iPhone Duo gains open-and-close Shortcuts automation

Apple's foldable iPhone Duo can now trigger Shortcuts automations when you open or close the device, giving the hinge a small but useful role in how the phone behaves. MacRumors reports that the new “Opened or Closed” trigger sits inside the Display automations category, with the feature highlighted by YouTuber Stephen Robles.¹

What the hinge trigger does

The automation can respond to either state change. That means users could set an action to run as the Duo opens, another to run as it closes, or use one automation that handles both. MacRumors gives changing the wallpaper between the two states as one possible use case, although the trigger could also be tied to any compatible Shortcut action.¹

The feature was reportedly spotted earlier in the iPhone Duo simulator by code sleuth pdfu, suggesting Apple had been building the behaviour into the foldable's software before the final hardware reached customers.¹ Apple's own product page presents the Duo as a phone designed for several physical poses, including open, closed, standing and seated use, with iOS adapting to those orientations.²

That positioning matters: the automation is not just another toggle buried in Shortcuts. It gives the hinge a chance to become a context signal, much like location, time of day or connecting to a particular accessory. Open the Duo and it could prepare a larger-screen workspace; close it and it could return the phone to a simpler glanceable setup. Those are possibilities rather than Apple-promised features, but the trigger provides the building block.

Why it matters

Foldables often sell their hardware flexibility first and leave developers to work out what that means day to day. An explicit open-or-close event gives Apple a relatively simple way to make the physical design visible in software without requiring every app to understand the hinge. It could also make the Duo feel more deliberate than a conventional large phone with a second screen.

There are limits. The MacRumors report does not establish a full list of supported actions, nor does it show whether every existing Shortcut can run reliably from the trigger. Apple’s promotional material confirms the Duo’s foldable design and its range of orientations, but does not present this specific automation as a headline feature.¹²

Our opinion

This is exactly the sort of modest software detail that could make a foldable feel less like an expensive piece of clever hardware and more like a device with its own rhythm. The trigger will only matter if Shortcuts makes it easy to discover and if automations run consistently, but the underlying idea is sound: the phone should know when its shape has changed, and let the owner decide what that change means.