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Open it, insert a cassette, close it, music plays: That's how Sony's Walkman worked in the eighties, and that's exactly how it's supposed to work again on the iPhone Duo. An independent developer has repurposed the hinge of the first foldable iPhone as a cassette deck. The idea originated over a weekend, and now it's set to become a full-fledged app.
The iPhone Duo will be available for pre-order starting October 16th and will be released in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland on October 23rd. The specifications, pricing, and release dates for the iPhone Duo are now confirmed, and the first apps for the new form factor are currently being developed. One such app, Duo-Man, a virtual Walkman, was showcased by developer Vidit Bhargava in a post on X on September 27th.
Bhargava built the app at the Bitrig developer tool hackathon in San Francisco, where it took second place. In an interview with TechCrunch, he explained how the idea came about and what the finished version should be able to do.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Duo-Man mimics a Walkman: When opened, you select music and insert a virtual cassette; when closed, playback starts.
- The developer recorded the clicking and hissing sounds using a real Walkman.
- The finished app will play Apple Music and local files; Spotify is just a possibility for later.
- Plans also include the ability to rewind the cassette using the Apple Pencil – however, the stylus will not be supported on the Duo at launch.
- A release date has not yet been set.
Open, insert cassette, close
The Duo has two displays: a foldable 7.6-inch screen inside and a 5.4-inch screen outside. Duo-Man uses both states for the typical Walkman operation. When unfolded, you select the music on the large display and insert a cassette; when folded, playback begins.
Duo-Man offers the complete walkman experience on the iPhone Duo. Open the Duo to pick and 'insert' the cassette, Close the Duo to start listening.
— Vidit Bhargava (@viditb) September 27, 2026
Yes, I actually recorded the button clicks and static noise from a real Walkman!
It was fun making this at @bitrig hacks today. pic.twitter.com/juSrLhofrH
Bhargava described himself to TechCrunch as a longtime Walkman fan who still owns one and occasionally listens to it. When brainstorming ideas for the hackathon, he looked for everyday objects with hinges and thought of the flap behind which the cassette is located on a Walkman. To make the app feel authentic, he recorded button clicks and background noise from his own device.
Built before the device was available for purchase
The Duo isn't available for purchase yet; the app was developed in Bitrig's development environment for the device. Bitrig is a tool that uses AI to create native apps in Swift and has offered a three-dimensional folding simulator for the Duo since September 18th. This requires the beta version of Xcode 27.1 with the simulator for iOS 27.1, which the Duo ships with.
Apple itself provides the foundation for such ideas. SwiftUI offers a feature called onHingeChange that allows apps to react to the opening and closing of the Duo. This makes the hinge an official control element for developers, not just a side effect.
What the finished version should be able to do
Following the positive response at X, Bhargava plans to expand the hackathon project into a full-fledged app. According to TechCrunch, it will play music from Apple Music and local files. Fast-forwarding and rewinding will feel like the original recording, and Spotify integration could be added later.
There's also a detail for connoisseurs: the Apple Pencil will allow the band to be manually rewound – a popular trick on the original Walkman to conserve battery life. The developer hasn't announced a release date.
Bhargava is no newcomer to the App Store. His previous works include the dictionary LookUp, the movie recommendation app Movie Buzz, and a time zone converter.
Why the pen trick has to wait
I think Duo-Man is a good sign because the app uses the hinge not only to enlarge content but also as a control element. A device costing €2,299 needs exactly these kinds of ideas to be more than just an iPhone with a bigger screen.
The Pencil functionality will be ineffective at launch. The Duo only supports the Apple Pencil with USB-C, and Apple won't activate that until later this year, after a smaller, dedicated stylus for the Duo failed. Therefore, I expect that Duo-Man, if the app is released in time, will initially have to do without stylus reels. The basic idea – open the cover, insert the cassette, close the cover – works even without it, though.
Would you download an app like Duo-Man to your iPhone Duo, or is the Walkman game just a fun gimmick that you'd delete after a day? Let us know in the comments if you still have a real Walkman in your closet.
