The iPhone Duo is easily the most experimental iPhone that Apple has released. That’s both good news and bad news.
On one hand, the shape-shifting design, like on existing foldable Android phones I’ve tested, lends itself to creative use cases, such as hands-free entertainment and self-mounting for long-exposure photos.
On the other hand, the device is so new to iOS that some of your most frequently used apps may not yet be optimized to take advantage of the added screen space. There’s even a “does it work on iPhone Duo?” web tracker.
Needless to say, the next few weeks and months will be very telling about the future of apps on the iPhone Duo. Dozens, if not hundreds, of the App Store’s popular picks are already being worked on to take advantage of the flexible iPhone Duo screen. They’ll be labeled with a “Made for iPhone Duo” badge on their product page.
If you’re one of the lucky few who’s getting an iPhone Duo today (or soon), I’ve listed below some of the standouts that have already been optimized for the iPhone Duo and that I’ve personally tested.
1. Netflix
One of the primary iPhone Duo use cases is multimedia consumption, whether it’s streaming live sports and keeping tabs on player stats or docking the phone to catch up on the latest episode of Below hands-free.
Of all the streaming services I’ve used on my iPhone Duo thus far, Netflix is the most polished, with seven (from what I’ve tallied) different orientations for watching movies and shows. There’s the standard widescreen layout when the iPhone Duo is unfolded, as well as the ability to fold it and set it down like a tent.
For something more creative, you can rotate the iPhone Duo to portrait orientation and have the video play in the upper third of the screen while you use a different app in the bottom half.
2. NYT Cooking
I’m no Michelin-star chef, but thanks to the dishes I’ve been able to make with the NYT Cooking app, at least my wife hasn’t completely banned me from the kitchen.
Previously, I’d look through and follow recipes on an iPad Air that’s docked on the countertop. With the iPhone Duo, I’ve been setting it down so that one half of the inner screen is lifted, toggling on Cook mode, and increasing the text size so I can comfortably scan the instructions from afar.
There’s nothing more satisfying than shutting the phone closed at the end of cooking and seeing a countertop that’s a little more tidy than before.
3. Fantasical
I’ve never been a big to-do list guy; I’m the type who just waits for a calendar event to notify me, and I prepare then and there for what’s to come. Fantastical may keep me in better order.
It’s a calendar app that doubles as a task manager and weather tracker, which just makes sense. With the iPhone Duo unfolded, you get a clear view of your day’s tasks and appointments, what the week, month, quarter or even year looks like, and the latest weather forecast. It can easily be an information overload for some people, but I’m a fan of how everything’s color-coded and organized.
Fantastical also supports enhanced Siri AI interactions, so you can add calendar events, to-dos and other happenings through voice or text prompts.
4. Edits by Instagram
For content creators, the Edits app is one of the most popular video editing tools. It’s the one I’ve been using over the past year to produce reels and other short-form videos, and the latest update for the iPhone Duo makes my job easier.
Edits can now show a preview monitor of what you’re editing on one half of the inner screen, while the other half shows your timeline. That means you can comfortably add effects or text, set keyframes, and scrub through the timeline without having to minimize and expand the preview to see how the changes look.
5 and 6. TikTok and Instagram
That’s also my segue to give flowers to two apps I’ve spent an unreasonable amount of time on: TikTok and Instagram. In line with the iPhone Duo launch, both social media apps have been optimized for the foldable iPhone’s larger screen. You can now watch videos on the left side while reading and interacting with comments on the right.
Safe to say, it’s my new favorite way to doomscroll at night.
7. Toastie
Toastie is easily the most whimsical “for iPhone Duo” app I’ve used, and it reminds me a lot of the early iPhone days, when chugging digital beer and swiping a paper ball based on the aerodynamics of an office cubicle were the greatest things ever.
The goal of this game is to prepare sandwiches as perfectly as possible, from the way slices of cheese are placed to how evenly spread out the butter is, to the amount of time they’re pressed in the toaster.
Oh, and you do that last step by folding the iPhone Duo shut, just like how you would with a panini press. There are even haptic effects that mimic the sizzling of the toast. It’s silly, fancy, and very charming.
Bonus: Your duo of choice
During my days testing the iPhone Duo, there was one configuration I kept going back to: running split-screen mode with two apps. To me, this is what using a foldable phone is all about, and it’s the reason why I’ve stuck with Samsung and Google’s foldable phones for the last several years.
Running split screen effectively makes apps that aren’t optimized for the multidimensional screens of a foldable phone work better by splitting the wider, tablet-like inner screen into two traditional-sized phone screens.
For my work commutes, I usually keep both Google Maps (the superior navigation app, in my opinion) and Spotify open for quick adjustments. During a recent telehealth appointment, I had my video call set up on one half of the screen and my note-taking app on the other.
And during the Lakers’ home opener the other night, I had my fantasy league and group chat open so I could throw shade throughout the game, only to come up short in points for the week because Luka Dončić decided to chuck extra shots during garbage time.
That’s why I highly encourage you to head to your local Apple store, experiment with app pairings on the iPhone Duo, and decide whether the two screens actually make you more productive.
