Since iPadOS 13, it is possible to open multiple instances, not to say windows, of the same app. This is handy combined with screen sharing, but could it also make sense on an iPhone, where there is no screen sharing? Designer Parker Ortolani thinks so and he offers on 9To5 Mac the concept of such a function in the multitasking interface of iOS.
He begins by justifying how the possibility of opening several instances of the same app seems useful to him on an iPhone. The key point is no longer screen sharing, but the ability to quickly switch from one instance to another by using a side swipe on the home bar (or a double click on the home button ). Its two examples, Safari and Notes, are indeed interesting for this purpose.
If you need to quickly switch from one web page to another, you must currently open them in two tabs and switch from one to the other then requires two taps: one on the dedicated tabs icon at the bottom on the right of the screen, then another on the web page. With two instances, we could switch from one to the other with a simple swipe on the home bar on iPhone with Face ID, which would be much faster.
It remains to be seen how to present these instances in iOS multitasking. The concept offers two options: either a preview per instance, as if they were different apps; either an app preview, but a tap then opens a second view which shows all the instances. The first option would be identical to iPadOS, where each instance is visible separately. The second has the advantage of being more compact
This possibility is interesting and like on iPadOS, it could be hidden by default so as not to disturb users who do not want it. It would be an additional option for more advanced users. What do you think ?
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