Widgets & Live Activity

Track rest timers on the Dynamic Island, and glance at your training data right from your home screen with widgets and Live Activity.

Live Activity & Dynamic Island

During active training sessions, Big Brain Barbell uses Live Activity to display your rest timer outside of the app. This means you can lock your phone between sets and still see exactly how much rest time you have left — no need to keep the app open.

Dynamic Island (iPhone 14 Pro and later)

On devices with a Dynamic Island, the rest timer integrates directly into the pill-shaped cutout at the top of your screen. When you complete a set, the Dynamic Island expands briefly to show your rest countdown, then settles into a compact view. You can tap it at any time to expand the timer or jump back into your session.

The compact view shows the remaining seconds ticking down in real time. When the rest period completes, the Dynamic Island pulses to let you know it's time for your next set.

Lock Screen

On all supported devices (including those without a Dynamic Island), the rest timer also appears as a Live Activity on the lock screen. This gives you a larger view of the countdown along with context about your current exercise and set number.

The lock screen Live Activity shows:

  • Remaining rest time with a countdown animation
  • The exercise name for the set you just completed
  • A progress indicator for how far through the rest period you are

Automatic Start & Stop

The Live Activity starts automatically when you log a set that has a rest period configured. You do not need to manually start a timer — Big Brain Barbell handles it for you. The Live Activity ends automatically when:

  • The rest timer completes and you begin your next set
  • You manually dismiss or skip the rest timer in the app
  • You end the training session

Tip: Make sure Live Activities are enabled in your device settings. Go to Settings > Big Brain Barbell and confirm that Live Activities is toggled on. If you don't see the rest timer on the Dynamic Island or lock screen, this is the most common fix.

Home Screen Widgets

Big Brain Barbell offers three home screen widgets that give you quick access to your training data without opening the app. Each widget is designed to surface the most useful information at a glance so you can stay on top of your training.

Big Brain Barbell widget on the iOS home screen

Widget Types

Next Session

See your upcoming training session at a glance. The Next Session widget displays the exercises in your next scheduled session along with a status indicator so you always know when you need to train.

Status indicators include:

  • Today — Your next session is scheduled for today
  • Tomorrow — Your next session is scheduled for tomorrow
  • In X days — Shows how many days until your next session
  • Overdue — A session has passed its scheduled date without being completed

Tap the widget to open the session directly in the app and start training immediately.

Supported Sizes
Small, Medium

Current Progress

Track your estimated rep maxes at a glance. The Current Progress widget shows your current E1RM or E10RM for a selected exercise, along with a trend indicator that tells you whether your strength is going up, holding steady, or declining. This is a great way to stay motivated and aware of your progress day to day.

You can configure which exercise and metric (E1RM or E10RM) the widget displays by long-pressing the widget and selecting "Edit Widget."

Supported Sizes
Small, Medium

Progress Chart

Visualize your strength progress with a line chart showing E1RM or E10RM trends over the last 12 weeks. The Progress Chart widget provides a quick visual snapshot of whether your training is trending in the right direction. Like the Current Progress widget, you can configure which exercise and metric to display.

The medium size shows a compact chart, while the large size provides a more detailed view with labeled axes and data points.

Supported Sizes
Medium, Large

Adding Widgets

To add a Big Brain Barbell widget to your home screen:

  1. Long-press on an empty area of your home screen until the apps start jiggling
  2. Tap the + button in the top-left corner to open the widget gallery
  3. Search for "Big Brain Barbell" in the search bar at the top
  4. Browse the available widgets and swipe through the size options for each
  5. Tap Add Widget to place it on your home screen
  6. Drag the widget to reposition it where you'd like
  7. Tap Done in the top-right corner to save your layout

You can also add widgets to your Today View by swiping right from the home screen and following the same steps.

Configuring Widgets

The Current Progress and Progress Chart widgets support configuration, allowing you to choose exactly what data is displayed:

  1. Long-press the widget on your home screen
  2. Select Edit Widget from the context menu
  3. Tap the Exercise field to choose which exercise to track — the list shows all exercises in your current program
  4. Tap the Metric field to select E1RM (estimated one-rep max) or E10RM (estimated ten-rep max)
  5. Tap outside the configuration panel to save your changes

Widget data refreshes approximately every 4 hours. Opening the app triggers an immediate data refresh for all widgets.

Note: If you change your active program, widgets will automatically update to reflect exercises from the new program the next time they refresh. Open the app to force an immediate update.

Troubleshooting

If your widgets aren't working as expected, try these common fixes:

Widget Shows "No Data"

This usually means the widget hasn't been able to load your training data yet. To fix it:

  • Open Big Brain Barbell to ensure the app has been launched at least once since installation
  • Make sure you have an active program with scheduled sessions — widgets need program data to display
  • Wait a moment, then check the widget again — it should update shortly after the app is opened

Widget Not Updating

iOS manages widget refresh schedules and may throttle updates to save battery life. If your widget seems stuck on old data:

  • Open the Big Brain Barbell app — this forces an immediate data refresh for all widgets
  • Ensure Background App Refresh is enabled for Big Brain Barbell in Settings > General > Background App Refresh
  • If the widget still shows stale data, remove it and re-add it from the widget gallery

Widget Not Appearing in Gallery

If you can't find Big Brain Barbell when searching the widget gallery:

  • Make sure you've opened the app at least once after installing it — widgets won't register until the first launch
  • Try restarting your device — this forces iOS to re-index available widgets
  • Check that Big Brain Barbell is still installed and hasn't been offloaded by iOS