Comparison

ActivitySmith vs PushWard

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

ActivitySmith

Stream real-time progress and outcomes of long-running tasks to your iOS device's Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Receive high-signal alerts for critical events via push notifications. Integrates with various backend services and development tools.

Highlights
  • Live Activities for Lock Screen and Dynamic Island
  • Push Notifications for alerts
  • Update via HTTP requests
  • Track CI/CD, jobs, and events
  • Pair devices and create API keys
  • Widgets for lock screen metrics
Features
Read full description

ActivitySmith lets you send Live Activities and Push Notifications to your iOS device(s) from any backend. Keep long-running work visible at a glance: stream progress, step-by-step status, and outcomes to your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Use Push Notifications for high-signal alerts (failures, incidents, signups, sales, crashes, etc). Anything that can make an HTTP request can update a Live Activity or send a Push Notification - CI/CD, servers, cron, agents, webhooks, or plain curl. Use cases: - CI/CD deployments and build pipelines - Long-running jobs (migrations, backups, ETL) and background agents - On-call alerts and incident workflows - Business events (sales, signups, trial conversions) - Home Automation How it works: - Install ActivitySmith and pair your device - Create API key - Send custom Push Notifications with a simple API call - Trigger Live Activities to track deployments or any other long-running processes in a real-time - Target one or more paired devices as needed - Use widgets to track key metrics from your lock screen SDKs: Node.js, PHP, Ruby, Python, Go, CLI Integrations: GitHub, GitLab, Vercel, Railway, Netlify, Sentry, Linear, Zapier, n8n, more coming soon...

About

PushWard

Features
Read full description

PushWard turns plain HTTP requests into iOS Live Activities. Bridge your backend services to the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen — one API call starts an activity, another updates it. HOW IT WORKS 1. Create an activity with a template and slug via the API 2. Update state and content with a simple PATCH request 3. The update lands on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island instantly No APNs certificates to manage. No device tokens to track. 8 BUILT-IN TEMPLATES • Generic — Track any progress with a customizable bar, state label, and countdown timer • Countdown — Auto-managed timer with server-side warning and completion pushes • Steps — CI/CD step indicator with matrix job support and stage tracking • Alert — Severity-based alerts with deep links to dashboards and alert rules • Gauge — Monitor values within a range with auto-calculated progress and min/max labels • Timeline — Real-time sparkline chart with multi-series support, thresholds, and auto-scaling • Board — A grid of up to four status tiles, each with a value, unit, icon, color, and trend arrow • Log — A live, scrolling feed of events with timestamps and severity, newest first 20 READY-MADE INTEGRATIONS Webhook relay (zero code, no server needed): Grafana • ArgoCD • Radarr • Sonarr • Bazarr • Jellyfin • Paperless-ngx • Uptime Kuma • Gatus • Overseerr • Proxmox • Changedetection • Unmanic • Backrest Self-hosted Docker bridges: GitHub Actions • SABnzbd • Bambu Lab 3D Printer • Unraid NAS • Grafana (advanced) Smart home: Home Assistant via HACS — track any entity as a Live Activity KEY FEATURES • Apple Watch app — view your Live Activities and notification history on your wrist, with watch-face complications and Smart Stack support for all templates • Made for iPad — a universal app with an adaptive two-pane layout and full landscape support • Live Activity designer — build and push a Live Activity right from the app, no code required • Siri & Shortcuts — send a notification or open your unread inbox hands-free • Control Center controls — fire a widget webhook or open your inbox from Control Center • Powerful search — search your entire notification and email history on device, and find any notification from Spotlight • Critical Alerts — let your most urgent notifications break through silent mode and Focus • Sign in with Apple — no passwords or email required • Up to 5 concurrent Live Activities with priority-based smart eviction • Activity sharing via share codes and universal links • Push-to-Start — the server starts Live Activities on your device remotely • Scoped integration keys with slug restrictions and rotation • Custom accent, background, and text colors (named or hex) • In-app notification inbox with per-source preferences • Email delivery — send emails to your verified recipients and browse your sent history • iCloud sync — your settings stay in sync across all your devices • Interactive demo — try all templates without any setup • Full account deletion — instantly, no hoops PRIVACY BY DESIGN • No analytics, ad networks, or tracking • Sign in with Apple only — we never see your email • API tokens stored as SHA-256 hashes • Activities auto-clean via configurable TTLs • All communication over HTTPS/TLS and encrypted APNs PRICING PushWard has a generous free tier — no credit card required: • 500 push notifications and 250 Live Activity updates per month • 3 registered devices and up to 5 concurrent Live Activities • All templates and full REST API access Upgrade any time for unlimited notifications and updates, Activity Sharing via share codes, and up to 10 registered devices: • PushWard Plan — billed annually, with a 14-day free trial • Family — billed annually, shared with up to 5 family members • Founding — a one-time Lifetime purchase that never renews Pricing is shown on the in-app paywall. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://pushward.app/privacy

Screenshots

ActivitySmith4 screens
PushWard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ActivitySmith at none against PushWard's 3. ActivitySmith also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). PushWard's advantage is chart position (#131 vs unranked) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. PushWard sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $23.99 per year. ActivitySmith asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ActivitySmith ships an update weekly, PushWard every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences Ā· 5 level
ActivitySmith versus PushWard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterActivitySmithPushWard
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
Best chart rank—#131 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdam BardonMACIEJ KEDZIORA

In-app purchases

None

ActivitySmith

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

PushWard

Subscriptions2
  • PushWard Plan14 Days trial$23.991 Year
  • Family14 Days trial$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$99.00

Questions

Is ActivitySmith free?
ActivitySmith is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PushWard free?
PushWard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ActivitySmith or PushWard have ads?
Neither ActivitySmith nor PushWard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ActivitySmith or PushWard?
ActivitySmith ships an update weekly, and PushWard every 5 days. Most recently, ActivitySmith was updated on September 19, 2026 and PushWard on September 13, 2026.

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