Viral app turns Apple's foldable iPhone into a Walkman — and 2 million people watched
Duo-Man lets users 'insert' a cassette, close the phone and start playing music
Apple’s first foldable iPhone hasn’t reached stores yet, but an app that transforms it into a virtual cassette Walkman has already attracted more than 2 million views online.
Called Duo-Man, the app uses the folding design of Apple’s iPhone Duo to recreate the experience of loading and playing a cassette.
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Independent developer Vidit Bhargava created the prototype during a BitRig hackathon in San Francisco.
Open the phone, ‘insert’ a cassette
The idea makes the iPhone Duo’s hinge part of the music experience.
Users open the foldable phone, choose their music and virtually “insert” a cassette on its 7.6-inch inner display.
Closing the phone starts playback, with the outer screen transforming into a Walkman-style music player.
Bhargava even recorded button clicks and static from a real Walkman to make the experience more authentic.
The attention to detail goes further: a planned feature will let users use an Apple Pencil to wind the cassette tape virtually—recreating an old trick familiar to anyone who used physical cassettes.
More than 2 million views
Duo-Man began as a hackathon project and finished second in the competition.
But a video demonstrating the app went viral after Bhargava posted it on X, passing 2.1 million views and attracting thousands of likes.
The response persuaded the developer to turn the prototype into an app users can actually download.
The finished version is expected to support Apple Music and locally stored music files. Spotify integration could also be added later.
A release date for Duo-Man has not yet been announced.
Retro tech meets Apple’s foldable
The app arrives amid renewed interest in older technology and physical media, from compact cameras and flip phones to CDs and cassette players.
Instead of simply using the iPhone Duo’s larger unfolded screen, Duo-Man uses the physical action of opening and closing the device to recreate the experience of opening a cassette player.
The concept has attracted attention before Apple’s new foldable even reaches consumers.
iPhone Duo pre-orders begin October 16, with availability starting October 23.
