How To Master Split Screen on Your iPhone

Ever try multitasking on your iPhone and feel like switching apps constantly is just a pain? If you’re itching to get two apps side-by-side or at least have some windowed view of one while doing something else, you’re not alone. Sure, iPhones don’t have full-blown split-screen like tablets or PCs, but there’s a workaround that actually works pretty well—using the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode. It’s kind of weird, but this tiny floating window lets you keep watching a YouTube video or FaceTime call while browsing or sending emails. Not perfect, but better than nothing. Just keep in mind, on some setups or older iOS versions, it might be flaky or require a bit of fiddling to get it right. And if you’re hoping for true multi-window multitasking, jailbreaks exist but, honestly, that’s a whole other can of worms. Mostly, PiP’s where it’s at for now.

How to Split Screen on iPhone?

Use Picture-in-Picture Mode to Split Screen on an iPhone

This is basically your best bet for multitasking with two apps at once on an iPhone.iOS 14 and later support PiP, but you’ll need to check if it’s turned on. Usually, it is, but sometimes it’s turned off by default or disabled for certain apps, which is kinda annoying.

1. Head over to Settings > General > Picture-in-Picture.
2. Make sure the toggle beside Start PiP Automatically is switched on. Sometimes, on some versions, you might need to toggle Allow PiP When Screen Locked too, depending on what you want.

So why bother? Well, enabling this helps you keep videos or FaceTime calls in that tiny floating window, so you can do other stuff—like reply to messages or browse Safari—without pausing what’s playing. On some setups, it’s kinda hit or miss the first time, and you might need to restart the app or even reboot the phone to get it to stick.

Once enabled, here’s how you test it. Launch a video on YouTube or start a FaceTime call. Then, swipe up or press the Home gesture to go back to the home screen—if you’re on an iPhone X or newer, that’s swiping up from the bottom. The video will shrink into the picture-in-picture window. From there, drag it around, resize, or move it to your preferred corner. Works pretty well, even if you can’t do two full apps side-by-side. And yes, you do need a YouTube Premium account for PiP on YouTube, but most apps and browsers support it on iOS now.

How to Switch Between Apps Fast and Multitask on iPhone?

If your iPhone is one of those without a home button—like the iPhone X, 11, 12, 14—you’ve got this cool gesture trick. It’s kind of like flipping through cards, if those cards are apps.

Basically, swipe horizontally across the bottom edge where the Home bar is. Doing that quickly switches between your two most recent apps. So if you’re emailing and watching a video, this makes jumping back and forth super quick. It’s especially handy when multitasking without needing to go into the app switcher menu.

Just a heads up: this method isn’t available on iPhones with Touch ID, like older SE models or iPhone 8, because the gestures are different. On newer models, it’s pretty much the fastest way to multitask on the fly.

What About Jailbreaking? Can That Enable Split Screen?

People will tell you there are jailbreak tweaks that give split-screen capabilities, but honestly, that’s kind of risky. Jailbreaking is a complicated, not always stable process, and doing it wrong can brick an iPhone or cause security issues. Plus, Apple’s pretty strict about it—once you jailbreak, your warranty’s officially Void. So unless you’re feeling super brave and know what you’re doing, it’s probably not worth it just to get a split-screen.

For most users, sticking with PiP mode is the safer, more reliable route. Because of course, Apple didn’t make multitasking on iPhones super easy for a reason—conspiracy or not, it forces you into their ecosystem, and jailbreaks just make everything more complicated.

Wrapping Up

So yeah, if you’re just after quick multitasking or watching videos while doing other stuff, enabling Picture-in-Picture and mastering those gestures is the way to go. It’s not rock-solid like an iPad’s split-screen, but it gets the job done fairly well even on the smaller screen. Just keep in mind, you might need to enable some options, restart apps, or do a quick reboot to get things functioning smoothly.

Summary

• Enable PiP in Settings > General > Picture-in-Picture.
• Use videos or FaceTime to test PiP and drag around the mini window.
• Swipe right across the Home bar to switch apps quickly on newer iPhones without a home button.
• Jailbreaks might give you split-screen but come with risks and voided warranties.
• Expect some trial and error, and maybe a reboot here and there.

Wrap-up

All in all, it’s kind of a workaround, but PiP mode is what’s available now and usually works fine once you get the hang of it. If you’re not into jailbreaks, it’s probably the safest bet. Hopefully, this info helps someone out there save a bit of time and hassle. Fingers crossed this helps!