Live Countdown
Open Settings → Widgets & Live Activity and set Live Countdown to On. Before your next timed event, InstaCal places it on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island: the event's title and a countdown to its start, then the time left once it begins, then Ended when it is over. On Apple Watch it shows on the watch face and in the Smart Stack the same way.
Show chooses how early it appears: 30 minutes, 1 hour (where it starts), 2 hours or 4 hours before start. Countdown Style below it decides whether it shows the countdown, the start time, or the start time and then a countdown from the moment Switch to countdown sets.
On iOS 26 and later your next event's Live Countdown starts by itself. A later one, and every one on earlier versions of iOS, needs InstaCal to start it, so with Begin Countdown Notification on, a notification arrives when it is due and opening it starts the countdown. Setup offers the Live Countdown as a switch on its last page; it is off until you turn it on.
Departure-aware activity
When travel time and leave-by alerts are enabled for a resolvable location, the activity can transition from event countdown to departure guidance. The estimate uses the event time, route and any extra buffer selected in Settings.
Lock Screen widgets
Add InstaCal from the Lock Screen customization gallery. Compact widgets provide glanceable date, next-item or quick-action information without opening the full app.
Quick Add control
On supported systems, add InstaCal’s Quick Add control to Control Center or another system control surface. Selecting it opens the natural-language field ready for an event or reminder.
If an activity does not appear
Confirm Live Activities are allowed for InstaCal in the system Settings, notifications are permitted, a timed event is coming up within the Show window, and Live Countdown is on under Settings → Widgets & Live Activity. Low Power Mode and system limits can affect update frequency.
