100,000 iPhone Duo apps is a start, but there's a long way to go

Apple recently announced that over 100,000 apps have been built for the iPhone Duo, but with developers working with multiple SDKs, it could still be a long time before your favorite apps really make full use of what the first foldable iPhone has to offer.

At first blush, that 100,000 figure certainly grabs the attention, especially just a few weeks after launch. But it doesn't tell the whole story, and there's still work to be done.

While Apple's big number applies to apps that have been built from scratch or refactored to fully support the iPhone Duo, many more haven't. Yet more find themselves in some kind of middle ground.

Those apps don't look terrible on an iPhone Duo, but they don't look as great as they could. For that, some work will be needed.

That's the key here, because there is no guarantee that will happen anytime soon. Depending on who or which company makes the app in question, it might never happen at all.

In reality, apps in the App Store were split into three categories with the release of the iPhone Duo. To truly understand how that impacts iPhone buyers, we first have to get into what those categories actually are.

When you open an app on your iPhone Duo, there are three possible outcomes.

What to expect

When you open an app on your iPhone Duo, there are three possible outcomes.

Best-case scenario

If you're using one of those 100,000 apps Apple lauded in its press release, you'll get the best possible experience. The app will completely fill both the inner and outer displays, edge-to-edge.

The updated Google Maps uses the whole of the inner and outer displays on the iPhone Duo.

You'll also notice that the app features adaptive vertical navigation bars. The controls that would normally be on the bottom of the display now reside on the side, well within one-handed thumb reach. If you're right-handed, of course.

Apps like this are also built with Apple's Split View feature in mind, and are fully compliant. They'll work as expected when you use your iPhone Duo to multitask.

Most likely to happen

The second possibility is the middle ground. And while not quite as impressive as the best-case scenario, it's more than usable.

These apps resize to fill most of the iPhone Duo's inner display, but there are no vertical navigation controls to be found. The same also applies to the outer display, so the already squat display will be more cramped.

In fact, you'll get a big black vertical bar where the status bar lives on the right side of the display. The full width of the display won't be used as it would in the best-case scenario.

A terrible experience

The third possibility is one that users of older apps will likely be faced with. From my testing, it also affects apps from bigger companies.

Unfortunately, these companies are those less likely to rush to update their apps to make the most of the iPhone Duo. Especially considering its relatively small user base when compared to the rest of the iPhone lineup.

In use, an iPhone app like this appears full-screen on the outer display, just as it would on a traditional iPhone. But the navigation bar will remain in its usual position and not on the right side.

When the iPhone Duo is opened, you'll get something akin to using an old iPhone app on an iPad. That is, you'll see a small app in the middle of the display surrounded by large black borders.

Why this happens is all down to how, and when, the app was built.

The SDK trap

Apple gave app developers the tools they needed to make great iPhone Duo apps as soon as it was announced. The first Xcode 27.1 beta with iPhone Duo support was released on September 18, 2026, a little over a month before it went on sale.

Apps built using this too, against the iOS 27.1 SDK, are the ones that fare best. These are the apps built for iPhone Duo, and they make up the 100,000 Apple mentioned previously.

As has historically been the case, these tend to be apps from independent developers. But some big-name companies have gotten in on the act, some even before the iPhone Duo went on sale.

Apps built against the slightly older iOS 27 SDK make up that second section, the most likely home for your favorite app. These apps are certainly usable, but they don't offer the best experience that they could.

However, those apps are incredible improvements over apps built with pre-iOS 27 SDKs. Those are the ones that have no idea the iPhone Duo exists and look terrible as a result.

Apps that haven't been updated in months, and especially if it's been years, fall into this category. So do apps that have been updated but still use an old SDK, including some big ones.

Two that spring to mind immediately are the PlayStation and Xbox apps. Amazingly, the Nintendo app is a third.

Another notable app not to be updated to even fill the iPhone Duo display is Football Manager 27. That's despite the fact that it's a brand-new title at the center of a recent Apple Arcade press release.

A brand-new game that's being heavily publicized by Apple Arcade, yet no iPhone Duo support

I live in the UK, and the NHS app falls foul of this issue. A fact I'm reminded of every time I book an appointment with my doctor or order a prescription.

There are countless more, and the worrying thing is that these are apps that may stay this way for far too long. The people behind the NHS app probably aren't rushing to add iPhone Duo support, after all.

Support is not full support

There isn't much anyone can do about legacy apps, or those from developers not inclined to update them for the iPhone Duo. It's frustrating, but it isn't the only issue here.

The apps in that middle ground should also be a focus, and it's important that we don't allow developers to rest on their laurels. Apps filling the iPhone Duo's display shouldn't be the benchmark.

Instead, I think it's important that everyone remembers that apps can be better. Apps like Apple's 100,000 that make full use of the iPhone Duo's inner display, reworked navigation bar and all.

If developers are allowed to do the bare minimum and we settle for that middle ground, we risk another Apple Vision Pro situation.

Just as iPad apps work on Apple's headsets, apps built against the iOS 27 SDK also work on the iPhone Duo. But neither makes the most of what those two devices offer over anything else.

If the foldable iPhone is going to be the success the Apple Vision Pro isn't, it'll need great-looking apps along the way.

Source: Read original article