The Dynamic Island is one of the best features of modern iPhones. It gives you quick access to information at a glance, no matter what you’re doing on the iPhone. But if you really want to get the most out of the Dynamic Island, you’ll need to install some third-party apps.

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Pixel Pals

Who says the Dynamic Island can’t be fun? Instead of information at a glance, Pixel Pals brings adorable, retro friends to the Dynamic Island. After you select an animal, you can watch and smile as they live on the small island all day and night. To make each animal your own, there are tons of customization options, including picking their name. As a Live Activity, your friends can also be seen on the lock screen as a Live Activity.

The dog and cat are available to use with the free version. To unlock a host of other animals—everything from T-Rex to pet rock—you’ll need a subscription, though.

Download: Pixels Pals (Free, subscription available)

5

Carrot Weather

Carrot Weather can help keep you one step ahead of both rain and snow. The app constantly works in the background, checking for precipitation and other weather-related changes at your location. If the skies are about to turn gray, the Dynamic Island will let you know. You can long-press the Dynamic Island to see a precipitation chart for the next hour, which shows you how heavy the rain or snow will be. It will then be visible until the rain stops.

But that’s far from all you can do with the app. I use Carrot Weather instead of the default Weather app on my iPhone because it makes weather fun and sometimes hilarious, thanks to its smack-talking AI. The app is completely customizable and is one of the best Apple Watch apps you can download.

While the app is a free download, you’ll need one of the available subscription options to use the Dynamic Island information.

Download: Carrot Weather (Free, subscription available)

4

Sports Alerts

With Sports Alerts, there’s no need to keep opening up your favorite sports app to see how your team is doing. Just follow a team in the app, and then the score will appear on the Dynamic Island, constantly updating. The app has almost any sports league under the sun, from the NFL to soccer, tennis, and more. After the game is over, you can watch post-game highlight videos for MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL games.

Along with adding in your favorite teams, you can also follow a specific player and get a notification after every touchdown, goal, home run, and more. Even when you’re away from your iPhone, you can select from more than a dozen custom sports-related sound alerts to help keep you up-to-date. The app also has one of the best Apple Watch complications.

Download: Sports Alerts (Free, in-app purchase available)

3

Hit the Island

Hit the Island offers a fun use of the Dynamic Island when you’re ready to play. In this little arcade game, you’ll score points by hitting the ball on the island. But there’s a catch. The ball can speed up or be cloned. The paddle can also shrink, making things more difficult. There are four ways to play: Jump Up, Aim, Break Bricks, and Shooter.

The game is a free download, but in-app purchases can unlock all the levels, remove ads, and unlock other features.

Download: Hit the Island (Free, in-app purchase available)

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Flighty

Airline travel can be stressful. Just when you think you’re starting vacation or a work trip on a high note, a gate change or flight delay can wreak havoc. While you’re at the airport, you likely won’t have time to have your head buried in your phone looking for a flight update. But with Flighty, you’ll be able to see the most recent information during every part of the trip. This flight tracker lets you see data like flight number, gate information, and departure and arrival times directly on the Dynamic Island.

The app itself is one of the best around and will let you know about any changes long before the official airline app. Flighty is free, but you will need a subscription to use Dynamic Island and most of the other features.

Download: Flighty (Free, subscription available)

1

Shelf

You can mold the Dynamic Island into almost whatever you’d like with Shelf. You can create specific shelves that are pinned to the Dynamic Island so you can access them at any time. They will also appear as a Live Activity. That feature gives you real-time information on the lock screen.

With Shelf, you can create a shelf that displays a photo or text. You can also create one that provides quick shortcuts to specific apps or event sites. You can customize each shelf with a variety of colors and fonts to make them unique.

The free version allows you to create three shelves. A subscription provides unlimited shelves and additional features like premium themes and photo filters.

Download: Shelf (Free, subscription available)

As you can see, the Dynamic Island can do much more than just show you a timer or see how long you’ve been on a phone call. These apps are just a small look at what you can do with this unique iPhone feature.