The popular 'Dynamic Island' iPhone 14 Pro feature is now available on Android

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In context: The new features and upgraded specs on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro have had iPhone users raving since launch. Some especially love the "Dynamic Island," exclusive to the Pro model. It's become such a welcomed feature that now Andriod developers are copying it.

Apple's recent iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro releases have piqued the interest of Apple fans and enthusiasts, with the phones boasting improved specs, quality-of-life enhancements, and new features. One feature drawing considerable attention, even outside the fandom, is the "Dynamic Island," found only on the iPhone 14 Pro models.

Rather than having a notch, which has plagued iPhones and many other phones with OLED displays, Apple has taken a new approach with the Pro model. Instead of using a static notch-shaped cutout, Dynamic Island takes a software approach to create a blackened area around the camera cutout.

The neat thing about this feature is that it allows the island to display various information, like notifications within the dark space. During the iPhone 14 Pro reveal, Apple demonstrated a few apps, including Apple Pay and music playback using the island to display various related information. Connected devices like AirPods can also display status information in the mini window. Many Android fans have shown an interest in the iPhone's Dynamic Island because it helps mask some of the "ugliness" of the camera cutout, a common feature with OLED phones.

Jawomo is a third-party studio specializing in quality-of-life apps for Android. It listened to Android users' feedback and developed an app called "dynamicSpot" that serves a similar purpose to Apple's Dynamic Island.

Dynamic Island on Z Flip (dynamicspot in the Play Store) pic.twitter.com/0idAMXuB10

— Shane Craig (@ScaryifLiteral) September 22, 2022

The dynamicSpot app works as intended, but push notifications do have to be enabled. Unfortunately, this setup causes a minor quirk that displays the same information twice — once in the expanded camera spot and once in a push notification. The app still has some benefits for users, allowing them to customize many aspects of the island, such as position, size, notifications, and more. Customers can upgrade to a paid version through an in-app purchase. The upgrade allows those customers to perform a long tap on the spot, which expands it into a much larger bubble (above tweet), similar to what Apple demonstrated in the Dynamic Island demo.

Apple's new Dynamic Island is undoubtedly an attractive feature and masks the space around the front-facing camera. Apple's version is more "streamlined" than dynamicSpot. However, Apple allows developers access to the Dynamic Island API, whereas the Android alternative operates at the global push notification level.

Apple is undoubtedly proud of the feature, as it reportedly plans to roll it out to all iPhone 15 models next year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/96104-popular-dynamic-island-iphone-14-pro-feature-now.html

 

[m4a4]

Ha! At least I'd have the option to turn it off on my android (so landscape videos don't have a bubble cut out).

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

Ha! At least I'd have the option to turn it off on my android (so landscape videos don't have a bubble cut out).

I can't swear to it, but I believe it still crops video the same way it does with the notch.

 

[m4a4]

I can't swear to it, but I believe it still crops video the same way it does with the notch.

That could be funny if it allowed you to do that too.
And I guess you could leave it on if you have an android with a holepunch camera anyways (no thanks otherwise).

 

[Hexic]

Another point to Android on flexibility - however I wouldn't find myself using this and intentionally giving up screen real estate for a fad.

 

[Nobina]

Crazy how Apple is good at making something that is negative seem positive to the point where others are imitating it. They could've probably made it without a notch at all but that would mean Apple made a mistake by having it and Apple never admits they're wrong, cause they aren't!

 

[p51d007]

Wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. You want your phone to look and act like an Apple phone?
The spend the stupid money and get one.

 

[hahahanoobs]

The 'popular' Dynamic Island iPhone 14 Pro feature is now available on Android

Fixed. lol
I like the look of the island, but having my fingers that high up on the screen tapping stuff doesn't make sense to me at this time.

 

[netman]

"The popular 'Dynamic Island' iPhone 14 Pro feature is now available on Android"

It's more like Deserted Island...!

 

[y6Tq2RGXEejb]

Crazy how Apple is good at making something that is negative seem positive to the point where others are imitating it. They could've probably made it without a notch at all but that would mean Apple made a mistake by having it and Apple never admits they're wrong, cause they aren't!

They literally just made a thicker MacBook with an HDMI port and an SD card slot, without the touchbar, and with a nicer keyboard. Give them time, they're slowly learning =]