iPhone Duo's first killer app may be a virtual Walkman

Preorders for the new iPhone Duo don’t start until later in October, but the device may already have its first killer app — or at least its most whimsical one. Indie developer Vidit Bhargava has been showing off an app for the first Apple foldable that replicates the experience of using a classic Walkman.

The app, called Duo-Man, takes advantage of the Duo’s two screens: a foldable, 7.6-inch inner display when it’s open and a 5.4-inch outer display when it’s shut. It imitates how Walkmans used to function — users open up the Duo to pick their music and “insert” their cassette tape, then close the device to start listening. There’s no actual cassette tape or physical buttons involved, but Bhargava says he tried to make the experience feel as authentic as possible by recording the button clicks and static noise from a real Walkman to incorporate into the app. “I have been a long-term Walkman enthusiast — still own and listen to it occasionally — and have repurposed them in the past,” the developer told TechCrunch. “So, when I was looking for ideas for the hackathon, I was looking for physical objects that have a hinge. I noticed how the Walkman’s door needed to be opened to insert a cassette, and I thought it would be cool to replicate on the Duo.”

While foldable smartphones have been around for years, the iOS developer community tends to be particularly creative, partly thanks to Apple’s App Store ecosystem and its tools that let developers build, host, market and profit from their software — which is why developers often build for iOS first before considering an Android version. The app also taps the broader retro trend in tech, as younger consumers seek out classic physical tech like digital cameras, flip phones, CDs, landlines and cassette tapes.

Bhargava built and demoed the app at the Bitrig hackathon this past weekend, where it won second place; Bitrig offers software that lets developers use AI to build native apps in Apple’s Swift programming language. After the developer posted about Duo-Man on X, it quickly attracted attention, topping 1.8 million views and nearly 10,000 likes — attention that has inspired Bhargava to turn what began as a hackathon project into a real app. When it arrives, the app will support Apple Music and local files and will include a feature that lets users “roll” the cassette loop with an Apple Pencil; Bhargava has also said on X that he plans to make the fast-forward and rewind experiences resemble the original Walkman, with Spotify support possibly added later. It’s not Bhargava’s first app — he has also published a dictionary and vocab builder, LookUp; a movie-recommendations app, Movie Buzz; a time-zone utility; and others.

Why it matters

Duo-Man is a reminder that a foldable’s hardware gimmick — two screens, a hinge — becomes a real feature only once an app treats it as the point rather than an afterthought, which is exactly the kind of platform-defining app Apple can’t build in-house.