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iPhone 15 Pro Always on and Dynamic Island - Gimmick or useful?
- Thread starter Risco
- Start date
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One of the apps I use is Carrot Weather and I do like the weather into in the dynamic island. The Sirius XM and Apple Music apps also use it when playing music. I didn’t think I was going to like it at first but it’s something I’ve used.
DI is pretty cool for quick access to audio controls/timers and just looks nice overall. I turned off AoD the first day I got my 14 PM to avoid burn in.
IMHO they are both gimmicks. I turned always on off immediate to save battery life and really don’t have a need for it. Dynamic island is OK. It’s not used that often. As others have said it is good for quick access to music controls etc but it’s not really necessary.
It did take me longer to get used to it than the notch and I still notice it. It’s OK. I wouldn’t say it’s a must have feature or really all that innovative - but it’s here for the foreseeable future.
I would rather have a full screen with no cutout or notch TBH.
It did take me longer to get used to it than the notch and I still notice it. It’s OK. I wouldn’t say it’s a must have feature or really all that innovative - but it’s here for the foreseeable future.
I would rather have a full screen with no cutout or notch TBH.
Always on display on Android was useful, not so much on iOS. Dynamic Island is a gimmick and I have never found it useful so never use it.
curnalpanic
macrumors 6502a
The always-on and standby mode are my favorite features of the phone. Dynamic island is nice too, but gets used less often. Mostly timers and the ”connect to Airplay” popup.
MacDevil7334
Contributor
There are very few apps that use the dynamic island in a truly useful way. I’m hoping that will improve over time. If your fly often, Flighty is a fantastic app for the dynamic island. Other good ones include Carrot Weather and Sports Alerts. For built in apps, it’s nice to have quick access to media controls. But iOS has several other ways to get at those. Seeing your timers at the top of the screen is nice but not life changing. One area where I actually really like it is on phone calls. The dynamic island shows you realtime waveforms for when you are speaking and when the other person is speaking. So it is easy to visually see what your mic has picked up and if you are talking while muted.
Overall, it is nice to have and certainly doesn’t make any part of the experience worse. But, much like the Touch Bar on the Mac, there hasn’t been a ton of developer adoption so far. Hopefully that will change now that many more iPhone will have the dynamic island.
Overall, it is nice to have and certainly doesn’t make any part of the experience worse. But, much like the Touch Bar on the Mac, there hasn’t been a ton of developer adoption so far. Hopefully that will change now that many more iPhone will have the dynamic island.
I love dynamic island and it's becoming more and more useful as developers add support for it.
AOD on the other hand I found distracting and a complete waste of battery, I turned off AOD after a couple weeks.
AOD on the other hand I found distracting and a complete waste of battery, I turned off AOD after a couple weeks.
Gimmick. More marketing terms conjured up by Apple's manipulative, patronizing marketing clowns. Fine woven in place of fabric, btw
nikhsub1
macrumors 68030
Dynamic island is cool. I turned always on off after a day. it sucked my battery dead bad.
Both are gimmicks and not new, was already introduced with the 14p. Very seldom the pill island becomes “dynamic”.
Always on is not always on, it’s a lie more or less. One of the biggest reasons I got my 14pro but it is disappointing.
curnalpanic
macrumors 6502a
I think they mean that there are certain conditions that the screen will fully turn off. Like later at night and darker, my screen fully turns off. I think there are other conditions too.
winxmac
macrumors 68020
I find the Dynamic Island for Face ID animation useful since it is no longer in the center of the screen... I tried Always On Display but I prefer the display turns on when a notication shows so I don't use it...
I really like both features. Always on is probably the more useful. I have turned off raise to wake as the screen shows me what I need without lifting it or tapping the screen. I can see the email that has come in (I would actually prefer if I could turn off that the screen fully wakes up when a notification comes in to save battery life) or live activities. Two examples are having the remote BBQ thermometer, I can see the current reading without having to constantly open the app. Or Lyft, being able to see when the car is coming from the Lock Screen.
Dynamic island is good but seems like I don’t use it as much. When something is there, it seems useful. But I would not say a must have. Maybe more apps in the future. Or I use it less as I don’t multitask as much with my phone.
Dynamic island is good but seems like I don’t use it as much. When something is there, it seems useful. But I would not say a must have. Maybe more apps in the future. Or I use it less as I don’t multitask as much with my phone.
Yep. You can’t have the phone beside your bed at night expecting to see the time if you wake up (unless you move your body, then it might light up for awhile).
The Game 161
macrumors Nehalem
KhunJay
macrumors 6502a
Re: Dynamic Island..understand why it exists but would prefer if it was flush with the top of the
screen like the notch was in iPhone X...not with a strip of screen visible above it.
But then it would be the Dynamic Peninsula.
screen like the notch was in iPhone X...not with a strip of screen visible above it.
But then it would be the Dynamic Peninsula.
For me, AoD is must-have, DI is just lipstick on the pig of not being able to hide the front-facing camera and faceId yet
ApplesAreSweet&Sour
Suspended
As someone who’s increasingly annoyed with apps and widgets coercing you into more and more distractions, I always find myself turning off AOD after a while:
Having any display that’s on with things moving and updating is just impossible to not look at more than if it just lights up when something happens.
DI, however, is alright. But I fear it’ll end in the sort of semi-supported state that most widget-like UI elements Apple has implemented in its various OSs over the years.
On that note, I often think of DI as a sort of sly way to use a widget to hide the FaceID cameras.
Some apps do a lot with widgets and DI. Most don’t or just do something once or for a while and then ditch it indefinitely.
For such a central element to newer iPhones, I really hope DI gets some more love.
Then again. If DI is just a stopgap for the full under display FaceID setup then I don’t really know that I care that much for it and don’t blame app devs for sleeping on it.
We’re on the 2nd DI Pro iPhone. So either iPhone 17 or 18 will be sans DI!?
Having any display that’s on with things moving and updating is just impossible to not look at more than if it just lights up when something happens.
DI, however, is alright. But I fear it’ll end in the sort of semi-supported state that most widget-like UI elements Apple has implemented in its various OSs over the years.
On that note, I often think of DI as a sort of sly way to use a widget to hide the FaceID cameras.
Some apps do a lot with widgets and DI. Most don’t or just do something once or for a while and then ditch it indefinitely.
For such a central element to newer iPhones, I really hope DI gets some more love.
Then again. If DI is just a stopgap for the full under display FaceID setup then I don’t really know that I care that much for it and don’t blame app devs for sleeping on it.
We’re on the 2nd DI Pro iPhone. So either iPhone 17 or 18 will be sans DI!?
I would really miss DI if it was removed. I imagine in future iPhones where it's not covering up Face ID/camera it could be toggled on or off by the user.
DougFNJ
macrumors 65832
On Dynamic Island, I find it handy for sports scores displaying full time in it, and directions.
On always on, I find it handy for glancing over while it’s on the desk to see the time real quick at any given time.
For me, both have been useful.
On always on, I find it handy for glancing over while it’s on the desk to see the time real quick at any given time.
For me, both have been useful.