A Simpler Tutorial For Dynamic Island (iOS)

I’ve noticed that tutorials on getting Dynamic Island to work are quite limited. Many involve a lot of custom code, which can be overwhelming for someone new to the topic, requiring a lot of time copying code before seeing any real progress. Live Activities widgets themselves are also quite tricky, as the iOS system treats them very differently from the main app.

In this article, I’ll guide you through creating an app using the code generated by Xcode, showing step-by-step how to get Dynamic Island working. Along the way, I’ll highlight the key differences and challenges. I prefer concise, visual tutorials, so I hope this post is like that, too.

Definitions

What is Dynamic Island?

Dynamic Island is an interactive area on the iPhone that creatively combines hardware and software to display real-time information and notifications in a visually dynamic way. Introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro series, Dynamic Island adapts to different tasks, such as showing incoming calls, timers, music playing, and more, all within a pill-shaped area around the front-facing camera and Face ID sensors.

What is Live Activity?

Live Activity is a feature in iOS that allows apps to display real-time updates on the Lock Screen and within Dynamic Island. It provides a way for users to stay informed about ongoing tasks or events, like sports scores, delivery tracking, or workout progress, without…