Relive Nostalgia with Cassette: A New iOS App that Transforms Your iPhone Videos into Retro VHS Tapes

In the era of digital media storage, reminiscing about the nostalgia of watching home movies akin to VHS days persists, especially when all personal videos are saved on an iPhone. While AirPlaying them to the TV is possible, the experience lacks the charm of the past. This gap in sentiment spurred developer Devin Davies to create Cassette, a novel iOS application that replicates the vintage VHS format for your iPhone videos, imbuing them with an old-home recording feel.

The app presents a user-friendly interface where you virtually arrange tapes on the screen, each representing a year’s worth of videos. The tapes are adorned with what appear to be handwritten stickers reminiscent of VHS cover sleeves, labeling the videos accordingly.

Upon selection, your life story unfolds on the screen without any further user interaction. This lean-back viewing experience offers a unique approach to consuming media saved on your device that often remains overlooked after initial recording.

The concept for Cassette originated from Devin Davies’ friend and fellow app developer Charlie Chapman, who is also a senior advocate at RevenueCat. In a group chat discussion, Chapman lamented the loss of authenticity in family movie nights compared to watching old family videotapes. He wished there was a way to seamlessly AirPlay videos to the TV and play them one after the other without interruption.

Inspired by this idea, Davies repurposed a custom slideshow app designed for Apple TV into Cassette, later demonstrating a test build to the group chat. The result was an emotional and shared experience where partners stayed up all night watching their children grow up on screen.

Cassette’s design pays homage to VHS tapes, presenting rows of vintage-styled tapes on the iPhone screen. Users select a tape to load it into the TV icon at the top of the screen, initiating video playback. With AirPlay, users can mirror their device to a TV for an immersive big-screen experience.

The videos within the app display location, date, and timestamp in a retro pixel font reminiscent of old VHS tape screens. While young users might not remember VHS tapes, this vintage presentation evokes emotional resonance.

In practice, challenges remain to be addressed by the app. Users who download online videos, such as TikToks or Reels, may find these mixed among their “home movies.” However, Davies informs that the app is already filtering out screen recordings and is currently investigating potential solutions for TikTok video filtration as well.

To support its development, Cassette offers an optional premium subscription named “ColorPlus,” which grants users manual tape selection instead of random playback. The cost for this feature ranges from $0.99 per month to $5.99 per year, or a more affordable Lifetime unlock priced at $7.99—a worthwhile investment in independent projects like this.

Cassette is available as a free download for iPhone and iPad.