Apple software chiefs take us on a trip to Dynamic Island

Take a trip through Dynamic Island with Alan and Craig

Apple’s senior software development leaders took time to discuss the development of the new Dynamic Island feature in iPhone 14 Pro. They spoke with Japanese magazine, Axis.

Federighi and Dye talk Island development

Apple’s SVP software engineering, Craig Federighi, and VP Human Interface Design, Alan Dye, explained a little about the feature, which turns the area surrounding the Face ID notch into a deeply interactive part of display real estate.

It catches your attention as it shows you bite-sized morsels of the information you need. In use it might show you a small animation when you successfully make an Apple Pay transaction, for example.

Federighi tries to explain the change, which he called the biggest usability change since iPhone X.

“Various operations on the iPhone have been completely redesigned, such as how to switch between apps… This new feature is also a change that greatly changes the appearance of the iPhone. It was an exciting challenge for us to have everything happening on our iPhone right now in one small, interactive place,” he said, translated by MacRumors.

It’s just a Digital Island in the sun

Digital Island is enabled by the OLED screen on more expensive iPhones.

That display has the capacity to turn individual pixels on and off. Apple designed an interactive user interface area to exploit that technology and also make the spot around the camera more engaging. It uses this space to provide small bits of information. Developers can use the area for their apps thanks to Apple’s Live Activity framework.

“The moment .. was a break-through, when I realized that I didn’t have to keep the animation (Dynamic Island) only in the area of the status bar. For example, when Face ID successfully facial recognition, the dynamic island gets a little bigger for a moment and let you know what kind of operation you are doing. This is an example of a big breakthrough, and I would be happy if the user also feels the effect,” said Dye.

[Also read: Counterpoint shows Apple upsold the world with iPhone 14 Pro]

My (digital) Island home

Dye has previously said Dynamic Island blurs the line between hardware and software.

He told Axis: “At Apple, it’s very difficult to trace the source of ideas. Because our work is based on a huge discussion with different groups of people. However, one of those discussions was that if the sensor area on the screen could be made smaller, what could be done with the surplus space. It’s not an argument that has come out in the past year or so, but it’s one of the topics that has been discussed for many years.”

I feel that he showed the influence of former Chief Designer, Jony Ive, saying:

“So that this experience feels so smooth and natural, we brushed up with meticulous care and skills from both sides of design and engineering. Our goal was to make them forget that there is static physical hardware and make them think that the whole thing is fluid-like dynamic software.”

Federighi adds that the feature bestows the iPhone with a”new strong personality”.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.