Apple’s launch event was last week, and with it came a whole host of new features. One of the highlights was the iPhone 14 Pro series’ unique ‘Dynamic Island feature. The feature itself was designed to cover the lens of the iPhone 14 Pro series and has attracted a lot of attention since it was announced.
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Image source: Apple
The island can largely obscure the front lens of the phone and use the free area near the front lens to display cards, pop-ups, notifications and other content. The island can change shape to meet the needs of different users. The island can also bring up control options to play music and other functions, and the whole process has a very silky animation effect. And as some users have recently discovered, the island can do more than that.
Third-party developer Kriss Smolka took to the social media platform today to share a little game he created based on the features of Dynamic Island called Hit the Island. The game is modeled on the classic game Pong and allows users to interact with the island area by sliding the bottom panel to accumulate points. According to Smolka, the game is not too difficult and after testing there are currently only some latency issues that will need to be adjusted at a later date.
Image source: Twitter
This flexible use of the island feature is not unique to Smolka, as users on the B site have also come up with their own designs, and shortly after the Apple launch, UP owner @sheepreallost came up with his own design to enhance the usefulness of the island by adapting the island interface to include things like secret pickup alerts, queue size displays and nucleic acid guidelines for mobile phones.
Image source: B-site
Third-party developers are never short of ideas, and after the announcement of the Dynamic Island feature, many Android developers have also moved on to the hole-punch screen. To meet the demand of many Android users for this feature of Dynamic Island, some developers have also launched similar features for the Android platform. One such app is “Lively Bird”, which is available on KUAN.
With the app, Android users can also set it near the camera, making it invisible to them during use. The dots can be adjusted to fit your phone by adjusting the size and top distance of the dots. The app shows the battery and headset on the desktop, but there are no controls. At the end of the day, he is just an animated effect and does not have the same actual functions as Dynamic Island.
Image source: Internet
In addition to Android apps, some developers have also been working on theme skins. Shortly after Apple’s launch, a theme designer with the ID “Mu Ye” submitted his design for Xiaomi’s Dynamic Island theme. The skin, designed specifically for Xiaomi phones, allows for the definition of airplane animations, lock screen charging personalized text, time and date inversions, and is designed for functions such as music and charging. The skin allows Xiaomi users to experience the Dynamic Island feature on their phones. However, judging from the experience video, this skin can only be said to implement the basic functions of Dynaimic Island, whether, in terms of animation effects or actual functions, it is not up to Apple’s standards.
Image source: Internet
Of course, many of these features are still in the concept or design stage and will not be available to these independent developers until the iPhone 14 Pro series is released. But it’s easy to see the ‘possibilities’ in these designs.
It’s easy to see how Apple has become more open in recent years. From Maps to widgets and now to Island, Apple has given third-party developers more freedom and allowed a new model for Apple’s content ecosystem to emerge. Apple provides the basic functionality and developers build on top of that to develop more and different features to meet the additional needs of users, who in turn use this type of software to gain a richer experience.
The mobile content market is now becoming more open to the individual needs of users. Apple is clearly helping to personalize the content ecosystem by developing a variety of ‘possibilities’ to meet the needs of different users.
Widgets are a similar feature, allowing the core functionality of each app to appear directly on the desktop, largely for the convenience of users. This year, Apple seems to be moving towards something even more fun.
The Smart Island feature is an extension of the widget, giving it more display and control capabilities. And the addition of third-party developers has made the Dynaimic Island feature even more interesting. Apple reportedly allows third-party developers to create interactive experiences based on Dynamic Island, and the addition of mini-games is apparently one of the directions that will help Dynamic Island shine, in addition to the various information display and control features.
Photo credit: Apple
The morphable design of the Island allows it to be adapted to many different game genres. In addition to minigames like Hit the Island, vertical screen pop-up shooters like Raging Chief Bee Unlimited can also turn Dynamic Island into an enemy presence. Some horizontal MOBA games can also be played with a unique UI design that allows the game developer to design the Dynamic Island area as a suitable helper page to help the user with controls. All in all, the emergence of Dynamic Island has opened up more possibilities for third-party developers.
Image source: Web
Just like Apple’s slogan for iOS 16, personality is power. Apple is reportedly allowing third-party developers to create interactive experiences based on Dynamic Island, and this has given the stage to third-party developers who want to take on the challenge of personalized interaction design. Showcasing a distinctive UI interaction design in a small area is enough to stir up the challenge for a large number of third-party developers.
Image source: Apple
Apple allowing third-party developers to create interactive experiences based on Dynamic Island could attract a large number of third-party developers to join in, and will surely bring more new variations to Dynamic Island. Just like the design by B-site UP owner @sheepreal, the island will have more variations to meet the needs of users in different regions.
