iPadOS 15 brings a big improvement to iPhone apps on a larger screen, finally allowing you to use them in landscape mode. The change even supports app that don’t have their own landscape view, like Instagram.
Running iPhone apps on iPad has never been a particularly excellent experience. It’s certainly nowhere near as great as having a proper iPad interface. But for some reason, many apps are still built only for iPhone.
When running those on iPad today, they are displayed only in portrait mode. That’s particularly frustrating for those who use a Magic or Smart Keyboard, because they have to pull out their device and turn it around.
iPadOS 15 is finally going to fix that problem this fall.
iPadOS 15 lets iPhone apps go landscape
In iPadOS 15 when you open an iPhone app in landscape mode, it will respect your device’s orientation. You won’t be forced to switch to portrait — not even when using portrait-only apps, like Instagram.
Although you’ll still see large black borders when using apps without a dedicated interface for iPad, this change makes a world of difference for those who regularly have to use iPhone apps on a larger screen.
What’s more, the change is automatic — it does not rely on developers to make any changes to their apps — so you can use it right away.
iPadOS 15 coming this fall
iPadOS 15, like iOS 15, is scheduled to make its public debut this fall and will be a free update for all compatible devices. The first developer beta is available now, but we recommend avoiding it until it’s more stable.
In the coming weeks, Apple should offer an iPadOS 15 public beta with many of the early teething troubles ironed out. We’ll let you know as soon as it’s available to download.
