TL;DR:
- Lake Coloring: a cozy coloring app for winding down, commuting, or replacing the scroll
- Tiimo:a visual day planner that actually makes sense of your schedule
- Amazon Kindle: essential if you've fallen down the BookTok rabbit hole (no shame)
There's still about a month until the iPhone Duo hits Apple Stores, but I'm already thinking about which apps I'd download first.
Now, if you're like me and have an iPad at home, you're probably not rushing to the store for this one. But I also get it if you are. From what I've seen, the Duo is genuinely interesting - I feel like it has this retro vibe I can't quite put into words, except that it gives me Gossip Girl or Hannah Montana energy. The passive-aggressive flipping (or unfolding as they are calling it now)? Yes, please!
Anyway. I've been thinking: if I ever got an iPhone Duo, how would it fit into my life? For me, it wouldn't be a replacement for my iPad, more like a pocket-sized version of it. Right now, I use my iPad mostly for hobbies and my iPhone for calls and personal stuff. But a bigger iPhone screen could easily change that and turn my phone into something I actually want to use for entertainment and hobbies too.
Here are the three apps I'd download first on the iPhone Duo, and why. Very subjective, very based on how I spend my days, but maybe it'll be useful for someone!
Lake Coloring: the best coloring app for a bigger screen
I've written about Lake before, but the thing I'm most excited about is getting it on a bigger screen. Right now I color almost exclusively on my iPad, usually in the evenings or on weekends during my cozy wind-down time: sofa, music, coloring. On my iPhone I only really open it when I'm commuting or stuck in a waiting room.
But with the Duo's unfolded screen, I can see myself coloring way more often. A bigger surface makes it so much easier to actually get into it, so instead of reaching for my phone to scroll through social media, I'd probably reach for it to color instead (which is waaaaay better and more relaxing!). And with the dual screen, I'd 100% pair it with a Bailey Sarian true crime video on the other side (iykyk!).
Tiimo: a visual daily planner that works even better on a foldable
I found a Reddit comment that describes Tiimo better than I ever could:
"It's basically a task organisation app. You block your day's tasks out and tick them off as you go. It reminds you about the tasks, and you can either block them out by time of day or you can put them in priority order. The pro version uses AI to create sub-tasks within a bigger task (for example, cleaning the bedroom would be broken down into steps)." — u/Physical-Dream-8916
I already use Tiimo on my iPhone and it works okay, but I think the Duo would make it genuinely great. The bigger unfolded screen would give a much better overview of the whole day, and a quick glance at the folded screen to check what's next feels like exactly what this app was made for.
Amazon Kindle: for reading anywhere, finally
Last but definitely not least, Amazon Kindle reading app. I've been pretty deep in the BookTok world lately and I have to admit I kinda really love it (yeah, sorry not sorry, I'm just a girl 💅). The problem is I don't have an e-reader, so I've been reading on my iPad Pro, which is fine but really not practical when you want to read in bed on your side or with a coffee at a café after work.
The iPhone Duo feels like the answer to that. The screen size sits right in that sweet spot between a phone and an iPad mini, which makes it one of the most practical iPhone Duo use cases for anyone who reads a lot. Lighter, easier to hold one-handed, always in your bag. If I had one, I'd actually read even more than I already do, and that's saying something.
