New Features
Support for iPhone Duo with a whole new page layout mode called Auto where unfolding will automatically switch from single to two-page layout for a book-like experience. The Auto page layout mode is also available on iPads when rotating from portrait to landscape, but is off by default. To enable it go More (…) > Settings > Page Layout and select Auto.
The aspect ratios of the inner and outer displays on the iPhone Duo are ideal working with PDFs. To really utilize the space, Highlights displays PDF documents edge-to-edge in both the folded and unfolded state. The toolbar buttons float above the content in a vertical bar making them easy to reach. To focus on the content, tap the PDF to hide the toolbar, tap again to bring it back.
The iPhone Duo brings features previously available only on iPad, including Apple Pencil support (coming later) and multiple windows. Highlights is built around these features, which means you can work on multiple PDFs, compare two documents side-by side on the inner display or tap and hold on a PDF in the document browser and select “Open in New Window” to open it in a separate window.
This release contains a lot of under the hood improvements to allow for more flexible window resizing. This should also make toolbar contents and sheet presentations more consistent across all devices. In practice, this has some implications:
- iPhones show more toolbar items when the document title is short
- More predictable order of overflow items in the More menu (…)
- More consistent appearance of sheets and location of dismiss buttons
Minor Improvements
- Active Undo/Redo buttons in the More menu on iPhone now include the name of action it will perform
- Improved contrast for table views in popovers and sheets with Liquid Glass
- Fixed an issue with PDFs being offset vertically when changing between single and two-page layouts
- Fixed an issue with PDFs in dark mode sometimes appearing with a gray background when resizing windows on iPad
- Fixed an issue where the segmented control for switching between PDF and Notes could get tinted on iOS 27
