Close the lid. Press play.
Foldman turns a book-style foldable into a pocket cassette player. No songs come in the box: open the phone to pick a tape from music you own. Shut it, and the cover screen becomes the deck.
Free. The Google Play Store version is coming soon; until then, install the APK by hand. Needs Android 8.0 or newer on a book-style foldable, tuned first for the Galaxy Z Fold 8. On a phone that doesn't fold, you only get the closed deck.
How far the phone is open decides what you're holding. Like a real Walkman, the tape only runs with the door shut.
door open. close the lid to play
Your albums stand in a rack as tapes. Drag one into the deck, hold one to read its card, write its label, or put it on the bench and wind it by hand.
Pick music folders, wind speed, tape character and tape wear. The tape holds while the hatch is up, or switch to bench mode to keep listening with the phone open.
The cover screen is the player: piano keys on a silver rail, a tape counter, a volume wheel. Press STOP once to stop and again to eject.
Liner notes. Recorded at home for book-style foldables.
hidden track: lock screen and notification controls, and a home screen widget with the loaded tape.
Foldman doesn't come with any songs. You should own your songs.
Bring music files that are yours: CD rips, albums bought as downloads, your band's demos, a friend's mixtape. Copy them to the phone and every album becomes a tape on the rack.
Because a cassette deck needs full control of the machine. We want you to remember the 90s, when music meant:
Songs from streaming apps stay locked inside those apps, even when you download them. A player sitting on top of another player could only press its buttons. It couldn't give you that retro vibe.
In Foldman you write your own labels, tapes you love wear in, and you can wind them with a finger. Here's a paper one to practise on.
Thai works too. Try พิมพ์ไทย.
no dirt yet. turn up the wear
Wind it by hand
Put a finger in a hub and turn, or flick it and let it spin until the tape goes tight. With a keyboard, focus a hub and use the arrow keys.
0% wound onto the right reel
Foldman isn't on Google Play yet, so Android asks a few extra questions the first time. Do this on the foldable itself; it takes about two minutes.
Open this page on the phone and tap Download the APK. If Chrome or Samsung Internet warns that the file might be harmful, choose Download anyway. Any APK gets that warning.
Tap the finished download in the notification, or open My Files, then Downloads, and tap foldman-1.0.apk.
Android says it isn't allowed to install unknown apps from this source. Tap Settings, turn on Allow from this source, then go back. You only do this once for each app you install from, like Chrome or My Files.
If Play Protect says it doesn't recognise the app, tap More details, then Install anyway. It hasn't seen Foldman before because Foldman isn't on Google Play.
Allow access to music and audio so your albums can fill the rack (see Add your music), and allow notifications so the playing tape shows on the lock screen.
So the deck appears when you close the phone: on a Galaxy, open Settings › Display › Continue apps on cover screen and turn on Foldman. On a Pixel, set the same option to Always. Foldman offers to take you there the first time.
Auto Blocker only allows apps from Galaxy Store and Google Play. Turn it off in Settings › Security and privacy › Auto Blocker, install Foldman, then turn it back on. Foldman keeps working with Auto Blocker on.
Most often an older Foldman signed with a different key, such as a test build, is already on the phone. Uninstall it and install again. It can also mean the phone is out of storage.
The download didn't finish. Delete the file from Downloads and download it again on a steady connection.
Continue apps on cover screen is off for Foldman. Turn it on as in step 6. Without it, Android locks the phone when you close it instead of handing Foldman to the cover screen.
You can. It only matters while installing, and Foldman keeps running either way. You'll be asked again when you install an update.
Write to the studio, or email hello@appxygen.com. Say which phone you have and what the screen says.
Foldman doesn't come with any songs. It plays music files you own, on the phone, and every album becomes a tape.
Copy them from a computer with a USB cable into the phone's Music folder, send them with Quick Share, or download them. Any folder works, but Music keeps things tidy.
It finds all the music on the phone by itself. Songs from the same album go on one tape, split into side A and side B, with the album's artist, title and cover art from the song tags. Songs without tags still work: they take the name of their folder as the album.
To show only some of your music, tap the screw button at the bottom left of the rack to open the service hatch, then MUSIC FOLDERS › ADD FOLDER and pick a folder. Foldman also looks inside its subfolders. Add as many folders as you want.
If they don't show up, open the service hatch and tap RESCAN.
Hold a tape to read its card, then edit the artist and album on the label. It doesn't change your files.
Foldman plays the audio files already on your phone. Your music, labels and folders never leave it. Foldman only sends anonymous counts, like how often the lid is folded, so we know what to improve. Switch them off in the service hatch any time.
Read the privacy policy. It's short.
Foldman is inspired by Duo-Man, the Walkman app that indie developer Vidit Bhargava made for the iPhone Duo. Opening the phone to pick a tape and closing it to play is his idea, and the credit for it is his.
We couldn't afford an iPhone Duo, so we built our own take on it for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, and named iPhone Duo and Duo-Man in the very first post about Foldman.
FOLDMAN TAPE SHOP
open 24 hrs · no card needed
We're going to release the official version of Foldman on the Google Play Store later. Until then, this page is where to get it.
Foldman is free. If you were going to pay for it, please donate that money to people who need help instead.
Smiles are what this world needs more of.
From all of us who made Foldman