Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, may have come last to the foldable party, as CNET’s review notes, but it’s certainly not last. Senior reporter Abrar Al-Heeti praised it for iOS 27 integration across both displays and its impressive durability, which exceeded 300,000 drops in our test and counting.
However, as the duo filtered down to the general public, some new owners noticed that some of their favorite apps weren’t well-optimized for the larger 4:3 inner display. I noticed this myself when I opened the iPhone Duo and launched Discord, finding the app centered on the screen with black space on either side, instead of expanding to fill the panel.
That’s not unusual for a phone with a brand new hardware design, and we’ve seen it on many Android foldables, with optimized apps that take a while to roll out. Apple has confirmed that this is already changing, with over 100,000 apps built for the iPhone Duo to take full advantage of the 4:3 main screen.
“Today, there are well over 100,000 apps built for iPhone Duo already live in the App Store, and thousands of optimized apps are added to the store every day,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations in a comment sent to CNET.
“In the past month alone, thousands of developers have joined us for workshops in 19 cities around the world to experience iPhone Duo firsthand and bring updated apps to their users,” said Prescott. “The response has been incredible, and we’re excited to continue accelerating the pace of updates as more and more apps optimize for iPhone Duo.”
Among the apps, Microsoft Word and Outlook are adjusted to look similar to their desktop versions, while Zoom uses the inner display as a larger video conference room. In addition, the company confirmed that sports fans can use the NBA and NHL apps to follow live games and highlights on the bigger screen.
Etsy and LTK Creator will also show more products in the feed, and productivity apps like Goodnotes and Extra will make more use of the additional screen real estate. There’s also Halide Mark III, a pro camera app that adapts to any pose, from a viewfinder on the cover screen when it’s closed to a waist-level viewfinder with a tap when it’s half-open.
The iOS 27.2 update should also add support for Apple Pencil (USB-C), so Duo users can work directly on documents in various compatible apps, such as Apple Notes.
Apple has shared a list of apps that have recently been optimized for the iPhone Duo, dividing them into categories such as work, AI, finance, news and more.
- Watch and listen: Spotify, CBS, Tubi, BBC iPlayer (UK), Apple Music Classical
- Sports: NBA, NHL, Yahoo Fantasy Sports, Sportsnet (Canada)
- Stay connected: Facebook Messenger, Google Chat
- AI: ChatGPT, Grok Bot, Microsoft Copilot
- Work: Zoom, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SAP Concur, monday.com
- Productivity: Extra, Goodnotes, PDF Expert, Documents, iA Writer
- news: Substack, The Washington Post, Yahoo News, Fox News
- Finances: Kalshi, Yahoo Finance
- Capture and Create: Halide Mark III, Canva, Suno
- Lifestyle: Etsy, LTK Creator, Tinder, Google Translate
- Health and Fitness: Strava, Alma, Withings, MyFitnessPal, Bevel
- travel: Transit, Citi Bike, ParkMobile, Viator, Tesla Robotaxi, Priceline
- Eating and drinking: Kroger, Domino’s, Taco Bell, Untappd
- Weather and sky: The Weather Channel, Fox Weather, RainViewer
This is by no means an exclusive list. CNET previously confirmed seven iPhone Duo-ready apps that will make the most of Apple’s foldable screen: Netflix, NYT Cooking, Fantastical, Edits by Instagram, TikTok, Instagram and Toastie.
Apple fans put together their own “does it work on the iPhone Duo?” Web Tracker, which gives you a sense of whether an app is fully optimized, partially compatible, or still waiting for updates. I can confirm that Discord is currently listed as “partially compatible”, meaning it uses most of the inner screen but not all of it, which tracks with my own experience with Mailbox.
We expect that this is only the beginning, and we will expand the list above in the coming weeks as updated apps are submitted to the App Store. In the future, you should also see spotlights for iPhone Duo apps in categories like “Great Apps and Games” and “Popular Apps.” Apple is making it easier to identify apps compatible with the iPhone Duo by adding a Made for iPhone Duo badge to product pages.
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