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- The Dynamic Island is an interactive notch that surrounds the iPhone's front camera and FaceID sensor.
- It doubles as a hub for alerts, notifications, and app shortcuts, and can change in appearance.
- Dynamic Island is exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro models.
Among several new and notable features Apple announced during the iPhone 14 Pro unveil is the Dynamic Island.
Calling it a redesigned notch wouldn't be accurate, but it is a new and creative way for the space at the top of the iPhone's screen to be used. The feature is exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
"Dynamic" refers to its interactive nature. Unlike the notch, which is static and takes up space, the Dynamic Island can not only display basic information and notifications, but it can also appear to expand in size to show more information. Users can tap on it, giving them a new way to interact with their iPhone.
Here's everything to know about Apple's Dynamic Island.
The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are Apple's current high-end smartphones. They feature 48 megapixel cameras, a Dynamic Island at the top of the screen that morphs based on your apps, and a top-notch processor in Apple's A16 Bionic chip.
What is Apple's Dynamic Island?
Dynamic Island is Apple's newly designed "notch" for the iPhone Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. The oval-shaped cutout sits at the top of the screen, and hides the front camera and FaceID sensors. Instead of a "dead space" at the top of the device, the Dynamic Island can show notifications, alerts, or real-time information.
The Dynamic Island appears whenever your phone is unlocked. Through on-screen animations, the cutout appears to expand and shrink, depending on whatever information it's displaying. It also serves as a hub for shortcuts you can tap to bring you directly to apps you're using running in the background, like a music-streaming app and a timer.
It shows when your iPhone 14 Pro is locked or unlocked
By expanding slightly and showing a simple lock/unlock animation, the Dynamic Island lets you know that your phone has unlocked.
It displays the charging status of your iPhone
When you plug your iPhone in to charge, the Dynamic Island expands to offer a subtle notification that you're charging your phone and shows your battery level.
You can control phone calls
You'll get a typical notification on the Dynamic Island when you're receiving a call, which lets you hang up or pick up. The Dynamic Island makes it easier to disconnect a call after you're done, as you simply need to tap the Island and tap the hang-up button without switching away from an app you're using. In the past, you had to tap the phone call alert on the top left of the screen to return to the phone call screen to hang up.
It shows you when you connect to AirPods
The connected AirPods notification is moving to the Dynamic Island, which has become a central hub for alerts and notifications rather than freestanding notifications that appeared in different places in iOS. Tapping on the Dynamic Island shows you which pair of AirPods are connected, as well as the battery percentage.
It can display music you're listening to and media controls
Album art displays on the Dynamic Island while you're playing music, and you can tap on the Dynamic Island to bring up music controls, like play/pause/previous/next. It also includes the option for enabling AirPlay.
It means you don't need to reopen your music streaming app, or swipe from the top-right of the screen to open the control center, for basic audio controls. And if you use a widget for music controls now, the Dynamic Island lets you reclaim that screen space.
You can get travel alerts
Useful, dynamic info and updates from apps can be shown on the Dynamic Island instead of a notification that leads you to the app itself. Tapping on the Dynamic Island for travel information expands the notification to show you the flight number, whether the flight is on time, and how many bags the traveler has checked in.
It can give you turn-by-turn directions
To further centralize where you'll find useful information, you'll get an alert for an upcoming driving direction step from the Dynamic Island when the Maps app is in the background. The alert will expand when it comes time to take the next step, which helps catch your attention.
It shows you AirDrop notifications and status
The new AirDrop notification on the Dynamic Island shows you the progress of the download or upload. You can tap the Dynamic Island to get a bigger and clearer view of the AirDrop's progress.
It shows the status of ride share services like Lyft
The Dynamic Island will persistently show you how many minutes your ride share car will take to get to you. You can tap on the Island to get more information, like the name and photo of the driver, the driver rating, make of the car, and the license plate information.
It shows when FaceID is being used
The FaceID animation expands from the Dynamic Island in a move that further consolidates alerts and notifications to the top of the iPhone.
It can show you multiple shortcuts for things you're doing on your iPhone
The Dynamic Island can show you what's running in the background, and you can tap on the relevant icons as a shortcut that brings you straight to the relevant app.
For example, the Island will show a timer icon when you have a timer going alongside playing music. Tapping on either icon will bring you to their apps.
