Notion + Figma Split View on iPad: A Practical Guide

You can run Notion and Figma side by side in Split View on iPad by opening one app, swiping up from the Dock to grab the second, and dragging it to either edge of the screen—giving you a live design canvas next to your project notes in a single view.

Once you've tried it, going back to switching between tabs feels genuinely painful. Here's why this pairing works so well, and how to make it a one-tap shortcut.

Why Notion and Figma Work So Well Together

Figma is where designs live; Notion is where the thinking behind them lives. Keeping both open at once removes the constant context-switching that breaks concentration and causes small-but-expensive mistakes—like implementing a component that was already marked deprecated in the brief.

A few workflows where this split pays off:

• Design review and documentation: Open your Figma file on one side and a Notion doc on the other. As you move through frames, write acceptance notes, flag edge cases, or copy component names directly into the spec—no tab-hopping, no forgotten details.
• Brief-to-design translation: Keep the client brief or creative direction in Notion while you build in Figma. You can re-read a requirement and immediately apply it without losing your place in either app.
• Design system management: Cross-reference your Figma component library against a Notion design system index. When you add or rename a component in Figma, you can update the Notion table on the spot, keeping documentation in sync with the actual file.

All three of these workflows get noticeably faster when the split is already waiting for you on your Home Screen instead of something you have to reconstruct each session.

How to Set It Up with Splicon

If you haven't already, Download Splicon free from the App Store — it's what turns a Split View pair into a proper Home Screen shortcut with a custom icon.

1. Open Splicon and search for Notion and Figma. Select them as your pair. Splicon will show you a combined icon preview with both app icons displayed side by side.
2. Choose a split style and generate the icon. Pick the layout that suits your taste, then save the generated icon to your Photos library.
3. Open the Shortcuts app and build the trigger. Add an "Open App" action, set it to open in Split View with Notion and Figma as the pair, then tap the shortcut's icon field and select the image you saved from Splicon.
4. Add the shortcut to your Home Screen. Tap the shortcut's settings, choose "Add to Home Screen," and place it wherever makes sense in your workflow.

Now your Notion + Figma split is a single tap—same as opening any other app.

A Few Tips for the Split Itself

Figma benefits from more horizontal space, so consider giving it the larger portion of the split (roughly 60/40) and keeping Notion in the narrower pane for reference. Notion's mobile layout handles the narrower column well, and Figma's canvas stays usable without feeling cramped.

If you're working on a larger Figma file, pinch to zoom frequently—the canvas is fully touch-responsive even in Split View. And Notion's slash commands still work normally in the narrow pane, so you're not losing any editing speed on that side.

The combination won't replace a desktop setup for heavy production work, but for reviews, documentation sprints, and brief-driven design sessions, it's a genuinely capable workflow on iPad.