Apple has started testing a small but practical fix for one of the iPhone Duo’s more awkward everyday moments: using the foldable’s exterior screen with just one hand. The latest iOS 27.3 beta adds a version of Reachability built specifically for the Duo’s cover display, letting you slide on-screen content sideways toward your thumb instead of leaving it stranded on the opposite edge.
How the New Reachability Works
On a standard iPhone, Reachability pulls the whole screen downward so you can tap something near the top without stretching your thumb. On the iPhone Duo, Apple adapted the gesture: swipe outward from either edge of the 5.4-inch OLED cover display, and iOS slides everything on the screen sideways, closer to your thumb, as MacRumors first noted. If you’re holding the phone in your right hand and a button like “back” normally sits on the left, you can drag the whole interface closer so your thumb can reach it without repositioning your grip.
Why This Matters for a Foldable
Engadget says the feature should make Apple’s first foldable easier to use with one hand. It doesn’t change the hardware, but it removes a small friction you’d otherwise run into every day on the cover screen.
A Feature With a Long History
Reachability itself isn’t new. Apple introduced it on the iPhone 6 back in 2014 to help people adjust to that generation’s larger display. On most iPhones, it still pulls the screen downward rather than to the side. Bringing a sideways variant to the Duo shows Apple treating the foldable’s exterior display as its own design problem rather than just shrinking the existing iPhone interface down to fit, which is a reasonable approach given how differently that cover screen is shaped and used.
How to Turn It On
To try it, open Settings, go to Accessibility, then Touch, and toggle Reachability on from there. Because it’s shipping in the iOS 27.3 beta, it’s only available to people enrolled in Apple’s beta program for now, and like any beta feature it could still change before the final release. The same beta also brings a redesigned Health app and a slew of new Siri actions for apps.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t a headline-grabbing addition, but it’s a sensible one. Reachability for the iPhone Duo addresses a real, everyday annoyance with the foldable’s unusually shaped cover display, and it costs Apple little to offer since the underlying gesture already exists on other iPhones. If you’re running the iOS 27.3 beta on a Duo, it’s worth flipping on immediately; everyone else will have to wait for the final iOS 27.3 release.
Source: Engadget
Where to buy
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
