Technologies

Dynamic Island Is One of the Most Helpful Parts of Your iPhone and It’s Right Under Your Nose

The iPhone’s Dynamic Island is a fun, fast way to see system alerts, apps running in the background and track ride shares and food delivery.

Whatever your thoughts on the name, the iPhone’s Dynamic Island has managed to win over fans (apparently even some Android users, too). The pill-shaped cutout and alert interface replaced the much-maligned iPhone notch that housed the True Depth camera system required for Face ID.

Unlike the notch, which was a static physical cutout, the Dynamic Island is an area on top of the iPhone’s display, which serves as an interactive hub and shape-shifts depending on the context. Within the Dynamic Island, two discreet cutouts remain for the camera and sensors, but the surrounding area is an interactive canvas of sorts for various content.

Apple’s introduction of the Dynamic Island in 2022 for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max was greeted with a combination of excitement, curiosity and laughter. The feature, which surfaces up system alerts and shows live updates on apps running in the background, was overshadowed by its name.

On social media, people poked fun at the name Dynamic Island saying it sounded like an offbeat tourist destination. Apple enthusiasts worried that name didn’t have the finesse that other Apple feature names, like AirDrop or FaceTime, had. Popular YouTuber MKBHD even offered a backhanded compliment in a post on Twitter that said it was «the most Apple thing they’ve ever Appled.»

By adding the Dynamic Island as a now-signature feature on the iPhone, Apple marked a departure from its rival Android phone makers. The latter opted to replace the screen notches on their devices with hole-punch cutouts for the selfie cameras. Through the Dynamic Island, Apple found a way to use the area around its cutout for system alerts, app controls, and tracking live activities, among other functions.

When idle, the Dynamic Island is a fairly unobtrusive black area that takes up about an inch of screen real estate, which is smaller than the previous notch. Depending on what apps you’re using, any background activities running and iPhone system alerts, the Dynamic Island will change into one of three shapes: a long oval, a large pop-up window and a combination of medium-sized oval and circle.

When using a single app like Apple Music, it becomes a long oval and shows an album cover on one end and a waveform for the song being played. In this state, if you tap on the Dynamic Island, it’ll open the Music app to the current song. If you press and hold on the Dynamic Island, it’ll pop out into a larger window spanning the top of your iPhone with mini-playback controls. Likewise, if you receive a call the pill-shaped cutout lengthens to display caller information.

If you have two apps open at once, like the Music app and Apple Maps, the Dynamic Island will look like a lowercase letter «i» on its side. One of the apps, Maps, has its own medium-sized oval to show turn-by-turn directions. The second app, Music (in this case) is off to the right in its own circle — displaying the album artwork.

Because it integrates with third-party apps, the Dynamic Island can also show a real-time estimate for your Uber’s arrival as well as food delivery orders — and when you press and hold on the Dynamic Island, it’ll physically size up into a pop-up window to show that information.

The Dynamic Island also provides visual feedback for privacy indicators (such as when the microphone or camera is active), AirDrop file transfers, or Apple Pay transactions, among other system functions.

Here are some of the things the Dynamic Island can show:

System alerts
Turn-by-turn navigation with Apple Maps or Google Maps
Contact information and call length for phone calls
Battery percentage when your iPhone or AirPods are charging
Find My Alerts
Screen recording duration
Cover art when playing songs from Apple Music
Transit card payments
Live sport scores
Flight information
Timer length
Payments with Face ID
Files sent with AirDrop
Mute icon
Live activities for services like Uber

The ability to dynamically change shape and display relevant content enhances the overall user experience. Since its launch, Apple has trickled down the feature to its base models which means the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus also feature the shape-morphing cutout in addition to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. If you want to learn more about the Dynamic Island, read our iPhone 14 Pro review and our iPhone 15 reviews.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 20, #574

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 20 No. 574.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition included A’s, B’s and C’s as clues, which made the grid look kind of funny. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Golden State sports.

Green group hint: Beantown teams.

Blue group hint: Do you believe in miracles?

Purple group hint: Keep running.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: California baseball teams.

Green group: Shortened nicknames for Boston teams.

Blue group: Associated with the Miracle on Ice.

Purple group: World marathon majors.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is California baseball teams. The four answers are A’s, Angels, Giants and Padres.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is shortened nicknames for Boston teams. The four answers are B’s, C’s, Pats and Sox.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with the Miracle on Ice. The four answers are 1980, Brooks, hockey and Lake Placid.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is world marathon majors. The four answers are Berlin, Boston, Chicago and Tokyo.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Monday, April 20

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 20

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I found this puzzle a nice, easy one, Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: All-caps reply to a spammy political text
Answer: STOP

5A clue: Number of seasons that «Seinfeld» and «The Office» each ran
Answer: NINE

6A clue: Wild party, informally
Answer: RAGER

7A clue: Swedish furniture giant
Answer: IKEA

8A clue: Long-lasting salon treatment
Answer: PERM

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Chinese zodiac animal
Answer: SNAKE

2D clue: Chinese zodiac animal
Answer: TIGER

3D clue: Hour following midnight
Answer: ONEAM

4D clue: The «p» of m.p.h.
Answer: PER

6D clue: Tombstone letters
Answer: RIP

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 20, #1766

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for April 20, No. 1,766.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle has a couple of rare letters in it. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.