As I sit in the Apple Park Visitor Center ahead of tomorrow’s WWDC keynote, I realized there is one last-minute iOS 17 feature request I want to make. In the era of bigger phone screens – and rumors that phone screens are about to get even bigger – it’s long overdue that Apple adds some sort of split-screen multitasking to the iPhone.
On the iPad, multitasking is a bit of a mess in the grand scheme of things. But one basic feature that iPadOS handles very well is Split View, which allows you to run two apps side-by side-side for easy access to the information from both apps. This isn’t possible on iPhone, but it should be.
Some third-party developers have found clever ways to implement split-screen features in their iPhone apps. These features, of course, only work in those apps, so you can’t split it between two different apps.
For instance, as MacStories points out, the Mastodon client Mona offers robust split-screen support. In Mona, you just tap a three-dot button and the app splits itself in half, so one window fills the top half and a second window fills the bottom. It’s a really well-done feature that shows a way Apple could do the same.
I can think of a few obvious ways that split-screen multitasking on iPhone would be useful. For instance, you could have Safari fill the top half of your iPhone screen and the Notes app fill the bottom half so you can actively reference whatever you’re reading in Safari while taking notes.
Another potential use case would be to have an app like Apple Maps open alongside Safari app. This would allow you to scroll through different locations in Apple Maps while you looked through lists and reviews via Safari. I often find myself reading travel guides and other content in Safari, then quickly going to the Apple Maps app to look at directions to that location, then bouncing back to Safari to read more. Over and over again.
Picture-in-picture didn’t arrive for iPhone users until iOS 14, several years after it probably should have been added as a feature. This doesn’t bode well for my hope that Apple is actively working on split-screen app support. Still, picture-in-picture, as it’s currently implemented, is quite well-done and shows how you can take advantage of the ever-increasing iPhone display sizes.
Plus, there are rumors that iPhone displays are about to get even bigger next year with the iPhone 16 Pro. Adding a Split View-style feature this year with iOS 17 would give developers ample time to adopt and perfect the feature ahead of the iPhone 16 Pro launch.
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