If you’re not using Dynamic Island on your iPhone, here’s why you should
Apple’s presentation of A dynamic island in 2022 for iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max was met with a combination of excitement, curiosity and laughter. The feature, which brings up system alerts and shows live updates for apps running in the background, was overshadowed by its name.
On social media, people mocked the name Dynamic Island, saying it sounded like an offbeat tourist destination. Apple enthusiasts worried that this name lacked the subtlety that other Apple feature names, such as AirDrop or FaceTime, possessed. Popular YouTuber MKBHD even paid a backhanded compliment in a Twitter post saying he was “the most apple thing they’ve ever used.”
Whatever you think of the name, Dynamic Island has managed to win fans (apparently even some Android users too). The pill-shaped notch and notification interface replaced the much-maligned notch on the iPhone that housed the True Depth camera system required for Face ID.
Unlike a notch, which was a static physical notch, a dynamic island is an area on top iPhone a display that serves as an interactive hub and changes its shape depending on the context. Within the Dynamic Island remain two discrete cutouts for the camera and sensors, but the surrounding space is a kind of interactive canvas for different content.
Apple’s decision to add Dynamic Island as an already signature iPhone feature marks a move away from rival Android phone makers. The latter chose to replace the notch on the screen of their devices with cutouts for selfie cameras. Through the Dynamic Island, Apple found a way to use the area around its notch for system alerts, app controls, and live activity tracking, among other features.
The dynamic island displays various icons and animations. During a FaceTime call, it shows a green camera icon on the left side.
When inactive, Dynamic Island is a fairly inconspicuous black area that takes up about an inch of the screen, which is less than the previous notch. Depending on the apps you’re using, any running background activities, and iPhone system alerts, Dynamic Island will change to one of three shapes: a long oval, a large pop-up window, and a combination of a medium oval and a circle.
When you’re using an app like Apple Music, it becomes a long oval and shows album art at one end and a waveform for the song that’s playing. In this state, if you tap the dynamic island, it will open the Music app for the current song. If you press and hold the dynamic island, it will pop into a larger window spanning the top of your iPhone with mini playback controls. Likewise, if you receive a call, the pill-shaped cutout extends to display information about the caller.
If you have two apps open at the same time, such as the Music app and Apple Maps, Dynamic Island will appear as a small letter “i” on the side. One of the apps, Maps, has its own middle oval to show turn-by-turn directions. The second app, Music (in this case) is on the right in its own circle – it shows the album art.
The shape Dynamic Island takes when receiving a call.
Because it integrates with third-party apps, Dynamic Island can also display a real-time prediction of your Uber’s arrival, as well as food delivery orders — and when you press and hold on Dynamic Island, it will physically expand to pop-up window to display this information.
Dynamic Island also provides visual feedback for privacy indicators (such as when the microphone or camera are active), file transfers via AirDrop, or Apple Pay transactions, among other system features.
Here are some of the things that Dynamic Island can display:
- System alerts
- Turn-by-turn navigation with Apple Maps or Google Maps
- Contact information and duration of phone calls
- Battery percentage when your iPhone or AirPods are charging
- Find my alerts
- Duration of screen recording
- Covers when playing songs from Apple Music
- Transit card payments
- Live sports scores
- Flight information
- Timer length
- Payments with Face ID
- Files sent with AirDrop
- Mute icon
- Live activities for services like Uber
The ability to dynamically change the format and display relevant content improves the overall user experience. Since launch, Apple has rolled the feature into its base models, meaning the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus also feature a shape-shifting notch in addition to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. If you want to know more about Dynamic Island, read our iPhone 14 Pro Review and ours iPhone 15 reviews.
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