How to use Split View on a Mac

Split View is the Mac's split screen: two apps side by side, filling the display, with nothing else in view. It has worked the same way on macOS 14 Sonoma through macOS 27; macOS 15 renamed the menu items and added window tiling, which is often the better fit. Both are covered below.

Start Split View

1. Point at the green button

   Hold the pointer over the green button in the top-left corner of the first window, without clicking. A menu appears.

2. Choose a side

   On macOS 15 and later, choose Full Screen, then Left of Screen or Right of Screen. On macOS 14, choose Tile Window to Left of Screen or Tile Window to Right of Screen.

3. Pick the other app

   The other side of the screen shows your other windows. Click the one you want there. Both now fill the screen, in a new space.

On macOS 15 and later the same choices are in the menu bar too: Window › Full Screen Tile › Left of Screen or Right of Screen. And if an app is already in full screen, you can add a second one from Mission Control: press ⌃↑, drag a window onto the full-screen app's thumbnail in the Spaces bar along the top, then click the Split View thumbnail. Dragging one full-screen app's thumbnail onto another works too (Apple's Split View guide).

There's no keyboard shortcut for Split View: Apple's list of window tiling shortcuts gives none for Left of Screen or Right of Screen. Fn-⌃-← and Fn-⌃-→ on macOS 15 and later tile a window to the left or right half of your desktop instead, which isn't Split View.

Swap, resize or replace a side

• Make one side bigger: point at the separator bar in the middle and drag it left or right. Double-click it to go back to the original sizes.
• Swap the sides: drag one window by its title bar or toolbar to the other side.
• Use a different app on one side: click that side's window, point at its green button, and choose Replace Tiled Window. Then click the window to use instead, or click the desktop to keep the one you had.
• Reach the menu bar or the Dock: move the pointer to the top of the screen, or to where the Dock is. They hide again when you move away, unless you've set the menu bar to stay visible in full screen.
• See a window's title bar and toolbar: click the window, then move the pointer to the top of the screen.

Leave Split View

Each side leaves on its own, from its green button:

• Move Window to Desktop puts that app's window back on your desktop.
• Make Window Full Screen gives that app the whole screen in full screen.

Either way, the app that stayed is now in full screen in a space of its own. To get back to it, press ⌃↑ to open Mission Control and click it in the Spaces bar. To end both sides at once, open Mission Control, point at the Split View thumbnail in the Spaces bar, and click the Exit button that appears (Apple's guide to spaces).

While it lasts, a Split View is one space among your desktops and full-screen apps: swipe left or right with three or four fingers, or press ⌃← and ⌃→, to move between them. More in how to switch between full-screen apps.

Split View isn't working

• The menu has no Left of Screen. On macOS 15 and later it's inside Full Screen; the old Tile Window to Left of Screen wording is macOS 14 only.
• One app won't take a side. Apple says many apps support Split View, not all of them. Split View is a kind of full screen, so try ⌃⌘F in that app: Apple notes the shortcut works only if the app supports full screen (Mac keyboard shortcuts). If it doesn't, tile the two windows side by side on your desktop instead, on macOS 15 and later.
• It doesn't work on your second display. Split View on other displays needs Displays have separate Spaces turned on in System Settings › Desktop & Dock, in the Mission Control section, and that change takes a log out. See Displays have separate Spaces, explained.
• You pressed a key and got half a screen. That was tiling (macOS 15 and later), which keeps the window on your desktop. Press Fn-⌃-R to put it back.

Split View or tiling?

On macOS 15 and later you have both. They look alike and behave differently:

Split View suits focus: two apps, nothing else on screen, and the most room for both, which helps most on a laptop screen. Tiling suits switching: the tiled windows sit on your desktop with everything else, so other apps, the Dock and ⌘Tab work as they always do. If you mostly want one window as big as possible without leaving your desktop, neither is needed: see full screen vs maximize. Every tiling layout and shortcut is in how to tile windows on a Mac.