What Dynamic Island Does and How to Use It on the iPhone 14 Pro

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When Apple announced the iPhone 14 Pro models, it surprised many with its innovative integration of software functions with the pill-shaped cutout at the top of the screen, labelled the “Dynamic Island.” This article describes what it does, how it functions, and how you can interact with it to perform actions.

What Is Dynamic Island and How Does It Work?

We learned early in the rumour cycle, before the iPhone 14 Pro was announced, that Apple was working on a notch alternative that included a pill-shaped cutout and a hole punch cutout to house the TrueDepth camera hardware.

We didn’t exclusively report these cutouts would appear as one contiguous, longer pill shape when the iPhone 14 Pro was in use until late August, a week after Apple’s iPhone event invitations went out, and that Apple also planned to integrate software functions around the pill until late August, a week after Apple’s iPhone event invitations went out.

As we now know, display pixels around what Apple calls the “Dynamic Island” on the iPhone 14 Pro models merge it into a single pill-shaped area that changes size and shape to accommodate various types of alerts, notifications, and interactions, transforming it into a kind of front-and-center information hub.

Which iPhone Models Feature Dynamic Island?

The Dynamic Island is only available for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. The notch on the standard iPhone 14 models remains the same as it was on the iPhone 13 models.

What Can Dynamic Island Do?

Here’s a list of the various functions Dynamic Island can perform.

Dynamic Island: Display Outputs and Alerts

Apple Pay transaction confirmations
Privacy indicators when microphone or camera is in use
AirDrop file transfers
AirPods connection status and battery life
‌iPhone‌ charging status and battery life
Low battery alerts
Silent mode turned on or off
Face ID unlocking
Carkey locking/unlocking
Apple Watch unlocking
NFC interactions
AirPlay connections
Focus mode changes
Shortcut actions
Airplane mode/no data alerts
SIM card alerts
Accessories connect
Find My alerts

Dynamic Island: Background Activities

Upcoming and turn-by-turn Maps directions
Incoming phone call and duration of call
Time remaining of playing song
Active timers
Live Activity sports scores
SharePlay sessions
Screen Recording
Voice memo recordings
Personal Hotspot connection

Can I Interact With Dynamic Island?

Certain types of content displayed in the Dynamic Island can be interacted with. For example, if it displays something related to an app’s background activity, you can tap the Dynamic Island to go directly to that app.

In some cases, such as when media is playing, long pressing the Dynamic Island will bring up a widget with playback controls.

The Dynamic Island can also display multiple background activities at the same time, such as when a timer is counting down and you’re listening to music. When this occurs, the island divides into a larger pill-shaped area and a smaller circular area, allowing you to see and interact with both activities. You can switch between them and tap into them in the same way that you do with the standard Dynamic Island interface.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models is the type of impressive software-hardware integration that Apple is known for, and the ability of third-party developers to tap into its potential means we can expect new and unexpected features to emerge.

Furthermore, Dynamic Island will work with Live Activities in third-party apps when iOS 16.1 is released later in 2022, so there is plenty to look forward to.

Source :

Hardwick, T. (2022, September 19). IPhone 14 pro: What Dynamic Island does and how to use it. MacRumors. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/use-dynamic-island-iphone-14-pro/

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