The dynamic island was the most notable visual novelty of the new iPhone 14 Pro. It replaces the notch and is one of the best software and hardware integrations I’ve seen in years. It expands to display information and can even be separated if needed. Now Apple has added new features that will please more than one.
The art of turning a defect into a virtue
The dynamic island is the perfect example of what Apple is. They turned what at the beginning was a problem, into a novelty which is the favorite of many users of its new flagship. What could have remained a black pill that covered part of the screen has finally become a new multitasking center that stands out from any other smartphone.
Those in Cupertino were able to do something amazing, and it will get better as third-party companies develop new features for Dynamic Island. Apple still has a lot of room for improvement. You can add more interactions and news. Proof of this is this tweet from Ryan Jones, CEO of Flighty apps.
How to control the dynamic island with swipes:
– slide to the center = reduce
– sweep from the center = developEven works with 2 activities and rubber bands when maxed out. pic.twitter.com/8tMrVbZrF0
— Ryan Jones (@rjonesy) October 5, 2022
As we can see, it seems that Apple recently added new ways to interact with Dynamic Island:
- Sliding to the center makes it smaller if it was previously extended with apps like Apple Music or Maps. Interestingly, if you swipe in the opposite direction, it reverts to what it was originally.
- When there are two elements on the dynamic island, swiping from the right makes the smallest disappear giving all the place to the principal. In a case similar to the first, swiping in the opposite direction causes it to reappear.
- Dragging to the other side makes the parent element disappear and puts the smallest element in the foreground. Of course, like the previous two cases, swiping in the opposite direction will make the original parent reappear.
The truth is that the dynamic island is very interesting, and I think that Apple has the opportunity to re-defining the market trend as it did with the notch. If those of Cupertino continue to add features to the dynamic island, we could be, in a moment, faced with one of the best multitasking systems in the world.
