When the iPhone 14 Pro models were announced, Apple surprised many with its innovative integration of software features with a pill-shaped cutout at the top of the screen, which it calls “Dynamic Island”. This article explains what it does, how it works, and how you can interact with it to perform actions.
What is a 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 an alternative to the notch that included a pill-shaped cutout and a hole-punch cutout to house the TrueDepth camera hardware.
It wasn’t until late August, a week after Apple’s iPhone event invites went out, that we exclusively reported that these cutouts would appear as one adjacent, longer pill shape when the iPhone 14 Pro is used, and that Apple also plans to integrate software functions around the pill.
As we now know, on the iPhone 14 Pro models, the display’s pixels around what Apple calls the “Dynamic Island” merge into one pill-shaped area that changes size and shape to accommodate different types of alerts, notifications and interactions , making it a kind of front and center information hub.
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 Dynamic Island can perform.
Dynamic Island: Display outputs and warnings
- Apple Pay transaction confirmations
- Privacy indicators when using a microphone or camera
- Transfer files using AirDrop
- AirPods connection status and battery life
- iPhone state of charge and battery life
- Low battery alerts
- Silent mode is on or off
- Face ID unlock
- Key lock/unlock
- Unlock Apple Watch
- NFC interactions
- AirPlay connections
- The focus mode changes
- Shortcut actions
- Airplane mode/no data alerts
- SIM alerts
- Accessories connect
- Find my alerts
Dynamic Island: Background Activities
- Upcoming and detailed directions on Maps
- Incoming phone call and call duration
- Remaining time to play a song
- Active timers
- Active sports live scores
- SharePlay sessions
- Screen recording
- Voice memo recordings
- Personal Hotspot connection
Can I interact with Dynamic Island?
You may 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 switch straight to the associated app.
In certain circumstances, such as when media is playing, you can also long-press the dynamic island to bring up an executable containing playback controls.
Dynamic Island can also display multiple background activities at once, such as when the 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 on the iPhone 14 Pro models is 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 potential means we can expect new and unexpected features to emerge from him.
In addition, 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 more to look forward to.
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