Meet the iPhone feature Android users are installing by the millions

A view of the new iPhone 14 at an Apple event on September 7 at the compay’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A view of the new iPhone 14 at an Apple event on September 7 at the compay’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Published Oct 5, 2022

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Just over a month ago the new iPhone 14 series was launched to the world, on September 7, offering amazing new features to an upgraded smartphone.

However, it has just been a little of 30 days, incidentally all the time it took for Android users to latch onto one of the new iPhone features - and create their own version of it.

We're talking of course about the Dynamic Island feature found in the new iPhone 14 range.

The Dynamic Island was likely birthed out of a need to enhance the aesthetic of the 'i' punch hole cutout, which was originally reserved to house the selfie camera and other functionality like the proximity sensor of the new iPhone.

However, the new feature has shaped up to be highly useful, to the extent Android users demanded their own version of the feature.

In the iPhone 14 series the Dynamic Island offers numerous notifications and given that its designed to sit neatly alongside the smartphone’s punch hole, the feature makes receiving such notifications less intrusive, with less disruption to the smartphone’s overall display.

Among these notifications, iPhone users can see low battery warnings, shortcuts and when the device has been unlocked by an Apple Watch.

As smartphone manufacturers have pushed toward attempts of offering users more screen real estate, by removing the ‘notch design’ originally, also launched by Apple.

Much like the Dynamic Island, the notch design was adopted by Android smartphone makers, with many also offering similar punch hole designs, found in non-Apple devices before iPhone 14.

This makes the Dynamic Island an attractive widget for any Android smartphone user, naysayer of the iPhone, or even those wanting ‘to feel’ what it's like to own one – Cue the dynamicSpot and Dynamic Island apps specially designed for Android smartphones.

The dynamicSpot was developed by Jawomo, known for developing personalised apps like a remapping app for Samsung’s personal assistant, Bixby’s button.

Meanwhile, Dynamic Island was developed by GriceMobile, responsible for popular apps such as RAM Cleaner and Storage Cleaner, found preinstalled on some Android devices.

While both apps might pale in comparison to the Dynamic Island offered by the iPhone, both apps offer similar functionality found in the original Apple feature.

However, the feature has become so popular among Android users that both the dynamicSpot and Dynamic Island apps have both accrued over 1 million installs, each, by Android users.

While both rose to popularity as the best apps offering the sought after feature, they compete with the hundreds of thousands in installs of competitor apps on Google’s Play Store, offering similar functionality.

How to get your own Dynamic Island on Android:

– Visit the Google Play store and search “Dynamic Island”, where both the dynamicSpot and Dynamic Island apps, will appear as the first results.

– Select one of these apps, or the others offered in the store and install it to your device. After complete, open the app and it will guide you through preferences you want out of your Dynamic Island

– If you don’t have access to the Play Store, search the same term in www.apkmirror.com to find a downloadable version of the app for your smartphone.

IOL Tech