Duo Themes

Duo Themes / Guides / Putting widgets on the iPhone Duo cover screen

Putting widgets on the iPhone Duo cover screen

Updated: September 24, 2026

Written before general availability. The display figures on this page come from Apple's published iPhone Duo technical specifications. iPhone Duo goes on sale 23 October 2026; the on-device steps below follow how iOS has worked on existing iPhones, and we will re-check every step against a shipping device and update this page.

The iPhone Duo cover display is 5.4 inches — smaller than any current iPhone. It runs the same Home Screen and Lock Screen as any other iPhone, which means it takes the same widgets, but the design constraints are tighter.

Adding a Home Screen widget

  1. With the phone folded, touch and hold an empty area of the cover screen's Home Screen.
  2. Tap Edit → Add Widget.
  3. Search for the app, choose a size and tap Add Widget.
  4. Touch and hold the placed widget and choose Edit Widget to pick which saved design it shows.

Adding a Lock Screen widget

  1. Touch and hold the cover screen's Lock Screen.
  2. Tap Customise → Lock Screen.
  3. Tap the widget area below the clock and choose your app from the list.
  4. Tap the added widget to pick a design.

Designing for 5.4 inches

A widget that reads well on a 6.9‑inch Pro Max can be unreadable on the cover screen. Three things go wrong most often:

  • Too much information. A small widget on a small screen should carry one thing. A time, a battery percentage, a date — not all three.
  • Type that is too fine. Thin weights lose their stems at this size. Go one weight heavier than feels right on a large screen.
  • Low contrast against the wallpaper. There is less room for the eye to find the widget, so the edge between widget and background needs to be clearer, not subtler.

Same design on both screens

If you place the same widget on the cover screen and the inner screen, iOS renders it at two different physical sizes — and at two different pixel densities, 460 ppi versus 430 ppi. A design that relies on hairlines will look slightly heavier on one than the other. Solid shapes and generous padding survive the jump; fine detail does not.

Duo Themes saves each widget design once and lets you place it on either screen, so at least the colours and typeface are guaranteed identical. It is free, has no ads and makes no network calls.

Pair it with the wallpaper

A widget looks designed rather than dropped-on when it borrows from the wallpaper underneath it. Pick a matched wallpaper pair first, take one colour out of it, and build the widget from that colour.

Download free on the App Store

More guides