Your Android Can Have Its Own “dynamic Island”
Many people do not like camera cutouts that take up space on smartphone screens. We’ve seen a few ambitious applications for these cutouts in the past, like turning them into an old-school LED notification light , but Apple is taking a creative pie with Dynamic Island in the iPhone 14 Pro . And while it’s entirely possible that Google is working on something similar for Android, you don’t have to wait to find out – developers are already hard at work bringing this feature to your smartphone.
One such example is Pixel Island , but as it is in its early stages of development, it is not available for download on the Play Store. However, we now have the Dynamic Island app ready to go: Android developer Jawomo appears to be the first to officially bring a Dynamic Island-style notification banner to third-party phones with its dynamicSpot app.
How to install DynamicSpot
DynamicSpot is free to download, easy to set up, and does what it’s designed to do. If you’re interested in using the Apple 14 Pro’s defining feature on your Android phone, dynamicSpot is a great way to try it out. Keep in mind, though, that it’s still in testing, so you might run into a few glitches here and there. (Fun fact: Jawomo is the same developer of the aforementioned utility that turns your camera cutout into an LED notification system. Jawomo seems to be a fan of notification hacks.)
When you first install and open the app, you are greeted with a simple step-by-step guide to get everything set up. You will need to choose which apps on your phone DynamicSpot can work with (you can choose the simple “All” option). You will then need to grant dynamicSpot notification privileges by clicking on the option, selecting dynamicSpot from the “Not Allowed” list, and then enabling “Allow access to notifications”.
You then need to allow “Draw on Screen”, which allows dynamicSpot to actually display notification notifications. While dynamicSpot claims that no data is collected or shared because it “doesn’t have access to the internet,” you need to give the app full access to your phone for it to work. This may violate privacy for some users, so keep that in mind before clicking “Allow”.
If all this works for you, you’re in! In the app’s “Popup Settings” you can specify where dynamicSpot will actually appear on your display. By default, it is displayed in the center at the top of the screen, like Dynamic Island in 14 Pro. This works particularly well for phones with a notch in this position, but you can move it around the display as you see fit via the Dimensions settings menu.
While you can set up and run dynamicSpot without paying a dime, there are a few Pro features you might want to consider. For $4.99, you can see dynamicSpot on your lock screen, open apps with a single tap on dynamicSpot, automatically hide the extended popup after a certain period of time (you can choose to automatically hide the extended popup when tapping outside of it for free). ) and, most importantly, block system pop-ups to move everything to dynamicSpot.
It’s a fun utility to play with. I like to open my Pixel to find the little rain icon built into dynamicSpot, a subtle reminder that it’s really raining. A long press expands the area, and a long press takes you to the corresponding application. Even without the Pro features, this is very useful, especially if you customize the dimensions to suit your particular phone.
Is it for everyone? Probably no. But if any Android OEMs follow in Apple’s footsteps, as they often do, you might want to get used to it.
[ XDA Developers ]