How to Use Split Screen and App Pairs on iPhone Duo

As I’m using the iPhone Duo, I find that I’m using it in split-screen mode quite a lot, with two different things on each side of my screen. And there’s a really nice feature where you can join apps together, so they always launch in pairs. So, I’ll show you how split screen works on the Duo, how to connect the apps, and then how to separate them as well, if you decide that you don’t want that any more.

So, right now I’m in the Photos app, and I want to save a photo from here into the Files app, so really I want both side by side on my screen at once. What I’m going to do is swipe up on the Photos app, as if I was closing it, but I’m not going to let go of my finger. Instead, as I move up, you’ll notice there’s a little grey box on each side of my screen. I can drag this across to a grey box, and the Photos app will snap into place and fill that half of my display.

At this point, the normal Home Screen’s open on the other side, and I can use my phone just like normal. It’s just half as big. But that means I can open up a second app, in this case Files.

From here, I’ve got two apps side by side, and I can drag and drop things between them if I want to. Or I could be watching a video on one side and reading a blog on the other. Whatever it is I’m doing, I can multitask really easily. When I’m finished, I can simply swipe out of one app, and it will go back to full screen in the other.

But then, I guess the question is, how do we glue these together? How do we make them an app pairing, so they always open together? There will be times that you want to do that. I find it happens quite a lot when I’m in Notes and Safari. I like having both open side by side.

So, I’ll bring up Files again, and this time I’m going to tap on that little white line in the middle of the two apps, and it’s all going to go grey. It looks a little bit like superglue joining them together, I suppose. At this point, if I swipe up, you’ll notice both apps are combined into one view.

If I close that screen, just like a normal app, and jump into a different app, that will be full screen. But then, if I go back and open up Photos or Files, it will immediately go back into that joined pairing for me.

And, of course, the last thing to do is to separate them, and there are two different ways you can do this. You can either tap on that middle divider again, or, as I quite like doing, grab the divider and slide it away to make the app that I want to keep full screen again. It kind of minimises the other app, and it breaks that bond between them.

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