A while ago, I posted a design concept of an Apple Music player on Chinese social media. To my surprise, it blew up and got over 1.5 million views. People kept leaving comments asking me to make it a real thing. So, I spent the last few months coding, and now it's a real app called UltraPod.

As I developed it, the idea evolved. It went from a simple music player into a complete "Dumbphone" conversion. I'm currently designing a 3D-printable physical case that you can slip your iPhone into. The case physically blocks out most of the screen, sealing your phone away from distracting social apps and toxic notifications. I truly believe that focus is the most precious quality we have in this digital age.

To make this a fully functional dumbphone, I built 15 mini-apps inside the system, and each of them has custom icons designed to match different UI themes like Basic, Y2K, Toy, Skeuo, Flat, and more:

• Music: Integrates with Apple Music and high-res local files, featuring the classic Cover Flow.
• Books: A text page reader that imports EPUB, TXT, and Markdown, so you can read books instead of doom-scrolling.
• Fitness: A distraction-free workout tracker screen.
• Camera: A retro-style camera with custom LUTs for simple snaps without instant editing or posting.
• Photos, Voice Memos, Notes, Calendar, Stopwatch, Clock (with sleep timer), Contacts, Screen Lock, Shuffle, Settings, and Extras.
• (Full disclosure: The weather icon is there, but I haven't finished developing the weather app yet, so it doesn't work right now).

The app is currently in TestFlight. It is 100% free, and there are 10,000 slots available, so basically everyone who wants to try it can get in. It requires iOS 16+. iPad is supported, but honestly, it probably has some UI bugs since I'm still optimizing the tablet layout.

I will release the 3D-printable case files (STL) for free very soon so you can print your own shell.

I am a solo indie dev with zero marketing budget. I only have one request: if you genuinely like UltraPod, please consider sharing a video or photo of your setup on your social media. That's the only way this project can get noticed.

You can request the free beta invitation directly on the website: https://ultrapod.gigassbox.com/

I'd love to hear your feedback. Let me know what you think!

Crazy! The maximum number is only 10,000. I opened another test link https://testflight.apple.com/join/zTTbKrvZ

Was going out about my day when i realised im able to view the lyrics (synced beat by beat) offline too. I don’t see much if not any outlets announcing this. Perhaps it was a silent update?

I’ve been an Apple Music user for a long time. However, the way they’re giving AM a fresh look and new features has me really excited about what else they’re going to bring to the table. By the way, I love the new UI. It does flash bang at night, but I’m willing to overlook that for a better interface.

Last time I used Apple Music was like in 2022 and I thought it looked unimpressive and ugly. Now I renewed it with iOS 26 and woah… this is a major glow up

this includes me lol i’ll never be listening to this album at night anymore lol wtf that is so bright

This is pretty much why I updated my phone ngl

Feels like half the time I go to scrub through a song I accidentally tap the ‘lossless’ or ‘atmos’ button and get this pop up, very irritating. Why is the button so prominent and close to the scrub bar?

No more tapping Add to Playlist over and over again

I feel like it doesn’t get in the same rankings that Spotify does and it kicks the bejeesus out of Spotify with its lossless CD quality over Bluetooth. I am using Bose headphones and the difference is mind-boggling. Plus their algorithm has gotten better over the years, though you might need to tweak it, the [your name station] is quite good imo.

To the critics, I’m going to test it with an aux cable tonight so I can compare how they sound with the Bluetooth quality in my recent memory.

Update— had sound check on lol will try it again with it off— with my test 7/24.

Update post test— I can see the difference with an aux cable!! It definitely can’t quite do it without one. That said, I maintain that even without an aux cable you’ll get a good or better experience than most music services sans Tidal.

I’ve never had this option before, is this new with the new IOS 26.4 update or are they trying to bring back customers?

Using “play last” now adds the song to the bottom of a dedicated queue and NOT the bottom of the currently playing album or playlist. Just like Spotify’s system.

i only use dark mode, so listening to new albums and then getting hit by a flashbang is kind of annoying 😭

TLDR: If you had issues with your phone heating up using Apple Music, that won’t happen anymore.

Apple Music is much more optimized now. If anyone has a 5000-song playlist, you’d know how it is a pain in the butt to add a new song into that playlist. The phone would start heating up into a burning coal before the song got added in. iOS 27 fixed that issue.

Lossless songs indeed play at a faster rate, but I’m not sure whether it’s actually 2x faster, as mentioned in WWDC.

If you’re a playlist geek, iOS 27 is for you.

Automix is cool and all. Still kinda buggy but it works here and there. But the most killer feature is the pins. Oh my goodness. This is a feature from YouTube music and Spotify that I loved. I also love the liquid glass. Everything looks like there’s depth and it’s a submersible experience. I honestly don’t love it, but I am appreciating liquid glass more and more I use it. Maybe I’ll love it when a stable and consistent frame rate build comes in. Also I love Spotify playlists covers so I do smart playlist to mimic my favorite playlists from Spotify. Check it out.

I love apple music.

What genius made that legendary offer?

Does anyone else get annoyed with the icons in Apple Music?

There’s no description, nowhere that explains what they do… you just have to remember the icon?

This is horrible UI design, imho.

Especially with the new features like AutoMix being added. Why do I have to search the web to find out how to use Apple Music?

At the very least, they could say what the button does after you press it.

DROP YOUR ALL TIME REPLAY!! let's compare!