A Virtual Walkman App Brings Retro Music Magic to Apple’s New iPhone Duo

Apple’s upcoming foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, is not even out yet, but it’s already inspiring some creative software. An independent developer named Vidit Bhargava has built an app called Duo-Man that turns the phone into a virtual Walkman, just like the old cassette players many people remember.

The iPhone Duo has two screens: a large 7.6-inch display on the inside when opened and a smaller 5.4-inch screen on the outside when closed. Duo-Man uses both screens to recreate the Walkman experience. You open the phone, pick your music, and “insert” a cassette tape on the big screen. Then you close the phone, and the music starts playing on the smaller outer screen.

To make it feel truly nostalgic, Bhargava recorded real Walkman button clicks and the static noise that cassette players made. The app supports Apple Music and local music files, and the developer is thinking about adding Spotify in the future. There’s even a plan to use the Apple Pencil to spin the cassette reels virtually.

Duo-Man was first shown off at a software hackathon in San Francisco called Bitrig Hacks, which focused on building apps for the iPhone Duo. The app won second place and quickly became popular online, encouraging Bhargava to develop it further into a full app.

Apple’s iPhone Duo will be available for preorder on October 16, with shipping starting on October 23. This new phone’s foldable design offers developers fresh ways to create apps that weren’t possible on regular iPhones. Duo-Man is a fun example of how some are already exploring what this new tech can do—even before the phone hits the shops.