The Duo apps are coming, says Apple

The early iPhone Duo reviews were a bit hard on Apple’s new foldable for the lack of Duo-optimized apps available at the time of launch. But Apple says things are changing quickly on the software front. The company on Friday announced there are now over 100,000 apps built for the Duo live on the App Store, and it’s seeing thousands more being added to the store every day. The news was timed alongside the release of over a dozen more notable Duo-ready apps, including Microsoft Word and Outlook, Zoom, sports apps from the NBA and NHL, 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 that were already available, like Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Non-optimized apps are definitely less than ideal, as they come with 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 extra time to get their apps ready for its latest form factor. The company said that more than 2,000 app developers attended its over 50 in-person workshops that were hosted across 19 cities worldwide. Here, the developers could use the Duo and work on their apps with Apple’s support. The Duo has also proven to be more popular than perhaps Apple had planned for, given its high price point. (It starts at $1,999 for the 256GB model.) The device quickly sold out within hours of orders opening up, and now, Duo ship times have shifted into the next year. On its earnings call this week, Apple said it’s “hard to predict” when the Duo constraints leading to those delays will improve . “It’s been wonderful 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 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 and more apps optimize for iPhone Duo,” she added. Other notable apps that have been updated for iOS 27 and optimized for the iPhone Duo include the following: Spotify, CBS, Tubi, BBC iPlayer (U.K.), 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. Not all these updates have yet to fully roll out, we should note. Spotify, for instance, is still showing the black bar on the side, and the App Store doesn’t yet say an update is available on our review unit of the Duo. However, given that this list comes directly from Apple, we expect to see these updates soon. Topics Apple , Apps , Apps , developers , foldable , iPhone When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission . This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Sarah Perez Consumer News Editor Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software. You can contact or verify outreach from Sarah by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at sarahperez.01 on Signal. View Bio November 4 Boston Buy One Pass, Get a Second Free Cover more ground at TechCrunch’s ultimate founder bootcamp of the year by bringing your co-founder or partner for free Book before the BOGO deal expires Register Now Most Popular Tesla will stop making the Cybertruck in 2027 Sean O'Kane Claude can now analyze your spending with its new Personal Finance tool Aisha Malik Data centers are turning to old jet engines as the wait for power grows Aditya Mehta New York City’s Mamdani criticizes Madison Square Garden owner over surveillance tech Zack Whittaker Anthropic warns that it’s very close to RSI capability, aka self-building AI Julie Bort New York Times and other outlets sue web browser Brave over alleged content scraping Rebecca Bellan Ninja’s first-ever microwave just replaced two of my kitchen appliances at once Lauren Forristal