Split Screen on iPhone XS Max

I spoke to Apple Live Char about this, even they couldn't give me a straight answer.

There seems to be some confusion about what we're defining as "split screen" view.

For me, it's having two apps open simultaneously so I can read emails + watch YouTube (as an example).

Apple chat said it's only enabled for notes, mail and imessage..

But all I noticed about these apps was that the app allowed for a left-hand side reading pane, not allowing for multiple apps being open at the same time.

Having two apps open at the same time is a feature I would love to see on the iPhone XS Max, being able to do two things at once would be incredibly useful and we now have the screen real-estate for it to work.

I got my XS Max to have split pane view in the messages and contacts app but only after restarting the phone. Problem is, it doesn’t do it all the time. You’d thing it’d just work. I’m hoping Apple does more with this big screen in the future and these seemingly little things work flawlessly.

The iPhone Xs Max, like all of the previous Plus models (6 Plus, 7 Plus, 8 Plus) is still capable of split-screen landscape display mode. However, it's up to the app developer to write the appropriate code to implement this feature. iOS 12 (through 12.1 beta 2) has a bug (reported) that is noticeable when the iPhone Xs Max is in the landscape orientation. This bug results in Mail message headers on the left side of the screen partially obscuring the body of the selected message that is normally entirely confined to the right side of the screen. The bug does not have this effect on the earlier iPhone Plus models.

I was referring to the built in stock apps. I’ve found that when the phone is on zoomed view it does not work. Not sure if that’s a bug but you need to set the view to standard in order to get the split pane view. Unfortunately that still doesn’t give you a rotated home or lock screen.

I have the same problem on my xs max. Same happens also under the Notes app. However, as you said, older plus models running iOS 12 do work proper.