The iPhone Duo may look very cool, but being the first foldable iPhone, it introduces a completely new user interface. While the “Surprise and shine” event highlighted several apps optimized for the new version of iOS, there will be many more that won’t have the necessary updates, and now we know how they’ll look.
Apps that are not optimized for the iPhone Duo will look bad
For well over a decade, Instagram didn’t have a native iPad app, forcing users to deal with a stretched-out version of the iPhone app on their tablets. Now, iPhone Duo users may face something similar when they try to use apps that are not optimized for the new foldable device.
Today Apple released a video and technical details for developers with details about how third-party apps are going to look on the iPhone Duo. The company explains that iOS apps will have three compatibility modes, based on their optimization.
Unoptimized apps will look like this on the iPhone Duo. | Image by Apple
The worst ones are apps that haven’t been updated for iOS 27. They will show as a single app surrounded by a black safe area. This will happen both on the internal and the external display of the device.
iOS 27 apps will look a little better. | Image by Apple
Apps that have been updated for iOS 27 will fare a little better. They’ll still have a black safe area around, but the operating system will use the app resizing features to fill much more of the screen.
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Of course, the best experience will be for fully optimized apps that will be able to utilize the whole available space and Apple’s new design paradigm. Those will be the apps built for iOS 27.1, and their navigation and toolbar buttons will lay out vertically under the status bar.
Fully optimized apps will fully use the new form factor. | Image by Apple
Reactions to the changes online have been mixed, with many people pointing out that Apple doesn’t allow iPad apps to run on the iPhone Duo. As for the developers, they seem more worried about the amount of work they’ll have to do to make it all look good.
Developers will have a lot of work to support the iPhone Duo. | Image by Reddit (screenshot
We’ve been through this before
This is far from the first time Apple goes through a similar process with a new shape of the iPhone. When the iPhone X first launched, many apps weren’t optimized and had black bars to help them fit in the taller display.
What do you think about the interface of the iPhone Duo?
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What’s different this time is that the iPhone Due is more of a niche device, giving developers a much smaller incentive to fully support it. Considering it took a couple of years before almost every iPhone app transitioned to the current slab design, it may take even longer for this transition.
Some apps will never get better
I am ready to make a large bet that many airline, banking, and government apps won’t get updated for the iPhone Duo for years, if ever. As long as the most used ones get optimized, that won’t be such a big deal, but a wider compatibility will depend on how popular this foldable gets. Either way, I think there will be many apps that’ll stay between black bars forever.
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Ilia, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, has been covering the mobile industry since 2011, with experience at outlets like Forbes Bulgaria. Passionate about smartphones, tablets, and consumer tech, he blends deep industry knowledge with a personal fascination that began with his first Nokia and Sony Ericsson devices. Originally from Bulgaria and now based in Lima, Peru, Ilia balances his tech obsessions with walking his dog, training at the gym, and slowly mastering Spanish.
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