iOS 27 Adds Landscape Mode to 11 Apple Apps Before the Foldable iPhone

Apple is expanding landscape mode to eleven of its built-in iPhone apps in iOS 27, the first big software update timed to match a rumored foldable iPhone Ultra. The full list of iOS 27 apps gaining landscape mode landed on Friday, and the additions read like a quiet dress rehearsal for a device Apple has not yet announced.

Apple Music, Podcasts, Fitness, Health, Reminders, Home, Shortcuts, Weather, Voice Memos, Find My, and the Apple Watch app all now respond when the iPhone is turned on its side. The shift lands in the same window Apple is expected to take the wraps off a foldable phone, with iOS 27’s public release and the rumored iPhone Ultra both pegged for September.

What Just Changed Across iOS 27’s Built-In Apps

The shape of the change is the same in almost every app. iOS 27 rolls out a left-aligned sidebar in landscape, a two-pane layout that pushes navigation to a thin column on the left and lets the main content fill the rest of the screen. Early iOS 27 beta screenshots show the sidebars sitting flush to the left edge in Reminders and Health, with content panels stretching across the wider right side.

Two apps get a narrower treatment. In Apple Music and Podcasts, landscape support currently works only inside the audio player. Rotating the phone sideways anywhere else in those apps drops the user back to portrait, a limitation the beta shows in both apps for now.

Messages already supported landscape before iOS 27, but the layout picks up a small new option. Users can now collapse the sidebar entirely, leaving a single column of contact names and profile pictures for quick scanning. iOS 27 also extends landscape support to Live Activities inside the Dynamic Island, the notification surface that sits at the top of newer iPhones.

The Eleven Apps That Learned to Turn Sideways

To turn on the new layouts, users open Control Center, switch off Portrait Orientation Lock, and rotate the iPhone sideways. The full list of built-in iPhone apps that now support landscape in iOS 27’s landscape-friendly app list:

• Apple Music: landscape layout inside the audio player only
• Podcasts: landscape layout inside the audio player only
• Fitness: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar
• Health: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar
• Reminders: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar
• Home: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar
• Shortcuts: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar
• Weather: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar
• Voice Memos: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar
• Find My: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar
• Apple Watch: full landscape with a left-aligned sidebar

Why This Looks Like Work for a Foldable iPhone

Apple has not announced a foldable iPhone. The wider landscape support still does two things a single-screen phone does not need. It gives iOS a way to fill a foldable’s inner display without rebuilding every app from scratch, and it gives designers a familiar two-pane pattern to fall back on for that wider canvas.

The Mac Observer’s piece points the same way. “This wider app support could prepare iOS for the rumored iPhone Ultra,” the outlet wrote, “which Apple may introduce in September alongside the public iOS 27 release.” Putting Live Activities into landscape is a smaller tell with the same shape, since the Dynamic Island was designed around a single portrait screen and the iOS 27 beta is now asking it to render sideways too.

The rest of the picture is still forming. Apple has not detailed any foldable-specific changes in the iOS 27 keynote coverage from Apple’s newsroom or the developer release notes, and the September launch window rests on a single report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The foldable, if it ships this year, would be Apple’s first device built around a second screen rather than a single rectangle.

What the iPhone Ultra Rumor Actually Says

The leaks have not settled on a name. The rumored device has been called the iPhone Fold, the iPhone Ultra, and the iPhone Flip, sometimes in the same week. CNET’s running iPhone Fold rumor tracker, updated this month, lays out the three most-used names and the design choices behind each.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s predictions are the most detailed. He has forecast a book-style device 4.5 to 4.8 millimeters thick when unfolded and 9 to 9.5 millimeters when folded, with two rear cameras, a front camera on both the outer and inner displays, and Touch ID built into a side button in place of Face ID. The wider, squat shape that Dickson and Digital Chat Station have sketched matches the sidebars iOS 27 is now showing, since the unfolded display is more horizontal than a tall-and-narrow Galaxy Z Fold 7.

None of this is confirmed. Apple has not announced a foldable iPhone, the September launch window rests on a Bloomberg report on the foldable’s September debut, and the $2,000 to $2,500 price band is Kuo’s prediction, not Apple’s. Kuo has also said the iPhone Fold’s screen could be nearly creaseless, a separate engineering bet that has not been verified.

When iOS 27 and the Foldable Are Expected to Ship

iOS 27 reached the developer beta on June 8, 2026, the day of Apple’s WWDC keynote. Apple has said the public beta will follow in July, and the full public release is expected in September, likely around Monday, September 14, based on Apple’s pattern of mid-September launches. The iOS 27 release date timeline and recent launch dates match that pattern.

Recent iOS launch dates, per 9to5Mac:

• iOS 16: Monday, September 12
• iOS 17: Monday, September 18
• iOS 18: Monday, September 16
• iOS 26: Monday, September 15

Apple typically reveals the exact iOS 27 release date at the same September event where it unveils the year’s iPhone hardware. The foldable iPhone, if it ships this year, is the headline most analysts expect to anchor that event. If it does not, Apple’s fall iPhone lineup falls back to the iPhone 18, iPhone 18 Pro, and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The iPhone 18 lineup is also generating its own leak cycle, with iPhone 18 Pro leaks pointing to a variable aperture camera, while reports from CNET have suggested the standard iPhone 18 could slip to spring 2027 to make room for the foldable in Apple’s September launch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which iPhone apps support landscape mode in iOS 27?

Apple Music, Podcasts, Fitness, Health, Reminders, Home, Shortcuts, Weather, Voice Memos, Find My, and the Apple Watch app all support landscape mode in iOS 27. Apple Music and Podcasts limit the landscape layout to the audio player, while the other apps support a full two-pane sidebar view.

When will iOS 27 be released to the public?

Apple says the iOS 27 public beta will debut in July 2026, with the full public release expected in September 2026. Based on Apple’s recent pattern, the release is likely to land around Monday, September 14, 2026.

Is Apple releasing a foldable iPhone?

Apple has not confirmed a foldable iPhone. Reports from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo point to a foldable launching in fall 2026, with Kuo predicting a book-style design, 5.5-inch outer screen, 7.8-inch inner display, and a price between $2,000 and $2,500.

What will Apple’s foldable iPhone be called?

Leakers have used three names: iPhone Fold, iPhone Ultra, and iPhone Flip. CNET’s tracker notes the names are not settled, and Apple has not announced the device.

Do I need a new iPhone to use the new landscape features?

No. The landscape mode changes in iOS 27 work on every iPhone model that supports iOS 26, the previous major release. 9to5Mac reports that iOS 27 keeps the same device compatibility list as iOS 26.