When the iPhone Duo launched, we shared a list of some of the fun apps developers created for the new format. Two weeks later, the developers continue to come up with new ideas, so we thought we’d share some of our favorites.
Games
- Marbles unhinged ($2.99) – Marbles Unhinged is a marble maze designed for the Duo. When you fold it, the floor turns into a ramp. If you lift the top half, you can place a marble on it. When you snap the zipper, the marble launches upwards.
- Midnight fridge ($2.99) – Midnight Fridge turns the iPhone Duo into a small refrigerator. It’s a memory game where the idea is to look at the magnets on the refrigerator and then find the objects inside.
- Greens: Mini golf ($2.99) – Greens is a mini golf app made for the iPhone Duo and is playable in any orientation. Once folded like a laptop, you can place half of it on the table, while the vertical half serves as a camera caddy.
- Chirpfold (Free) – Chirpfold is a Flappy Bird style app where you fold your phone to make your bird flap its wings.
- Valley Race ($0.99) – Valley Run is a neon-themed racing game where you bend the iPhone Duo to direct a marble along a series of challenging tracks.
- PianoFold ($4.99) – PianoFold is a rhythm game that you can play with the iPhone Duo positioned like a laptop. Press and hold the keys to match the song playing. The download is free, but full unlock costs $4.99.
- Load bearing ($5.00) – Load Bearing is a Tetris-style roguelite game meant to be played with the semi-open Duo. The controls are at the bottom and the blocks fall at the top. It also features deck-building elements, so you can put together a set of your favorite blocks to beat each level.
- Who’s at the door? (Free) – Who’s at the door? is an app that turns your iPhone Duo into a port. Open it to see who’s on the other side, and if it’s something scary, make sure you close the Duo quickly before it gets you.
- Fold the correspondence ($2.99) – Fold Match is a game where you are given a shape on one side of the Duo and a blank spot for the shape to go on the other side. The idea is to position the shape to reach that empty space, but you won’t know how close you were until you close the iPhone.
- Battlefleet duo (Free) – Battlefleet Duo leverages Duo’s design for Battleship-style gameplay. In laptop mode, you can see your fleet on the bottom screen and enemy waters in front of you.
Simple but smart
- Duo Aquarius ($1.00) – As the name suggests, this app turns your iPhone Duo into an aquarium. When in tent mode, it acts as a virtual aquarium and clock. You can choose your fish and add-ons, then feed them.
- High Paint ($5.99) – AltoPaint is an app that turns your iPhone Duo into a small canvas with a color palette. There are watercolor, oil and tempera paints with mixable colors.
- Postal club ($4.99) – Post Club is a cute app where you can choose a typewriter, fold the Duo like a laptop, and write a letter. There are 10 typewriters and 14 paper styles to choose from.
- Half a page ($2.99) – Halfpage is another app that turns the iPhone Duo into a typewriter when used in a MacBook-like orientation. The keys are at the bottom and what you type is at the top. It has a simpler design than Post Club.
- Name ($1.49+) – Call Tone turns your iPhone Duo into a sign that lets people know if you’re free or busy on a call. Just set it up, put it in tent mode and people will know at a glance not to bother you. It’s free to download, and there are several visual packs to unlock with one-time purchases of $1.49.
- AskZine ($1.99) – AskZine is a Magic 8 Ball-like app where you ask a question, open the screen, and see your answer.
- Lullaby (Free) – Lullabox turns your iPhone Duo into a music box where you can wind up the key, lift the lid, and watch a porcelain ballerina spin while soft music plays. The music gets louder when the iPhone Duo is opened further.
- DuoBook (Free) – DuoBook turns the iPhone Duo into a small Mac with a keyboard and trackpad that work like the Mac equivalent. You can also use it to send photos and files to your Mac.
Special features of the duo
- Wakes up ($59.99/year) – Fitness app Wakeout was Apple’s App of the Year in 2020. It offers workout games you can do in just minutes a day. You can put your Duo in tent or laptop mode to follow workout moves and play with your body.
- Lighthouse (Free) – Faro is an app that helps you find movies to watch so you don’t waste time browsing Netflix without ever making a choice. On the iPhone Duo, you can view two movies side by side to choose between them, or see the list of choices on one half of the display with details about each movie on the other half.
- CalibReader (Free) – CalibReader is an EPUB and PDF reader that turns your iPhone Duo into a book. The outer screen shows the title cover, and when you open it, there’s a double-page spread with page-turning animations.
- Retrocadence (Apple Arcade) – Retrocade turns the iPhone Duo into a mini arcade machine and works on the Duo in multiple folding positions.
- Blankie (Free) – The Soundscape Blankie app has a dual view with Now Playing on one side and Sound Mixer on the other. When folded into tent mode, it shows a view of what’s playing.
Camera app
- IncrediBooth (Free) – IncrediBooth turns your iPhone Duo into a little photo booth. Press the red button to capture an image and your photo strip will appear on the external display. The download is free and five strips are available per day.
- VNTG (Free) – VNTG is an instant camera app where you close the iPhone Duo to take a photo and then open it to develop it. It’s free to download, with in-app purchases to unlock camera lenses.
- Flipcorder ($4.99) – Flipcorder is a video recording app that turns your iPhone Duo into a retro video camera. It’s designed to be used for daily video diaries, and each tape appears on a shelf in the app. To film, just open the Duo. The recordings have classic VHS-style effects.
Less funny, more serious
- Tense ($0.89) – Brim is a Safari extension that allows Safari to use the full width of the iPhone Duo’s external display for websites. It reclaims the empty space left by Apple in Safari and moves links and buttons out from under the side controls.
- Enlarge ($3.99) – Widen is another extension that expands Safari to take up the width of your external display. It also hides cookie banners and works in split view. There are multiple settings available, so you can set just images to take up the entire screen or choose to expand images and text.
- SPACE (Free) – SPAN is an app that turns your iPhone Duo into a project tracker and timer. It has different views for each orientation of the iPhone Duo. SPAN is free for the current week, with a $4.99 per month Pro subscription available for unlimited projects and full monthly and annual reporting.
- BrainDrain (Free) – BrainDrain is a 60-second brain dump app that helps you declutter your thoughts. On iPhone Duo, different orientations of Duo serve different purposes. You can use it as a laptop folded in half, type thoughts with the Duo closed, or put it in tent mode to use voice capture.
More apps
Know some fun apps for iPhone Duo that aren’t on our list? Let us know in the comments. Be sure to also check out our first article on the iPhone Duo app.
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