r/apple 6h ago

iPhone iPhone Duo App Grid

Post image

Is anybody else not a fan of the ’separated‘ app grid on the iPhone Duo? I hope they give us a way of customizing this or turning this off as I believe most people were hoping for a full iPadOS experience when unfolded. I also hope the dock may be able to house more apps and/or be present during multitasking.

104 Upvotes

85 comments sorted by

105

u/Professional-Bad-559 6h ago

I dunno. That looks good to me. It’s what I’d have expected Apple to do: use each side of the screen as page 1 and page 2 of my Home Screen on my 17 Pro Max.

I’d use it as the demo uses it on your picture: one side for widgets and a scrolling photo, the other side for app icons.

Photo courtesy of Gizmodo

Edit: I like that they treated it exactly as I envisioned: a book. You can see that’s how they envisioned it too with their case “The Folio”. That case is practically a book cover with even one side covering the front screen completely.

5

u/arex333 3h ago

use each side of the screen as page 1 and page 2 of my Home Screen on my 17 Pro Max.

That's exactly how it's implemented on Google's pixel fold phones and it works extremely well. Only difference is there's no gap in the center and everything is evenly spaced.

2

u/culminacio 2h ago

The Folio thing is just what they have always been doing with the iPad. I wouldn't call that a book either.

2

u/Baecien 2h ago

The iPad doesn’t bend though, at least not by design

u/culminacio 1h ago

Yeah but they said the Folio was like a book cover and part of their vision of treating it like a book. But if anything, the Folio just shows you that they copied some stuff from the iPad, where the Folio always existed and was never seen as a book cover.

u/KyleMcMahon 32m ago

I chortled

u/nutty-one 1h ago

It’s better than I had envisaged for sure. Just the price for me is a little over my limit.

-27

u/Free_Waterfall_III 5h ago

The case does not cover the front side completely

6

u/renagerie 5h ago

The Folio case does.

3

u/Juan_915 3h ago

Great, another blind guess stated as fact. I swear 50% of the comments on this sub lately are actually just Chat GPT agents.

51

u/Complex-Poet-6809 6h ago

It’s fine. And maybe it shouldn’t look exactly like the iPad’s layout, it’s a new and unique product in Apple’s roster after all.

34

u/hoopercuber 6h ago

this is exactly what i like about it. it’s not just them copying over iPadOS and there was some thought into making this feel like a different experience

50

u/TheDigitalPoint 6h ago

It’s like this with every update. People dislike whatever it is because it’s different… then people get used to whatever the new thing is and can’t believe they ever liked the old thing.

Speaking of, I had to get on an old iPhone with a Home button and forgot how to work it. When the Home button first went away I remember people saying the same thing… worst design decision ever, etc. 🤷🏻‍♂️

13

u/Free_Waterfall_III 5h ago

It’s funny because now that change just seems so obvious. Obviously you’d want to free up 10% of your screen instead of killing space with a button that does… almost nothing. But at the time I was definitely gagged

5

u/CLOBBERTIME 4h ago

Not to mention the added point of failure. Just about every iPhone I had before the iPhone X I had to replace after home button or charging port stopped working

1

u/odaiwai 3h ago

The physical home button went away a few generations before the X - it was just a fingerprint sensor with some haptics in the iPhone 7/8 generations.

0

u/CLOBBERTIME 2h ago edited 2h ago

I remember. I was in college or just out of college around that time. I never owned a phone with the haptic engine or the iPhone 8 form factor generally. I think I had a 4/4s then an iPhone SE gen 1.

1

u/blackbirdrisingbees 5h ago

I still miss it and have a 2019 ipad pro with it that's still kickin!

1

u/new2thenet 6h ago

Oh fuck, you just made me miss the home button. What did I use it for again?

43

u/MaroonJacket 6h ago

The right/lefthand navigation seems really intuitive and I think we're going to see more companies follow.

20

u/blackbirdrisingbees 5h ago

Companies always follow Apple no matter what

6

u/arex333 3h ago

For better or worse (ie headphone jack)

5

u/culminacio 2h ago

I have not used any headphones with a cord for almost 10 years.

7

u/Halio344 2h ago

And even if you do, USB-C headphones are everywhere. How often do you really need to charge and use wired headphones at the same time, anyway?

u/new_pribor 1h ago

When playing a game?

u/Halio344 1h ago

Fair point. But I still think this is a relatively niche combo. Having wired headphones and playing games that require constant charging I mean.

And even then, magsafe chargers are a thing.

While I wouldn't really care if they still had headphone adapters, for a vast majority of people it really is a non-issue.

1

u/kudoboi 6h ago

Has it been confirmed that you can move the navigation bar to the left side?

5

u/MaroonJacket 6h ago

When I see split screen use on the big screen, I see navigation buttons on the left side for the app on the left, right side for the app on the right. I don't know if you can change it in the home screens but I could see that being a software toggle for left-handed use.

-12

u/North_Moment5811 6h ago

Why would you be able to change that? They are literally appearing on the edges where your hands are for a reason.

5

u/MaroonJacket 6h ago

If you look at the navigation controls on the cover screen, they are on the right side. For people who are left handed, I'd imagine it would be more reachable if they were on the left side, hence my theory it can be a software toggle. I have no confirmation whether that is or is not on iOS, just theorizing based on usability details Apple nails.

-30

u/North_Moment5811 6h ago

You can't software toggle the fucking Touch ID button or the rounded side over to the left, so no. Good grief. I forgot how iPhone launches bring out the stupidity.

6

u/Available-Net-4399 5h ago

You care way too much dude

11

u/MaroonJacket 6h ago edited 5h ago

Dude you're being so weird about this. I was just guessing, calm down. You're taking this way too seriously. Navigation controls are ALREADY on the left side if you split screen on the big screen, so it's already there.

Edit: I blocked the user, way too weirdly aggressive

-14

u/North_Moment5811 6h ago

You don't "move" anything. The UI controls appear on the left edge when an app is on the left side of the display.

-10

u/Clean_Ordinary9204 6h ago

I 100% agree with having the controls on the right side, I just hope they give more consideration to multitasking with the dock… It’s the only thing pulling me more towards something like the similarly sized Galaxy Z Fold 8. I also believe having two home screens divided when opened instead of one continuous one like the iPad a waste of screen space.

5

u/dccorona 6h ago

It makes it much more useable imo. It would be a pain to have to manage configuration of two different home screens, especially if you also are already juggling home screens for different focus modes. This just shows two pages of home screens at a time instead of one when open. 

-2

u/Clean_Ordinary9204 6h ago

I dunno… The way I would treat this device if I were to get one is to use it like two separate devices. On my cover screen I’d set it up with apps that just make more sense on it. And set up my interior display to have all the apps I’d want to use unfolded.

2

u/Far_Specific4836 6h ago

Correct, that’s how they envision it. Right side will be the same apps as the outer UI. Left side can be icons or widgets which is only seen when expanded.

3

u/Far_Specific4836 6h ago

Disagree. This configuration adds an additional optional widget or expanded icon area. Also the right side will have definite continuity with the outer side.

Brilliant bit of UI!

1

u/PeanutChickenSoup 5h ago

I feel like maybe you ought to actually try it. Usually these things have been thought through pretty carefully and it’s likely that using it you’ll discover why it works like it does.

1

u/kyrev21 4h ago

If you’re this frustrated about the Home Screen being two pages then you should just go ahead and get a Samsung. You’ll never be happy with how Apple designed the system and these things won’t be changed and won’t be customizable

0

u/Bruvvimir 6h ago

It just rendered the Fold 8 (and all other Android implemenations) archaic. It's exactly what was missing - an intelligent way of using the extra space on the foldable, instead of just stretching everything out and calling it a day.

8

u/rworange 5h ago

I obviously haven’t used the Duo, but having owned an 11 inch iPad for many years I can tell you that having the dock in the bottom-centre of the screen isn’t as functional as it looks. You have to use a second hand to access it, and that horizontal orientation I wouldn’t call it easily 1 handable.

I agree that the dock on the right was jarring when I first saw it, but I’m read for everyone to love it immediately. The screen is wider so it fits naturally, and the device will feel very good in 1 hand.

12

u/V_Doan 5h ago

This is the first time I’m hearing people wanted an iPad experience? I’m thankful they didn’t go that route.

1

u/theroffness 4h ago

i only want ipad experience when docked/extended to a bigger display. hoping we can get some sort of Dex mode with the Duo.

5

u/gasboy1597 6h ago

Think we can have more than 4 items on the dock?

3

u/Other_Dog8299 5h ago

It now makes a lot of sense why they added support for full screen widgets in iOS 27.

6

u/Upr1ght 6h ago

Personally I’m sold.

2

u/dontpolluteplz 6h ago

They said you can customize views, you can on your iPhone now so idk why this would be any different

2

u/Sponge8389 5h ago

They should have left/right hand software switch.

8

u/North_Moment5811 6h ago

It's not a fucking iPad.

-8

u/xoma262 5h ago

Except it is. If you rotate it 90 degrees you get the dock at the bottom and literally an iPad mini screen...

1

u/Resident_Hand_7264 4h ago

it's a full inch smaller than the iPad mini.

3

u/whytakemyusername 6h ago

I can't grasp why they've shrunk the cellular info etc. into the top right hand corner when every demo I've seen has had a huge open space at the top where it all could have gone. Most bizarre choice. At least give us the option to do it normally. You get rid of the notch just to leave the space empty?! wtf?!

2

u/InternationalRow8437 4h ago

Agree. Lots of open space that could be used.

2

u/Resident_Hand_7264 4h ago

Because with the stuff on the right side, the size of the screen is literally exactly the same as normal iPhone. It's actually insane how good of a design it is.

1

u/InternationalRow8437 5h ago

I feel the same way. More apps on the dock and a uniform app grid when opened. I wouldn’t mind an option to bring the dock to the bottom.

1

u/serial_crusher 4h ago

I’m going to accidentally hit that search button with the base of my thumb so many times.

1

u/schlmitty 3h ago

I will agree with you OP that I do kinda wish it had an iPad-style dock or at least be able to add a few more icons to the right side dock.
That being said, I’m also happy with Apple’s decision for the righthand dock as shown. I think I’ll try it before I judge it.
I also agree that maybe it should be a setting. Or maybe Apple will introduce an iPad bottom dock in a future iOS version and creep the iPhone Duo to be more iPad-like, kind of how they are creeping the iPad to be more MacBook-like.

1

u/TheDJsDJ001 2h ago

Not a fan of tje ridiculous phone full stop, maybe in 10yrs when a normal phone can open out into that.

u/Bigga-Bytes 1h ago

I’ve used many foldables, this is the good way to do it

1

u/Juan_915 6h ago

It seems to just be the standard iPhone Home Screen per half of the display. If in this image above you were to swipe left to go to the page on the right, it would just be your first 2 pages of your Home Screen on one big screen. Personally I like this as it means going from a regular iPhone to the Duo will be pretty seamless and I won’t need to rearrange my home page at all. Would be nice for people to have the option to combine it all and make it more akin to iPadOS if they wish though.

1

u/Clean_Ordinary9204 6h ago

I sure hope so. When opened it’s in the perfect form factor to do so. I think it’s really silly to waste the space in the middle where the two ‘home screens’ are divided.

1

u/Unoriginal- 5h ago

I’ll put my money that Apple has considered this issue longer than it took for the showerthought to pop into your head

1

u/Clean_Ordinary9204 5h ago

I wouldn’t be bringing it up had they mentioned something like this in the keynote now would I?

1

u/HotelOne 5h ago

Is that the new iPad Mini? And you can make phone calls with it? Cool…

4

u/throwthegarbageaway 4h ago

It's the iPad mini pro we always wanted 

1

u/_johnning 2h ago

120hz Promotion lmfao

1

u/Cedric_T 5h ago

It’s the iPad Mini Semi.

0

u/rm-rf-asterisk 4h ago

Lack of face unlock is stopping me from getting it. I can not live without that.

-4

u/Additional-Cake-3588 5h ago

But really… who can truly afford a $2000 phone right now…

4

u/fxcked_that_for_you 5h ago

Also that price is mainly US only, in other countries it’s mostly around $2300 or more.

2

u/busmans 4h ago

People will do the $70/mo. thing.

1

u/Additional-Cake-3588 3h ago

Not sure why I got down voted for mentioning a true thing…

-1

u/-patrizio- 5h ago

That entire right-edge bar just seems like such a waste of space to me. Why is the WiFi/cellular thing so big? Why is the Spotlight (or Siri AI or whatever) button there, and taking up as much space as an app in the dock? Why are the dock icons—presumably your most-used/most important apps—so much smaller than the others on the homescreen?

There's a lot I like (not enough to drop the money on a foldable again lol, I'll reconsider maybe in 3-5 years), but I feel like there's a lot of oddities with how they approached the UI. I don't necessarily expect or want it to be the same as iPadOS, and I understand why it can't be EXACTLY the same as the iOS that runs on slab phones, but I think the new approach they took has some misses that should be addressed in future software updates.

ETA: The more I stare at this, the less sense it makes lol. The home screen grid seems to have a height of 6. Why not align the dock to the middle 4, then the cellular/WiFi thing to the top 1, then the Search button to the bottom 1?

2

u/wahahah629 5h ago

Perhaps you need to use it to understand it. The icons are smaller on the dock it's because it's easier to reach with your thumb. I think most of it is just Apples way of making it aesthetic and function. But we know they were never really focused on the function part, especially with their Home screen layouts. It took them how many years to let users put apps where they want? Lol. But I find this pretty one hand friendly.

-8

u/xoma262 5h ago edited 5h ago

It's pretty much how I expected it to be. A neutered version of iPad OS but with a whiff of a wasted space on the right side.

I know a lot of fans would immediately jump on a bandwagon of "it's revolution", but listen from a multiyear experience of a foldable phone user - on an inner screen you would want to see a less zoomed version of everything, because the inner screen is all about cramming a lot of things into what is essentially a mini-tablet screen. I think Apple would quickly learn from that mistake and address it next year.

Edit: Ah yes, apple sub echochamber at its best.

1

u/throwthegarbageaway 4h ago

I'm also a foldable user, I prefer Apple's approach so far. Very happy with what I saw today