 <p>And who said you can have only one window ? :) </p> <p>See if my answer <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/a/19983002/1134595">on this similar question</a> can help.</p> <p>This approach is working very well for me. As long as you don't have to worry about multiple displays or state restoration, this linked code should be enough to do what you need: you don't have to make your logic look backwards or rewrite existing code, and can still take advantage of the UISplitView in a deeper level within your application - without (AFAIK) breaking Apple guidelines.</p>