Early reviews of the iPhone Duo were a little harsh on Apple’s new foldable due to the lack of Duo-optimized apps available at launch. But Apple says things are changing quickly on the software front. The company announced Friday that there are now more than 100,000 apps designed for Duo Live on the App Store, with thousands more being added to the store every day.
The news was timed alongside the release of more than a dozen more notable Duo-ready apps, including Microsoft Word and Outlook, Zoom, NBA and NHL sports apps, shopping apps like Etsy and LTK, productivity apps like Goodnotes and Extra, the Halide Mark III camera app and others. These join the iPhone Duo-optimized apps already available, like Netflix, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Unoptimized apps are less than ideal, as they have a black bar on the side of the screen, which takes up valuable space. Sometimes they hide important functions under an overflow menu.
Apple’s data seems to suggest that at least some iOS developers may have needed more time to prepare their apps for its latest form factor. The company said more than 2,000 app developers participated in more than 50 in-person workshops held in 19 cities around the world. Here, developers could use the Duo and work on their apps with support from Apple.
The Duo also proved more popular than Apple expected, given its high price. (It starts at $1,999 for the 256GB model.) The device quickly sold out within hours of orders opening, and now Duo’s shipping times have moved to next year. During its earnings conference call this week, Apple said it was “difficult to predict” when the Duo constraints leading to these delays would improve.
“It’s wonderful to see how quickly developers have adopted iPhone Duo, and we’re grateful for their creativity and innovation,” Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, said in a statement referring to the 100,000 app milestone. “The enthusiasm has been incredible, and we’re excited to see the pace of updates continue to accelerate as more apps are optimized for iPhone Duo,” she added.
Other notable apps that have been updated for iOS 27 and optimized for iPhone Duo are: Spotify, CBS, Tubi, BBC iPlayer (UK), Yahoo Fantasy Sports, Sportsnet (Canada), Facebook Messenger, Google Chat, ChatGPT, Grok Bot, Microsoft Copilot, Excel, PowerPoint, SAP Concur, monday.com, PDF Expert, Documents, iA Writer, Substack, The Washington Post, Yahoo News, FOX News, Kalshi, Yahoo Finance, Canva, Suno, Tinder, Google Translate, Strava, Alma, Withings, MyFitnessPal, Bevel, Transit, Citi Bike, ParkMobile, Viator, Tesla Robotaxi, Priceline, Kroger, Domino’s, Taco Bell, Untappd, The Weather Channel, FOX Weather and RainViewer.
It’s worth noting that not all of these updates are fully rolled out yet.
Spotify, for example, still shows the black bar on the side, and the App Store doesn’t yet indicate that an update is available on our review unit of the Duo. However, since this list comes directly from Apple, we expect to see these updates soon.
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