Check out these tidbits to learn how the Dynamic Island feature on the iPhone 14 Pro and newer works and what you can expect from it.
The infamous notch morphs into Dynamic Island
The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max brought a redesigned notch—a cutout at the top of the display panel—making it much more functional than before. All models from the iPhone 15 lineup onward now have this feature, called Dynamic Island.
Dynamic Island comprises a pill-shaped cutout housing the TrueDepth camera and sensors, and a small hole for the selfie camera. These two separate sections morph into one a seamless area thanks to Apple’s software trickery and sleek animations.
The Dynamic Island area can display various controls from compatible apps and information updates via Live Activities, like food or package delivery status. Dynamic Island also improves your multitasking by housing two apps while you’re interacting with the main app which takes up the whole screen.
As an example, Dynamic Island may display a waveform from the Music app along with a clock icon. Touching and holding the waveform expands the Now Playing controls, while touching the clock icon reveals your timers.
Dynamic Island on screenshots when in use
The Dynamic Island hardware doesn’t show up in screenshots taken when the feature is inactive. But if you take a screenshot while Dynamic Island is in use, it’ll be visible on the image. The same is true if you take a screenshot when privacy dots for camera or microphone are displayed within Dynamic Island.
Apps and system features that work with Dynamic Island
Many built-in features are compatible with Dynamic Island, like system timers, media controls, Shazam Recognization and various status messages like low battery alerts. Apple provides APIs for third-party developers to implement Dynamic Island functionality in their apps. Many apps for sports, food delivery, taxi hailing, flights, maps, and similar make great use of both Dynamic Island and Live Activities.
System alerts and notifications:
- Incoming call
- AirPods connected
- Face ID
- Apple Pay
- CarKey
- AirDrop
- Watch unlock
- Low battery
- Charging
- Silent switch ON/OFF
- NFC interactions
- AirPlay
- Focus changes
- Shortcuts
- Airplane mode/no data alert
- SIM card alerts
- Accessories connect
- Find My
Live Activities:
- Ongoing call
- SharePlay
- Music/Now playing apps
- Timer
- Maps directions
- Voice memos
- Screen Recording
- Personal Hotspot
- Indicators:
- Microphone
- Camera
Now Playing:
- Spotify
- Stitcher
- Audible
- Amazon Music
- NPR One
- Overcast
- Pandora
- YouTube Music
- SoundCloud
CallKit:
- Google Voice
- Skype
A feature that keeps getting better
Regardless of your thoughts on the Dynamic Island name, Apple continues to make more of its own apps compatible with Dynamic Island. For example, iOS 18 lets you monitor your stopwatch within Dynamic Island whilst using other apps.