Lefties are out of luck with the iPhone Duo, but Apple plans to add reachability features later this year

iPhone Duo
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)
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As a leftie, one of the iPhone Duo's biggest drawbacks is the controls. The current setup isn't great for those of us who want to use the phone with our left hand.

Fortunately, a fix is on the way, and since most people won't get their Duo until December or January anyway, it might not be a problem by the time you get one.

I Tested iPhone Duo.... What's The Catch? - YouTube I Tested iPhone Duo.... What's The Catch? - YouTube
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Apple told Tom's Guide in a briefing that reachability features will come later this year. It's unclear exactly when the setting will arrive.

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As you can see in our video above, the iPhone Duo is not quite left-handed-friendly. For a better example of the stretch your thumb will need, check out this Instagram reel from Bytereview.

For those of us with shorter thumbs or smaller hands, getting across the display to tap apps or controls will be quite the stretch.

For the unfamiliar, Reachability is an accessibility setting that is available for standard iPhone models. It allows you to swipe down on the bottom edge of the screen to bring the top half of the UI down so that controls are easier to reach with one hand.

It's not quite the ability to customize where the control dock is actually located, but it's helpful.

That's not all

iphone duo

(Image credit: Future)

Reachability isn't the only potential misstep on the iPhone Duo. As my colleague Dave LeClair points out, the Duo is heavy, expensive and not quite optimized outside of Apple's in-house apps.

The iPhone Duo is an interesting foldable. In our lab testing, the battery results and full performance benchmarks showcase a foldable that is powerful and efficient, with battery life that will last you most of the day.

In a recent Live Q&A, we covered many questions that Tom's Guide readers had about the Duo. Including answers about the crease, the drawbacks to the camera system, and Touch ID versus Face ID.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments if the locked dock on the iPhone Duo is a major flaw or a mere nuisance.


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Scott Younker
West Coast Reporter

Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. He also handles all the Connections coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game since it released.
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