The iPhone 14 Pro’s notch replacement is…actually useful? How the dynamic island works

This story is part of Focus iPhone 2022CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice on Apple’s most popular product.

If you’ve never been a fan of Apple’s notch (the area where your camera lens and speaker sits at the top of your screen), then you might be looking forward to the iPhone 14 Pro. Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro models have a smaller cutout that makes the space a little more useful.

On the new iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max phones announced Wednesday, the notch is reimagined as a pill-shaped cutout that can become part of other things you naturally do when using the phone. Apple calls this the Dynamic Island. (Yes, Apple has that too butt of early jokes via the function name.)

Next to the iPhone 14 Pro and Max always-on display, the Dynamic Island is one of two new screen features exclusive to the more expensive, more powerful models in the iPhone 14 range. The new dynamic island around the static cutout turns a seemingly dead space into a tiny notification center with clear animations for everything you’re doing on your phone, whether it’s charging the battery, answering a call, or listening to music.

If you are thinking of buying a new one iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max – Pre-orders start September 9, with a September 16 release date – or are just curious about Apple’s updated version of the much-maligned Notch, here’s everything you need to know.

The iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island cutout: what does it do?

The Dynamic Island is a new feature on the top of the iPhone 14 Pro models that reinterprets the notch as a cutout. It changes shape and size to display notifications and timely information for recent actions and ongoing background activities depending on what you’re doing on your phone.

Here are some things Apple said about Dynamic Island appearing as some sort of notification or informational ticker at the top of the iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max screen:

• Arrival time for ridesharing services like Lyft
• Turn-by-turn navigation with Apple Maps
• Contact information and call duration for phone calls
• Battery percentage when charging your iPhone or AirPods
• Cover art when playing songs from Apple Music
• transit card payments
• sports scores
• flight information
• timer length
• Payments with Face ID
• Files sent with AirDrop
• mute icon

We’ll update this list with more features as we learn more, especially when we get the chance to play for ourselves using the Dynamic Island feature on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.

What if you do two things at the same time on your iPhone 14 Pro?

When there are two things running in the background, like a phone call and a timer, the dynamic island on iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max splits in two to show you information for your two activities, such as a timer and a call.

Can you tap the dynamic island? Yes!

On the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, if you press and hold the dynamic island while it displays information, it can expand to show even more.

For example, if you tap the snippet while playing a song in Apple Music, you can check the song title and artist name, and control the music (pause, play, fast forward, and rewind). Tapping the snippet while viewing your departure time for a flight may also reveal locations, baggage details, potential delays, and more.

Tapping on the dynamic island will take you to the app currently displaying information in the pane.

What apps and services does the new iPhone 14 Pro notch work with?

Expect Dynamic Island to work with most Apple features, services, and apps, as well as some third-party apps like Lyft.

Live Activity, a new iOS 16 widget on your lock screen that displays interactive and up-to-date notifications, works seamlessly with Dynamic Island to display information from third-party apps on both your lock screen and your home screen. We expect more app makers to come on board in the future.

So does the Dynamic Island completely replace the notch?

Yes, Dynamic Island’s pill-shaped cutout replaces the larger notch that was present on previous iPhone models such as the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12. However, there’s still a smaller notch hidden beneath the Dynamic Island and the camera, speaker, and Face ID components. While the Dynamic Island does change in size, because of the notch it can never completely disappear – it’s like a disguise.

Will other iPhones get the Dynamic Island?

Dynamic Island is currently only available on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Both models will be released on September 16th, but you can pre-order both phones from this Friday 9th September. We can’t say for sure if Apple will bring the Dynamic Island to future iPhones, iPads, or Apple Watch models, but we’ll be watching closely how the feature works and if it delivers what it promises.

For more details, here is a summary of everything that Apple has announcedincluding new AirPods Pro 2 with updated noise cancellation and three different clocks in the Apple Watch 8 series.