PSA - You can hide and unhide dynamic island.

Submitted by Whiplash104 t3_ydeyj8 in iphone

I accidentally discovered that you can temporarily hide (or collapse) the dynamic island back into just a pill if you like.

Start music playing and close the music app so that it goes into the dynamic island

Put your finger on the album art on the left side of the island and swipe toward the center of the pill. The Album art and music waveform collapse into the pill. From the center of the island swipe toward the edge of the screen to re-expand the island.

Maybe I'm late to the game but I didn't know you could do this. While I love the dynamic island, sometimes I want to be able see the LTE/5G status which is otherwise hidden when the island is active.

I tried to do a screen recording but the screen recording takes over the island and ironically you cannot hide it.

EDIT: Here's a video I later shot manually: https://i.imgur.com/ibj1MM9.mp4

And as a bonus, with live activities I have seen two app share the island as the same time. (this is without music playing.)

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Bluesfire t1_itrxp21 wrote

Wow that’s actually kinda neat! First I’ve heard of this

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ChristopherLXD t1_its3cx2 wrote

I feel like this doesn’t work as intended on the Pro Max, at least not with music. With the pro max, none of the status bar icons are hidden in the default music dynamic island configuration. Swiping in switches to the “compact” mode which actually takes up more space and hides the waveform. You can, however, pull and hold to temporarily collapse until you let go.

By contrast, this works as expected on the timer activity, where the countdown usually hides the signal strength indicator but unhides it when collapsed into the compact mode (which only shows the icon).

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Whiplash104 OP t1_its56ng wrote

Oh that is intersting! So maybe this is a Pro 6.1" specific thing to make up for the reduce screen real estate. I have to find someone with a PM to see. Thanks for letting me know.

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DrBitchcraft t1_ittulcd wrote

This was a feature that didn’t work properly before 16.1

Before the update, swiping would remove the album art and waveform but it would expand the size of the island.

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Whiplash104 OP t1_its9i12 wrote

Someone with a Pro Max said he can get it to work, but it's redundant for the reason you said. It doesn't expose any extra information. Maybe Try placing you finger on the island and just swipe horizontally across it?

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ChristopherLXD t1_itsfb3q wrote

Here’s a look at all the different states I mentioned for both music and timer.

I do believe that there’s supposed to be a compact mode. It just seems to be faulty for music for me.

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SirMaster t1_ittddta wrote

> I do believe that there’s supposed to be a compact mode. It just seems to be faulty for music for me.

Becasue you have not updated to 16.1 yet.

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TheLieLlama t1_itsr5qs wrote

I am not seeing the behavior you are. If I do as the OP says, it just disappears, there is no "compact mode". Which is weird, because I remember seeing it before 16.1. Are you on the latest iOS version?

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Whiplash104 OP t1_ittagt7 wrote

I finally managed to make a quick video if this helps:

https://i.imgur.com/ibj1MM9.mp4

One other note. Did you update to 16.1? This may be new.

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TheLieLlama t1_ittalpo wrote

You might have replied to the wrong person, I was agreeing with you (OP) and can see the behavior you describe. Yes, I'm on 16.1.

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iqeyial t1_itsmq0m wrote

Are you on 16.1? I remember encountering this on 16.0.x, but what OP said works for me on 16.1.

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MortgageSea1 t1_ittqqp3 wrote

Yo thanks! That’s really cool, btw does anyone know how to disable that terrible grey outline they added? I hate it ;-;

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Breadgooz t1_itufih5 wrote

Hopefully they remove the grey outline soon. It makes no sense do they want the DI to blend in to the phone or stick out. I hate it so much

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AlekseiZee t1_itrrlw0 wrote

Nice find, thx for sharing!

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Guegs t1_itt85so wrote

Having this makes the long press to enlarge the dynamic island make even less sense. It really feels like it should be swipe gestures to interact with it and a long press to go back into whatever app you are using instead of long press to interact and single tap to go into the app.

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Whiplash104 OP t1_ittamr5 wrote

I believe I read somewhere criticism of the fact that it was reversed. It apparently was as you describe and they reversed it to what it is now. I'm not totally sure.

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cjeremy t1_ity1msq wrote

I love take a picture... lol

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jsand25 t1_itruhze wrote

Ooooh just tried it on a call right now and it works! That’s so cool!

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onewingleft t1_ittmv3s wrote

Apple should give us a way to turn this shit off

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Srslywot t1_itty0k2 wrote

For music, it also works if you put your finger on the wavelength and swipe inward towards the center.

Thanks for the wonderful find!

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Whiplash104 OP t1_iu2yxm8 wrote

It appears you can drag down as well. I just figured out that when I have a two live activities sharing the island like in my photo above, you can hide either of them by dragging down. You can also swap them. I haven't figured out the gestures to hide, i hide, and swap, exactly. I've been playing with it and I can get it to work but not exactly sure what combination of gestures does what LOL. I need a guide.

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steelerz t1_itupiir wrote

This was available before 16.1 as I did it all the time. Still cool nonetheless!

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LittleboysHamster t1_itut1yn wrote

Pro max user here. Confirms working for music app.

I hope they let me slide to close island for personal hotspot too.

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KevinsFamous_Chili t1_itwi3xw wrote

I might be late to this too cuz I didn’t not know it. But damn is that really cool and useful. Thanks!

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BallparkFrankSinatra t1_itysuqm wrote

Which app are you using to have nhl scores on the island?

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Whiplash104 OP t1_itzr9yv wrote

Sports Alerts https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sports-alerts/id432450349 (see "what's new" in the app listing.)

It's a new feature using the "Live Activities"

I got the app a few years ago so I could have games in an Apple Watch complication. But the new live activities to follow games is pretty cool.

More on live activities https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/enable-live-activities-ios/ and https://www.macrumors.com/2022/10/24/live-activities-dynamic-island-apps/

I think Flighty using live activities will come in handy too.

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prescripti0n t1_itt13cf wrote

Does this work with spotify? It just ends the music pill when I close the app

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