Parallel Space is a well-known Android app that runs a second copy of apps such as messengers and games, each signed in to a different account. If you have moved to iPhone, or use both, it is natural to look for the same thing on iOS.
There is no Parallel Space for iPhone, and there cannot be one that works the same way. Here is why, and what comes closest.
How Parallel Space works on Android
Android allows an app to host other apps inside a virtual environment. Parallel Space and similar apps use that to run a second instance of an app you have installed, with its own data and its own sign-in. Android phone makers build a similar feature into the system as “dual apps”, and Android’s work profile does the same for work apps.
Why it cannot exist on iPhone
iOS runs every app in its own sandbox. One app cannot load another app’s code, read its data, or install a second copy of it. App Store rules also do not allow apps to download and run code that changes what they do. So the trick Parallel Space relies on is not available on iPhone — to any developer.
The App Store apps using the name
Search the App Store for “parallel space” and you get a page of near-identical titles from unrelated developers — at least six at the time of writing, with ratings from a few dozen to several thousand. They also rename themselves by region: one app is listed as “Parallel Space – Clone App” in one country’s store and “Parallel Space ‒ Dual Accounts” in another. That is keyword optimisation, not different software.
So “which Parallel Space should I install” does not have an answer in the way people expect.
What they actually do is open the web version of a service in an isolated browser session, so you can be signed in as a different person there. That is genuinely useful, and it is not a clone of the app — which is what the negative reviews in this category are mostly about.
What they charge is where the complaints concentrate. The most-rated one sells several tiers of unlock, from roughly $3 to around $27 depending on the tier and the country; others in the category run weekly subscriptions. Check the renewal period before the price: a small weekly number is the most expensive shape of pricing there is.
Parallel Space alternatives for iPhone
Account switching inside apps
Many apps already do officially what people used Parallel Space for. Instagram, X, TikTok, Telegram, Gmail and Outlook let you add accounts and switch between them. Check the app’s settings first.
A second session on the website
Most services also work in a browser, and a separate browser session means a separate sign-in. Safari profiles do this for free on iOS 17 and later — see What Safari profiles actually separate.
Separate Spaces
If you used Parallel Space to keep a work and a personal account of the same service apart, SideSpace is the closest match in spirit. It does not clone apps — it runs services in isolated web sessions, and it is not affiliated with them — but it gives each Space its own sign-ins, pinned web apps, browser, notes and photos. Switch Space and every account switches with it. Dual apps on iPhone explains the difference between a web session and a cloned app in more detail.
What you give up compared with Parallel Space
- Notifications. A web session does not receive the app’s push notifications.
- App-only features. Anything that exists only in the native app is missing from the website.
- Services without a website. Some apps, especially messaging apps tied to a phone number, have no full web version on a phone. For those, a second device is the realistic option.
What you keep
- Your sign-ins go to the service’s own website, not through a modified copy of its app.
- Each account has a place of its own, with its notes and photos alongside it.
- Switching is one tap, with nothing to sign out of.
Short answers
Is Parallel Space available on iPhone? No. It is an Android app, and iOS does not allow apps to run copies of other apps.
What is the best Parallel Space alternative for iPhone? The app’s own account switching where it exists; otherwise the service’s website in a separate session, such as a Safari profile or a Space.
Can I run two copies of a messaging app on iPhone? Not two copies. Some messaging apps support more than one account; otherwise you need the service’s web version or a second device.