TL; DR

  • Developers of a MIUI theme have implemented a Dynamic Island style feature on a Xiaomi phone.
  • This is the first time we’ve seen someone attempt to copy Apple functionality to an Android device.
  • The theme is available on the MIUI Themes store.

Update: September 14, 2022 (12:49 a.m. ET): We first saw how the Android version of Dynamic Island works on a Xiaomi phone with a left-aligned punch hole. Now, the source who spotted the MIUI theme that enables the feature has posted more examples of it working on a device with a center-aligned punch hole.

You can see how the pill-shaped island expands and contracts to show notifications and music player controls. It doesn’t look as smooth as Apple’s version, but it works nonetheless.

Original article: September 12, 2022 (3:06 a.m. ET): Apple’s new Dynamic Island was easily one of the highlights of its iPhone 14 series launch. Only available on new iPhones Pro, the iOS feature essentially camouflages Apple’s new pill-shaped camera body with information about things like notifications, calls, timers, music, pairing accessories, and more.

Like many early Apple features, Dynamic Island could be a prime candidate for Android makers to copy. It’s not like Apple doesn’t pinch features from Android, but we all know the reverse happens all the time too. With that in mind, a Mi Theme developer has already implemented an Android version of Dynamic Island on a Xiaomi phone.

Spotted by TechDroiderit is Vaibhav Jain, a short video clip shows what Dynamic Island-style notifications look like and a now playing section on Xiaomi’s MIUI software. The theme is said to be called Grumpy UI and is only available in the standard Chinese language. As you can see, it manages to hide the pinhole selfie camera in the corner when zoomed in.

Island Style Dynamic Notifications / Now Playing on Xiaomi MIUI. Mi theme developers never disappoint 😎 pic.twitter.com/ImHmbkRZnb

The theme developers told Jain that their Dynamic Island update is still under review. If Xiaomi approves the theme, it will go live on the MIUI Themes store.

Do Android phones need a feature like Apple’s Dynamic Island?

14069 votes

It’s too early to tell if Xiaomi or any other Android OEMs will go ahead and officially adopt a version of Dynamic Island on their phones. Android phones have been actively moving away from pill-shaped notches or any sort of notches, so it would make little sense for Android OEMs to implement a similar feature. But if we’ve learned anything over time, anything is possible in the smartphone space, and for all we know, an iteration of Dynamic Island could be coming to Android devices in the future.