What is Dynamic Island and how does it work?
Early in the rumor cycle before the iPhone 14 Pro was announced, we learned that Apple was working on a notch alternative that incorporates a pill-shaped notch and a punch-hole notch to accommodate the TrueDepth camera hardware. It wasn’t until late August, a week after Apple’s iPhone event invites were published, that we exclusively reported that these cutouts would appear as a continuous, longer pill shape when the iPhone 14 Pro used, and that Apple also planned to incorporate software works around from the pill. As we now know, on the iPhone 14 Pro models, the display pixels around what Apple calls the “Dynamic Island” merge into a pill-shaped area that changes size and shape to accommodate different types of notifications, notifications and interactions, transforming in a kind of information center.
Which iPhone models have Dynamic Island?
Dynamic Island is limited to iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. The standard iPhone 14 models continue to offer the same notch as the iPhone 13 models.
What can Dynamic Island do?
Here’s a breakdown of the many functions that Dynamic Island can fulfill.
Dynamic Island: Show expenses and notifications
Apple Pay transaction confirmations Privacy indications when a microphone or camera is used AirDrop file transfers AirPods connection status and battery life iPhone charging status and battery life Low battery notifications Silent mode is enabled or disabled Unlock Face ID Lock/unlock the key Unlock Apple Watch NFC interactions AirPlay connections The focus mode changes Shortcut actions Airplane mode/no data notifications SIM card notifications Accessories are connected Find my notifications
Dynamic Island: Background Activity
Upcoming and detailed instructions on the Maps Incoming call and call duration Time remaining to play the song Active timers Results of sports live activities SharePlay sessions Screen recording Voice memo recordings Personal Hotspot connection
Can I interact with Dynamic Island?
It is possible to interact with certain types of content displayed on Dynamic Island. For example, if it’s showing something related to an app’s background activity, you can tap Dynamic Island to go directly to the relevant app. In some cases, such as when playing media, you can also press and hold Dynamic Island to bring up a widget containing playback controls. Dynamic Island is also capable of displaying multiple background activities at once, such as when a timer is counting down and when you’re listening to music. When this happens, the island splits into a larger pill-shaped area and a smaller circular area so you can see and interact with both activities. You can switch between them and tap on them, just like you can with the standard Dynamic Island interface.
Final thoughts
Overall, the Dynamic Island models on the iPhone 14 Pro are the kind of impressive integration of software and hardware that Apple is known for, and the ability of third-party developers to take advantage of its capabilities means we can expect new and unexpected features to emerge. from this. Additionally, with the release of iOS 16.1 later in 2022, Dynamic Island will also work with Live Activities in third-party apps, so there’s a lot more to look forward to.
