Info.plist · key

UIApplicationSupportsMultipleScenes

The Info.plist key that lets an app open more than one window. iPhone Duo is the first iPhone where it does anything.

Framework: Info.plist
Kind: key
Availability: iOS 13, newly meaningful on iPhone Duo

<key>UIApplicationSceneManifest</key>
<dict>
  <key>UIApplicationSupportsMultipleScenes</key>
  <true/>
</dict>

The key is years old. What changed is that iPhone Duo is the first iPhone that can show more than one instance of an app, so a value that was inert on every previous iPhone now decides whether a second window is possible.

If you already ship an iPad app

You very likely set this already, and multi-window on iPhone Duo comes for free. Check rather than assume — an iPhone-only target may never have needed it.

Two things to know before enabling it

New windows open only on the inner display. There is no second window on the cover display.

Scene activation can fail, and you have to handle it. UIWindowSceneActivationAction returns errors, and an app that ignores them shows the user a button that silently does nothing.

Doing the work

This page describes the key. For the task, see support multiple scenes.

Every iPhone Duo API on one page