For the Love of Dynamic Island (Premium)

https://www.youtube.com/live/ux6zXguiqxM?si=BRh870fk4fc-GbUf&t=4251

When Apple announced Dynamic Island with its iPhone 14 Pros in September 2022, I literally laughed out loud. Apple had, to this time, burdened its users with a large, screen-occluding notch for years, and instead of just moving to a hole punch in-screen camera like its competitors, it seemed to be doubling down on the stupid by removing some of the top border area from around the notch and creating a floating, pill-shaped occlusion that was in some ways even more distracting. But that's not all. Apple was also drawing even more attention to this curious on-screen mote by creating an animated user interface around it.

As Daffy Duck used to say, "It is to laugh."

The Dynamic Island, as I saw it, was classic Apple, a passive-aggressive "f#$% you" response from a thin-skinned company that can't handle negative feedback from reviewers or users. And rather than reverse course, it would prove the naysayers wrong, a strategy that, incidentally, did not work with its Butterfly keyboard previously. This feature was, I claimed, the iPhone version of the MacBook Touch Bar, a bizarre thing to foist on its pro users, one it would surely walk away from belatedly and silently, and with nary a word of apology.

Well, I was right about one thing: The Dynamic Island is classic Apple, albeit not in the way I'd imagined. But I was wrong about everything else. In fact, Dynamic Island is so useful that I’m going off the deep end in the opposite extreme: I think this UI will survive past the point where Apple can remove the camera hole and can finally hide its TrueDepth camera below the screen. Hell, I expect to see it appear on other Apple devices, too, like the iPad and the Mac, and to be copied by competitors. It's that good.

If I can defend myself a bit, I will point out that this isn't as basic as me having to use something to realize its value; I'd like to think that I'm more sophisticated than that. I mean, who wouldn't? Instead, I will simply point out that the initial use cases for Dynamic Island were limited in nature and wrapped in the usual Apple marketing drivel. A year ago, it seemed that for this feature to truly make sense, it needed to be adopted by a wide range of third-party apps, and in unique and useful ways. And that basically never happened with the Touch Bar, which was the inspiration behind my initial comparison.

But it has happened with the Dynamic Island. And maybe the difference this time around is due to the dedication of developers to the iPhone, a dedication that isn't quite so universal on the Mac. Or maybe it's something else. Maybe Dynamic Island was always a great idea. One that just needed a little love from third-party developers to truly shine. And maybe a little less marketing drivel.

We can speculate. And if you want to believe I was mindlessly casting shade last year on a company I frequently criticize, that's fine. I will survive thi...