Shape changing animations. Fast results. And actual player name. “I really didn’t expect it. [the Dynamic Island]” says Christian Selig, editor of the popular Reddit client Apollo. “That’s what drove me, not something around him.”
The feature brings liveness — and live activity — to the status bar on iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, transforming notifications, alerts and activities into fluid, interactive animations. Tracking a shipment, following a game or checking the status of an incoming flight, Dynamic Island helps keep people updated without distraction.
“(Dynamic Island) is perfect for us,” said Ryan Jones, developer of the travel tracking app. Flight. “For travel, it provides a simple background check that can make you worry that you’re missing something.”
We caught up with five developers — including Selig and Jones — to learn how they design and build a dynamic island for live action.
Citymapper: ‘It’s something we’ve been dreaming about for years’
If you’re an app that wants to help people navigate the city, it’s hard to imagine the power of live updates in Dynamic Island. “Live movements change everything here,” says Victor Wang, head of product for the route-planning application. City Mapper. “It’s something we’ve been dreaming of for years, and it’s a big step forward in our vision of being the personal assistant in your pocket.”
b City Mapper, Dynamic Island is less about transportation and more about comfort. On the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, the app’s signature GO feature — which effectively maps out your entire trip or route — uses a dynamic island instead of notifications or simply checking the app.
It offers a single, live-updating view that conveys key information: how long you’ll have to wait for the next bus, how many more stops until you get off the train, and when you need to get off the train or bus (and by association, your phone). “[The Dynamic Island] It shows a countdown so you can understand, ‘OK, the bus will be in 10 minutes – now 5 – now 2,’ says Wang. “Our hope is that you will feel more comfortable to protect.”
IS designer Jason Hibbs shares. City Mapper The team initially thought that Live Activities would work as an improved set of notifications. But not just ‘turn left,’ we can say, ‘Here’s how many minutes you have until the bus comes.'”
Live activities can help you get a better feel for things.
Victor Wang, Citymapper
City Mapper It divides each trip into four stages: going to a stop, waiting at a stop, driving, and then going to your destination. At each level, the dynamic island displays a small icon – such as a bus, train, or person walking – counting down to your next destination or transfer. The team eliminated other ideas to pursue that simplicity — eliminating turn-by-turn directions, among other things. “We didn’t want it to go your way,” Wang said. The idea is that you can still read or play your game or whatever you do.
In short, you can do whatever you want – to save you the stress of your trip. “Live activities can help you feel more about things,” says Wang. “You can plan better and have enough confidence for the next step.”
Download Citymapper from the App Store
Apollo to Reddit: ‘It’s hard not to be wild’
When he first learned about Dynamic Island, Christian Selig was blown away. “The way the engineers built the APIs, it’s really hard not to go wild,” laughs Selig. “As soon as you write four lines and the gadgets are done. It’s so magical.”
Thoughts b Apollo, a client of Reddit, came almost immediately: “Say that a new episode came out, and you’re following the subreddit and responding to other fans,” says Selig. “Dynamic Island auto-refreshes and shows you when new content and comments have arrived.”
If it’s moved, you can stream the show in one app while keeping track of new posts on the subreddit with updates in the dynamic island. “At a glance, you’ll see the current number of comments. When you go to the (expanded presentation), you’ll see top-performing comments—like someone caught a reference you missed.
Outside of Floating Island, Apollo Live Activity is strong, too: you can keep track of what’s trending, follow your Reddit Karma, and — this is true — track the exact physical distance you’ve scrolled. Apollo (Measured in feet, miles or Eiffel Tower). “This is one of the most fun iOS development experiences I’ve had in a while and it’s a fun job, so that says a lot,” Selig said.
Download Apollo for Reddit from the App Store
SmartGym: ‘I had to focus on getting out of the way’
SmartGym’s Matt Abras sees Dynamic Island as a trainer rather than a stat feature: his app is tracking your current workout and the rest between each set — so you know when it’s time to get back to work.
“It’s easy to be distracted by your phone while on vacation, right? A break of 30 or 45 seconds can be a few minutes,” says Abras. “That’s better than getting an ad that says, ‘Hey, recess is over.'”
Abars went through many iterations when designing live performances SmartGym. He first tried using the Dynamic Island to display heart rate and calories during exercise, but it felt overwhelming. “To track health data, you need an Apple Watch that’s showing that data,” he said. “what is this. Really Is it necessary to show at that time? Health metrics? Big count? How many batches have you made and how many are left? There is a lot of potential information.”
What is the most important thing to show at that time?
Matt Abras, SmartGym
Instead, Abres refocused using Dynamic Island to share parameters and iterations. “When someone works, they have to do what they need to do without knowing the app is there,” he says. “I had to focus on staying out of the way.”
How did you maintain the balance between practicality and invisibility? “It’s all about taste,” he says with a smile.
Download SmartGym from the App Store
Flight: ‘When things go wrong, we have to turn it on’
Apps can easily use Dynamic Island to quickly reflect a single key piece of information. When it comes FlightHowever, Ryan Jones wanted to tackle a slightly more pressing project: a display a lot of Bits of information – departure times, gate changes, baggage claim numbers and so on – can all change on the fly.
Flight It’s best when you come across such “IRROPS” – the industry acronym for irregular operations. “When things go wrong, we have to turn them on,” Jones says. But that means for every thunderstorm, equipment delay or late flight into Dallas.
“People want different data points [like]… What time does the flight take off, where is it going from, how long until you land,” Jones says. But this information is almost always time dependent; After your flight has taken off, for example, you may not need information about your departure gate.
After exploring a few options for Dynamic Island and live activities, Jones and his team decided to make the data in Dynamic Island – well – dynamic. Before your door opens, for example, Flight The information in Dynamic Island acts as a departure marker at a large airport. “That’s our real-world analogy,” Jones said. “These signs have one line per flight, and that’s a good guiding light – they’ve had 50 years to figure out what’s important.”
In addition to the unpredictable nature of travel, Jones and team must consider how everyone loses touch at some point. “At any time [someone] They’re up, we have to assume we’ll never see them again until they land,” says Jones.
Solution: Once an airplane is pushed back, Flight It’s ready to go offline any minute. From then on, the dynamic island changes to flight progress bars and counters. The smallest presentation is a simple pie chart that tracks the duration of your flight.
No matter where anyone is in their flight, the Dynamic Island can help them feel confident and comfortable in their journey. “It’s a big change from ‘I have to listen to notifications all the time,'” says Jones. And that is one. Flight You are welcome.
Download Flight from the app store
Active: ‘Like a healthy career coach’
Exercise – Anywhere app Wake up It encourages regular breaks throughout the day – not just short periods of aerobic exercise, but pausing to reduce eye strain, sip water or simply clear your mind. It’s all about: How can we help people break through periods of sitting but stay in states of flow? says developer Pedro Wunderlich.
Most of these activities take as little as 15 seconds, making Dynamic Islanders a reliable resource for using the app. “I want to meet the teams behind Dynamic Island and Live Actions and say, ‘Were you thinking about us? Is this a love letter?'” he laughs.
Wake up It’s been using push notifications for a long time, but the ActivityKit framework in iOS 16 gives Wunderlich a new way to help people stay on top of their daily activities. “Our customers have told us they want more notifications, not less,” says Wunderlich. “We will listen.”Wake up It’s useful, but only if it interrupts me.’ So live activities are what our customers have been asking for without realizing it.
Wunderlich had both micro activities and longer aerobic breaks in mind when designing the upcoming update, which features a dynamic island. “[It’s] Such a great way to stay alive and let them know it’s a good time to hydrate, move, close your eyes for 30 seconds and take all those healthy little breaks.
for a short break, Wakeout’s The compact presentation in the dynamic island shows a countdown with a small icon (like a water bottle) to remind you of your next task. If that upcoming break is short and you’re caught up in what you’re doing, you can ignore the countdown without consequence. According to Wenderlich, the alarm glides easily “like a ship in the night.”
It’s all about: How can we help people break their competitive habits but stay in their flow states?
Pedro Wunderlich, Wakeout
But if the break is big and there’s a set of legs, squats, or pushups ahead, Dynamic Island will motivate you to push harder. “Proper exercise rest – ie Wakeout’s specialty – Stops that timer. Our clients generally do 45-minute focus sessions, so this is a set time limit. Then we say, ‘Okay, it’s time to move your neck, move your shoulders, or stand up.’
Wenderlich completely separates the two approaches. “Healthy moments are emotional; if you’re not paying attention, they’ll throw themselves out,” he says.
Notices versus interruptions, or reminders versus holidays. But they all go back Wakeout’s The goal is to keep you on a healthy path throughout the day. “We’re shifting our focus to healthy work in a more holistic way,” says Wenderlich. “Wake up It has become almost like a healthy career coach.
Download Wakeout from the app store
Explore the live activities and dynamic island