Got the Duo on launch day, returned today to get the 18 Pro Max instead. Coming from the 16 Pro Max.

What I liked about the Duo:

• The inner screen is fantastic. I didn't mind the matte screen / subpar colors because the size is unbeatable. Considered getting the new iPad Mini but the footprint of the Duo when folded is unbeaten

• Multimedia: YouTube, Netflix, Delta are obviously very good.

• Getting work done: I traveled a lot in the five days I kept the phone and managed to get work done (Slack, email, remote coding tools) in Uber and flights, something that's unimaginable with the bar-style iPhones

• Battery life: Even with heavy use of the inside screen, I still had ~10% left at the end of the day

• Very, very premium feel. Coming from the iPhone 16 Pros, I'm not a fan of the new aluminum on the 18 Pros, but a huge fan of the Air and Duo's material. Star white is a fantastic looking phone

What I didn't like about the Duo:

• The outer screen is horrid. Even the optimized apps like first party apps, there's so little screen that it just frustrates you more.

• Thickness. I could wield the Pro Max's fine but because of Duo's thickness when closed, I had a bad time reaching to swipe down the notification center. Surprisingly I could wield it fine when it was unfolded

• Touch ID is fine but Face ID is unmatched, simply because there's a lot of ways to hold your phone and you have to max out the five finger limit on Touch ID to get it to unlock for all of the ways you might hold your phone

• I missed the action button more than I realized

• Unpolished experience: It was a pretty buggy experience, for iOS, first party apps and third party apps. It sometimes wouldn't play the folding animation, bad orientation. Instagram and YouTube was still really buggy for me; Instagram for instance would just have reels be blurred out on certain sections when playing with the inner screen. This was the primary reason why I returned the phone. I know it's not Apple's fault for third party apps being unoptimized/buggy, but I'm not willing to pay $2k+ for that experience.

• I don't know why it can't just have the iPad version of apps

Anecdotally, the Apple Store employee said that I was the first person return the Duo, so keep in mind I might be a minority. Maybe I'll pick it up next year. I think if you game a lot and use the inner screen a lot, I can see why it'd be a great phone for you. Unfortunately, I don't mind phones being boring so I just returned it for the 18 Pro max.

My phone showed my microphone was on and then this screen popped up. What is this?

I love Apple and iPhones, but ever since the 13 series I have had eyestrain with iPhones. I read that Apple has used global PWM since the 13 series. PWM is a flickering method used to control display brightness and it causes severe eyestrain in a growing number of people daily, there are multiple subreddits about screen issues causing eyestrain like r/PWM_sensitive etc. I tried the Duo in the Apple Store and it felt much more comfortable than any iPhone I have used in a while. The only iPhone I can use long term is the 12 Pro Max and I have to adjust multiple settings to make that work. The Duo apparently uses the M16 OLED display panel by Samsung and it does use PWM, but it’s more comfortable like the Samsung Galaxy S25 display.

Whatever Apple is doing to improve screen comfort, please keep doing. I plan on buying a Duo when they become more available.

EDIT: I learned that there are panel differences; however, I still think there is a little more to it. I actually don't mind this cooler tone, but I do mind the lack of vibrancy on the white color. Although, turning off auto-brightness seems to remove some soft-cap on the brightness and makes it more brighter. Going forward, I'll be doing just that. Thanks everyone.

I just finished setting up and restoring a back up on my new iPhone 18 Pro, and I feel like something is off. Earlier when going through the set-up process, the white had a pinkish tone to it, so I thought that maybe my screen protector is effecting my display. However, I wanted to test to see if I'm imagining things or not, so I compared my iPhone 18 Pro versus my iPhone 15 Pro - max brightness, true tone off, and night shift off. Note that the 18 Pro has a Spigen screen protector and the 15 Pro has a Torras screen protector.

The photo on the left is the iPhone 18 Pro and on the right is the iPhone 15 Pro. Although, please note that the photos don't really do it justice. I loaded up a full screen color website on both my devices and immediately you could tell that the 18 Pro seemed darker toned than the 15 Pro. I dug a little deeper and found that by toggling off auto-brightness on the 18 Pro, the white got much brighter. Is this intentional? I never had this problem on my 15 Pro and I always used auto brightness on the 15 Pro. However, it seems like going forward I'll have to disable the option on my 18 Pro.

Just wondering if there is a way to create a shortcut for toggling ‘hide caller ID’ on/off in the drop down menu from the Home Screen? I’ll often make work related calls on my phone and it would be nice to not have to embark on a long journey through the settings / apps / phone / show caller ID, before and after ever work related call.

Im assuming there is a shortcut for this and I’m just being dumb not being able to find it?

I had been running from a pillar to post, making changes in the Language, installing and uninstalling Outlook and resetting settings and nothing worked right after iOS 27 update but looks like today Writing Tools came back along with iOS 27.2

ive owned multiple phones from most brands throughout my life and ive switched to an iphone 14 for 2 months now and i cant see myself turning back.

What truly shocked me was how well optimized it was. my previous phone was a xiaomi 13T. it was big, ugly and mid at most categories but it was very durable (which was great for me because im extremely clumsy) and the charging was the best i had ever seen, fully charging from 0% in like 30 mins, therefore i never considered an upgrade. however it then updated and it got destroyed completely all for a fake control centre and a fake 10 fps dynamic island. As if that wasn’t enough, now with this update if the screen turned off while playing music through bluetooth the sound would be so distorted to the point that you couldn’t hear anything.

I decided to upgrade to a refurbished flagship, settled on an iphone and everything, other than the keyboard, was an upgrade. Every app is so well optimized and so pretty. Many things are a lot simpler and a lot easier like passwords and payments and its truly such a better experience overall. Even if by the time i have to upgrade apple is making subpar flagships i cant see myself going back to android.

edit: minor punctuation and sentence straight errors and added paragraphs to make it easier to read

Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone who understands iMessage or has experienced something similar can help me figure out what happened.

(Coach screenshot is white background and mine is the black background)

Today at 8:41 AM, my coach sent me a message about starting the pool heater. At 12:36 PM, she sent another message asking if we were still on for swim that afternoon.

The strangest part is that, within seconds of messaging me, she received a gray incoming message in our existing conversation that said:
“You have the wrong phone number.”

I did not type or send that message. It also does not appear anywhere in my own Messages conversation.
Coach then messaged me and another person in a group, and I received those messages in the group text.

When Coach arrived she showed me her phone with the our texts and asked if I changed my number. I said I didn’t and we doubled checked my contact info on her phone. I then texted her saying, “Hey Coach!” to see if if my text went through and it did! She received that text right then and there as she was showing me our text thread.

A few additional details:
● We both use iPhones.
● The conversation was our existing individual iMessage thread.
● My outgoing messages were successfully received by her.
● We were later able to communicate in a group chat without an issue.
● My Apple Account device list showed only devices I recognize.
● I changed my Apple Account password and confirmed that two-factor authentication is enabled.
● My trusted phone number and Messages “Send & Receive” settings are correct.
● I contacted T-Mobile, and they didn’t identify an issue.
● I contacted Apple’s automated support system, but it didn’t give me a specific explanation.
I’m updating my iPhone and plan to speak with a live Apple Support representative.

My questions are:

1. How could an incoming iMessage appear on someone else’s phone as coming from my number if I never sent it and it isn’t in my own conversation?
2. Could this be an iMessage registration, syncing, or software issue?
3. Could another Apple device or session be involved even if it doesn’t appear in my device list?
4. Has anyone experienced this exact combination of an unexpected message and missing incoming iMessages? Did you ever find out what caused it?

I’m not trying to jump to the conclusion that I’ve been hacked. I just want to understand what could explain this and what I should ask Apple to investigate.

Thank you!

UPDATE: I spoke with Apple Support today

I wanted to update everyone since several people gave me suggestions and helped me think through different possibilities.

I spoke with an Apple Support representative today, and she was genuinely helpful and reassuring. She reviewed my Apple Account and told me that everything looked good on her end and that there were no security issues flagged on my account.
She asked me to share my screen so she could see what I was talking about. I showed her the screenshot my swim coach sent me, along with our actual Messages conversation on my iPhone. As I scrolled through the conversation, she noticed that the two messages from 8:41 AM and 12:36 PM shown in the screenshot weren’t present in my conversation.

She said something along the lines of, “Oh, that’s very interesting,” and acknowledged that the situation was strange. I honestly thought I was going crazy trying to explain it, so it was reassuring that she could see the discrepancy herself.

She said the unexpected gray message looked like an iMessage, but she mentioned that it could potentially be a glitch on my coach’s end. She couldn’t tell us exactly what caused it.
Before the call, I had already changed my Apple Account password, enabled two-factor authentication, checked my trusted phone number and iMessage settings, and removed two old devices that belonged to me from my account’s device list. I also contacted T-Mobile, and they didn’t identify anything obvious.

Apple recommended that my coach contact Apple Support and her carrier to have them investigate from her side.

At this point, I don’t have evidence that my account was compromised, and Apple didn’t identify an obvious security issue. However, the messaging discrepancy is still unexplained, so I’d like to understand what happened rather than assume it’s hacking or dismiss it as a glitch.

For anyone who has experienced something similar: Has Apple ever been able to explain why an iMessage appeared on the recipient’s phone but was missing from the sender’s conversation? I’m especially interested in hearing from anyone who had this investigated by Apple Support.

Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions! I appreciate the help and will update again if we find out anything else.

UPDATE 2: We found another clue

I just spoke with my swim coach again, and there’s another detail that might be relevant.
She found a second contact on her iPad with the same name as me and the same area code, but a different full phone number. In that contact’s conversation, there was a message saying, “You have the wrong number.”

Somehow, the message appeared in the conversation on her iPhone as though I had sent it, even though I never typed or sent it. I also never received that message on my own iPhone.

For context, I already spoke with Apple Support. The representative reviewed my Apple Account, watched me screen-share my Messages conversation, and noticed that the messages shown in my coach’s screenshot were missing from my phone. She said everything looked good on my account and nothing was flagged on her end. She acknowledged that the situation was unusual and recommended that my coach contact Apple Support and her carrier.

Now we’re wondering whether the second contact, a possible conversation mix-up, or an issue syncing messages between her iPhone and iPad could be involved. However, we haven’t confirmed that any of these explanations is correct.

My coach plans to contact Apple Support to investigate what happened on her devices.

Has anyone experienced an iMessage appearing to come from the wrong contact, particularly when duplicate contact names or multiple Apple devices are involved?

I’d appreciate any technical insight as I’m trying to understand what happened

Thank you to everyone who’s been helping me troubleshoot this!

For those who don't know, Synth-ID is an invisible watermark used to detect AI-generated content.

If you edit images using the built in Object Remover or Extender in Photos in iOS 27.2, the image will receive Synth-ID now.

I don't know what to think of it. Yes, it makes sense for the Extender etc., but why for the Object Remover? If I take a picture with my iPhone camera and remove an unwanted object or person, then all apps like Instagram etc. will flag it as AI using Synth-ID now, confusing people even though the image is not AI generated.

Object Remover isn't generative AI and shouldn't get Synth-ID in my opinion. Strictly speaking, it's not even an AI feature. Before the AI ​​hype and before phone manufacturers had such things built in, this feature existed for ages through apps. It was never an issue.

Pink hue present on side of ipad and pencil is not working in particular part of screen

Got my daughters new phone set up and working. We can’t erase the old one as the camera is broken and Face ID disabled.

Should I smash it or is there way to factory reset without working Face ID?

Has anybody encountered this? It’s a 2023 iPhone Pro Max

Notice the bottom is still bright. I have Apple Care+

Hoping that they cover this. I’m in a busy city though, and I can’t get an appointment until next week.

The phone was never dropped or water damaged and it’s in a case with a screen protector so I have no idea how it happened.

I have only used AppleCare once to replace my battery in April of this year.

All of the other objections about the device are overblown. My screen is fine, touchID is fine (especially with Apple Watch unlock), and the mini front screen is far more comfortable to use than I expected.

But my biggest complaint 4 days into use: how it behaves open on a flat surface. It rocks - the two sides adjacent to the camera bump are lifted off the surface and will fall and tap the surface with any screen touch. I was about to go buy an Apple Pencil USB-C to draw on the iPhone, but I’m not even sure I could draw on it with it rocking back and forth. Definitely won’t ditch my iPad for drawing after using this. That or I’ll have to set the phone on a plush towel or something just to keep it still while drawing. I don’t know… seems like such a major design oversight. I’ve always hated how the camera bumps made iPhones unstable, and was excited to see them extend the bump on the 17s and later for stability.. and I hate how unstable the Duo is on hard flat surfaces.

[end gripe]

That said - big fan of the phone.

Trying to put FaceTime in smaller pictures and picture mode on inner screen and it just automatically goes to multitask side. Anyone have a fix?

This was frustrating lol thought it was going to be convenient annnnnnnnd no….

Hi! I just got an iPhone from the Apple Store today. I mistakenly used a different credit card than I wanted out of habit. I wanted to know if there will be any issue going back to the store to “return/repurchase” the iPhone with a different card. No trade in credit was applied. I’ve already opened and set up the phone. Thanks for your help!

Edit: sorry I did ask support and they said I would need to return the phone but buy a different unit because the opened phone is no longer sellable? So I’m hoping someone may have more experience or insight with something like this!

Hi everyone! 💕

I hope you’re all having a wonderful day! I’m so sorry to bother you all with a technical question, but I’m feeling a little lost and would be so, so grateful for any advice or wisdom you might have to share! 🌸

Ever since I updated to iOS 27.2, the bottom speaker on my phone has completely stopped working. The sound only comes out of the top earpiece receiver now, which makes videos and music sound a bit strange and quiet.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time searching online and tried all the standard troubleshooting steps I could find, like force restarting the phone, toggling the equalizer/EQ settings off and on, checking the left/right audio balance in Accessibility settings, and turning Bluetooth on and off. Unfortunately, none of those seemed to fix it for me. 😞

Has anyone else experienced this exact issue since updating to 27.2, or does anyone know of a little trick I might have missed?

Thank you so much in advance for taking the time to read this and for any help you can offer. I truly, truly appreciate your time and kind support! 💖✨

I just upgraded from a 14 to a 17 but my messages are stuck in 2023 and it says that it’s done syncing. I’ve tried turning my iMessages on and off and such, maybe I’m doing some of it wrong but idk

OK, so after 16 years of being an Android user, I finally joined the dark side and got an 18 Pro. So far I love it, but while I was messing around with the main screen or widget screen or whatever the first home screen is called, I got a pop-up asking if I wanted to turn on Screen Time and Website Activity. I thought, "Sure, why not?" and clicked "Turn On". For some reason that made the phone decide that I'm a child and changed a bunch of my settings. I couldn't even open Google until I set a Screen Time PIN. I finally got it turned off, but it seems like, while one click changed everything, I'm having to undo all the changes one at a time. Does anyone have a list of what all Screen Time messed with so I can unscrew it? Thanks!