Dynamic Island and Live Activities explained: A complete guide

In 2022, when Apple launched the iPhone 14 series and iOS 16, it introduced two new features that are now an integral part of the iPhone experience. Of course, we are talking about the Dynamic Island and Live Activities.

Now, initially, while all iPhone 14 variants could benefit from the Live Activities feature, only the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max came with the Dynamic Island. Thankfully, the era of the notch ended in 2023 when all iPhone 15 models adopted the pill-shaped cut-out.

But what is this so-called "Dynamic Island," and what are "Live Activities" exactly? Well, we are here to answer these questions and explain how both features work, as well as give you some examples of the best ways to use them.

The iPhone's Dynamic Island: How to get the most out of it

Dynamic Island System Animations

As we already established, one of the main functions of the iPhone’s Dynamic Island is to give you a quicker, easier, and less obtrusive access to information. Most of the time, you will notice this type of functionality in the form of real-time system alerts.

For example, the Dynamic Island lets you know that you’ve unlocked your iPhone, or that Face ID has been used for an Apple Pay transaction. You also get low-battery alerts, AirPods connection status and battery life, Focus mode changes, privacy indicators and more.

Here’s the full list of system notifications that the Dynamic Island displays by changing its shape and form:

• Locking and unlocking the screen
• Toggling the Silent/Ring mode
• Low battery (20%)
• Charging
• Screen recording
• Voice recording
• Privacy lights when camera and microphone are in use
• Face ID
• Hotspot on
• Shortcuts
• Airdrop transfers (shows you the progress)
• Find My alerts
• AirPods connection status and battery life
• Apple Watch unlocking
• Third party accessory connected
• NFC interactions
• Incoming and ongoing call
• Focus mode changes
• Airplane mode on/off
• Flashlight indication

How Dynamic Island Enhances User Experience

Besides giving you neat indications such as the ones listed above, the Dynamic Island can also be utilized as an interactive widget, with quick controls for the current applications running in the background.

One of the most simple examples for this is when you are streaming music. Let’s say you are playing a song from Spotify or Apple Music. You can press and hold on the Dynamic Island, making it expand, to show the name and artist, previous/pause/next song buttons, and a cast button to change which device the sound is coming from. This is also true for when you are streaming content via AirPlay, which I found particularly useful as I tend to use AirPlay often with my TV.

Another very good example is the Timer app. If you have an active timer in the background, you not only get the countdown presented inside the Dynamic Island, but can also press and hold to reveal a “pause” and “end” buttons. I use this one every day, as I need to time 15 minutes every morning after taking my allergy medication. The cut-out works the same way for voice and screen recordings.

A different instance where the Dynamic Island comes in very handy is during navigation. Instead of having to open your app of choice, be it Google Maps or any other, you can simply follow the turn-by-turn directions that appear as the Dynamic Island expands. This one I personally do not use that much, as I prefer having my navigation app of choice constantly up, but it might come in handy for other users out there.

As you can see, the obvious benefit the Dynamic Island offers here is that users no longer have to exit the current interface to access some of the most frequently used applications on the iPhone. Essentially, this is a multitasking tool that aims to make navigating iOS more convenient, intuitive, and less obtrusive.

Top Third-Party Apps For Dynamic Island

Apple has done a good job at laying down a solid foundation for what the Dynamic Island can do. However, it is with the creativity of third-party app developers where this shape-shifting blob can truly shine and spread its wings. Here are a few examples of the best ones we found:

Flighty

This is arguably one of the most popular applications that make use of the Dynamic Island and the Live Activities feature, and the one I appreciate the most when using my iPhone. It manages to pack all the useful information you might need about a flight inside the cut-out in a way that is easy to read.

While the app is minimized into Dynamic Island, you get the amount of time you have until departure and the time it would take you to reach your flight’s gate. A long press reveals even more information about the flight, such as the two destinations you are traveling between and your gate.

Lock Launcher

Lock Launcher transforms the Dynamic Island into something of a quick-access app drawer. You can choose from any of the applications you have installed to appear.

The app also allows you to display different information on the far left and far right sides of the Dynamic Island. For example, you can choose to have the current date on the left and the CPU usage on the right.

My Moves

This is an app that, once started, can track anything related to your movement as you travel with your phone. While it is minimized, the app does not show any information, but when you expand the Dynamic Island you get all of the stats such as average speed, altitude, distance, elevation gain, and more. This is a perfect app for hikers, especially if you don’t have a smartwatch to track these metrics with.

Dynamic X

This is an app that allows you to create your own Live Activity and have it appear in the Dynamic Island. It can be anything from live information regarding your internet connection (Wi-Fi and cellular), your phone’s RAM usage, location-based, time-based, and more. The app displays information while it is minimized too.

Tide Guide and Alpenglow

If tracking the ocean tides or the sunrise and sunset hours is of importance to you, then you might find the Tide Guide and Alpenglow apps helpful. Both apps utilize the Dynamic Island for at-a-glance access to the most important information while it is minimized, with more to look at as you tap and hold.

What are Live Activities on the iPhone, and how do they work?

Live Activities on the iPhone are persistent interactive notifications that can track things happening in real time, regularly updating the information they are showing to you. This information will be presented either in the Dynamic Island or on the lock screen.

We already mentioned a few examples of this earlier, but a couple that probably best represent this feature are delivery service and sports tracking apps. The former typically shows you how much longer you have to wait until you receive your order, while the latter can show you live stats such as the score in a football game.

What makes it even better is that after the iOS 17.2 update, which was released in December 2023, apps don't even have to be opened beforehand in order to start a Live Activity. Instead, your phone receives a push notification from the app, offering to automatically start a Live Activity related to a particular action in the future. For instance, this can be set up so that your iPhone immediately begins tracking a live game when your favorite team starts playing.

Make sure that Live Activities are turned on by going to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Live Activities ON (green).

Some more apps that make great use of Live Activities

Sports Alerts

This app gives you the ability to track sports scores for NHL, NFL, CFL, NBA, and MLB matches. All you have to do is choose the matches that you want to track and the app will create a live activity for each one with the teams’ logos, the time, and the score.

Pestle

If you often use your phone to follow cooking recipes and instructions, Pestle will make the process much more convenient for you by showing each next step in a live activity. When you are done, you can just tap on “Next” to see the next step. You can even set a timer to track things, with the countdown visible inside the live activity.

CityMapper

If you use public transport a ton, CityMapper is a great way to navigate a city. It provides walking directions, different routes, cues to get on and get off, and much more. Of course, all of this information is presented to you in the form of a live activity, so you don’t even have to unlock your phone as you travel, with immediate visibility of all the information you need.

Conclusion