The first iPhone Duo review were a bit heavy on Apple’s new foldable device due to the lack of Duo-optimized apps available at launch. But Apple says things are changing fast on the software front. The company announced Friday that there are now more than 100,000 Duo apps in the App Store, and thousands more are added to the store every day.
The news was timed alongside the release of more than a dozen other 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 more. These join iPhone Duo-optimized apps already available, such as Netflix, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Unoptimized apps are definitely less than ideal because they come with a black bar on the side of the screen that takes up valuable space. Sometimes they hide important functions under a drop-down menu.
Apple’s figures seem to indicate that at least some iOS developers may have needed more time to get their apps ready for the latest version. The company said more than 2,000 app developers attended its more than 50 in-person workshops held in 19 cities around the world. Here, developers could use Duo and work on their Apple-enabled apps.
The Duo has also proven to be more popular than Apple may have planned given its high price. (It starts at $1,999 for the 256GB model.) The device quickly sold out within hours of opening orders, and now the Duo’s shipping dates have been pushed back to next year. In its earnings call this week, Apple said it’s “difficult to predict” when Duo’s limitations leading to these delays will improve.
“It’s been amazing to see how quickly developers have embraced iPhone Duo, and we’re grateful for their creativity and innovation,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of worldwide developer relations, in a statement about the 100,000 apps milestone. “The enthusiasm has been incredible, and we’re excited to see the pace of updates continue to accelerate as more and more apps are optimized for iPhone Duo,” she added.
Other notable apps that have been updated for iOS 27 and optimized for iPhone Duo include the following: 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, Post Washington Ya Writer, Documents The Documents 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.
We should note that not all of these updates have yet to be fully rolled out.
For example, Spotify still shows a black bar on the side, and the App Store doesn’t yet indicate an update is available on our Duo review unit. Since this list comes directly from Apple, we expect to see these updates soon.
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