If You’re Not Using the Dynamic Island on Your iPhone, Here’s Why You Should
Launched by Apple dynamic island 2022 iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max We were greeted with excitement, curiosity and laughter. The feature can display system alerts and show real-time updates of apps running in the background, but its name overshadows it.
On social media, people poked fun at the name Dynamic Island, saying it sounded like an offbeat tourist destination. Apple enthusiasts worry that the name isn’t as clever as other Apple feature names like AirDrop or FaceTime. Popular YouTuber MKBHD even posted on Twitter that “this is”The applest thing they’ve ever used“.
No matter how you feel about the name, Dynamic Island has managed to win over fans (even some, apparently) Android Same goes for users). The pill-shaped cutout and alert interface replace the much-maligned iPhone notch, which houses the True-Depth camera system required for Face ID.
Unlike the notch, which is a static physical cutout, a dynamic island is an area at the top iPhone display, which acts as an interaction hub and changes shape depending on context. Within the dynamic island, two discreet cutouts are reserved for cameras and sensors, but the surrounding area is an interactive canvas for a variety of content.
Apple’s decision to add Dynamic Island as a signature iPhone feature marks a departure from rival Android phone makers. The latter has chosen to replace the screen notch on its device with a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera. With Dynamic Island, Apple has found a way to use the area around its cutout for features like system alerts, app control, and tracking real-time activity.
Dynamic islands display different icons and animations. During a FaceTime call, it will display a green camera icon on the left side.
When idle, the dynamic island is a fairly unobtrusive black area that takes up about an inch of screen real estate, which is smaller than the previous notch. Depending on the apps you’re using, any background activity running, and iPhone system alerts, the dynamic island will change into one of three shapes: an oblong oval, a large popup, and a combination of a medium oval and circle.
When using a single app like Apple Music, it turns into an oblong shape and displays the album cover and the waveform of the song being played on one end. In this state, if you click on the dynamic island, it will open the music application for the current song. If you hold down Dynamic Island, it pops up a larger window across the top of your iPhone with mini playback controls. Likewise, if you receive a call, the pill-shaped cutout extends to display caller information.
If you have two apps open at the same time, such as the Music app and Apple Maps, the side of the dynamic island will look like a lowercase letter “i.” One of the apps, Maps, has its own medium-sized oval to display route navigation. The second app “Music” (in this case) is on the right in its own circle – displaying the album artwork.
The form that the dynamic island takes on when it receives a call.
Thanks to its integration with third-party apps, Dynamic Island can also display real-time estimates of Uber arrivals as well as food delivery orders – when you hold down Dynamic Island, its physical size will expand to a pop-up that displays that information.
Dynamic islands also provide visual feedback for privacy indicators (such as when the microphone or camera is active), AirDrop file transfers or Apple Pay transactions, and other system functions.
Here are some of the things a dynamic island can show:
- System alert
- Get directions using Apple Maps or Google Maps
- Phone contact information and call length
- iPhone or AirPods battery percentage while charging
- Find my reminder
- Screen recording duration
- Cover art when playing songs from Apple Music
- Transportation card payment
- Live sports scores
- Flight information
- Timer length
- Pay with Face ID
- Files sent via AirDrop
- mute icon
- Real-time activity from services like Uber
The ability to dynamically change shapes and display relevant content enhances the overall user experience. Since launch, Apple has trickled the feature into its base models, meaning that in addition to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus also come with a transforming notch. If you’d like to learn more about Dynamic Islands, read our iPhone 14 Pro review and our iPhone 15 Comment.
