Indie Developer's Duo-Man App Turns iPhone Duo Into a Virtual Walkman

The app takes advantage of the Duo's two screens: a 7.6-inch inner display when the device is open and a 5.4-inch outer display when it is closed. Duo-Man imitates how Walkmans used to function. A user opens the Duo to pick music and "insert" a cassette tape, then closes the device to start listening.

Bhargava told TechCrunch he tried to make the experience feel as authentic as possible by recording the button clicks and static noise from a real Walkman and incorporating them 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," he said.

While foldable smartphones have been around for years, the iOS developer community tends to be particularly creative, partly because of Apple's App Store ecosystem and its tools that let developers build, host, market and profit from their software. That is why developers often build their apps for iOS first before considering an expansion to Android, TechCrunch reported.

The app also taps a broader retro trend in tech, as younger consumers seek out classic physical technology such as digital cameras, flip phones, CDs, landlines and cassette tapes.

Bhargava initially built the app and demonstrated it at the Bitrig hackathon this weekend, where it won second place. Bitrig offers software that lets developers use AI to build native apps using Apple's Swift programming language. After Bhargava posted about Duo-Man on X, the post topped 1.8 million views and nearly 10,000 likes, according to TechCrunch. That attention inspired him 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 use an Apple Pencil to "roll" the cassette loop, Bhargava said. On X, he also said he plans to make the fast-forward and rewind experiences similar to the original Walkman. Spotify support may be added further down the road.

Duo-Man is not Bhargava's first app. The indie developer has published LookUp, a dictionary and vocabulary builder; Movie Buzz, a movie recommendations app; a time zone utility; and others.