Widen app icon: a closed iPhone Duo with arrows pointing out to both edges

Widen for iPhone Duo

Close your iPhone Duo and Safari gives up nearly a fifth of the outer display. Widen gets it back.

With the Duo closed, Safari stacks its buttons in a narrow column by the camera, and every website stops well short of it. That’s a band about 250 pixels wide showing nothing. Widen is a compact Safari extension that lets pictures, tables and page backgrounds run to the edge of the outer display, and text right up to Safari’s buttons.

Coming soon to theApp Store Free for your first week, then US$3.99 for lifetime access, our launch price.
Wikipedia's iPhone Duo article in Safari on the closed Duo, without Widen: the page stops well short of Safari's buttons, leaving an empty band The same article with Widen: the info box fills the full width and the text runs up to Safari's buttons
The page stops short; the band by the buttons is empty. The box fills the width; the text runs up to the buttons.

Screenshot: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

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A closer look

Wider, without the side effects

Stretching a page is the easy part. Widen spends most of its effort on what happens next.

  1. Pictures reach the edge; words stop at the buttons. In the standard Pictures mode, photos, maps, tables and backgrounds fill the full width behind Safari’s see-through buttons, while text runs right up to them and stops, so nothing you’re reading is hidden. Prefer every line full width? Choose Pictures & text instead.
  2. The camera keeps its corner. A site’s own top bar is kept just short of the column, so its menu and search buttons never end up behind the lens.
  3. Scrolling stays straight. A page wider than the window would normally wobble left and right as you scroll; Widen holds it steady. Pinch-zoom is untouched.

Portrait or landscape, it’s the same. When you turn the Duo so Safari’s buttons end up on the left, Widen swaps sides with them. And when you open the Duo, Widen goes quiet: the inner display doesn’t need it.

Why Widen

More than a single switch

Simpler extensions for the Duo give you just one on/off switch for every site. Widen gives you three choices, Off, Pictures and Pictures & text, then adds the things you only miss once you’ve used them.

Nothing hidden behind the buttons
In Pictures mode, text runs up to Safari’s buttons and stops, so you never have to nudge the page to read the end of a line. Pictures & text is there if you want every line full width.
A setting for each site
Leave a site on your usual choice, or set it to Off, Pictures or All (pictures and text). The panel lists every site you’ve set, so you can change or remove any of them.
Desktop-only sites, if you like
Sites built only for computers are skipped, unless you ask. Turn it on for one, and Widen first shrinks the page to fit, then widens it like any other.
Portrait, landscape or both
A selector right under the main choice decides whether Widen works in portrait, in landscape, or in both.
Clear the clutter
A small display and pop-ups don’t mix. An optional setting hides the cookie notices and “join our mailing list” boxes that pin themselves over the page.
Shortcuts and Siri
Set Widen picks Off, Pictures or Pictures & text; Toggle Widen flips between Off and Pictures. Say “Toggle Widen” to Siri, or use them in automations and on the Action button.
Yours, privately
No account, no subscription, no analytics. Your settings stay on your iPhone.
Start

From download to wider pages

  1. Open the app

    Tap Open Safari Settings. iOS only lets you, not apps, switch on a Safari extension, so this takes you to the right switch.

  2. Allow it

    Switch Allow Extension on, then choose Allow under All Websites.

  3. Turn on Widen

    With the Duo closed, tap the menu button in Safari’s address bar, choose Widen, then choose Pictures.

Launch price

Free for your first week.
Then US$3.99 for lifetime access.

Your week starts on the day you first turn Widen on in Safari; downloading and setting up don’t count, so install it whenever suits. Keep it by buying in the app: one purchase covers every Duo on your Apple Account. Outside the US, the App Store sets the equivalent price in your currency.

Which phones, which browsers, what happens after the free week? Read the FAQ