turn it off by tapping the same banner prompt.