# Tape Deck — Your own music, on cassette > Your own music, on cassette (iPhone/iPad app by Andrew Bateman.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tape-deck/id6822531305 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Andrew Bateman](https://appshunter.io/developer/6822531307) - Category: Music, Entertainment - Price: Free - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 18.0 · 19 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-10-19 - Data updated: 2026-10-29 ## What is Tape Deck? Tape Deck plays your own music as a cassette. Choose an album and it goes into the deck as a tape. The reels turn at the speeds a real cassette's would, one pack growing as the other shrinks. The counter runs, the leader passes before the music starts, and a side comes to its end. SIMPLE OR ADVANCED • Simple to start with: plain keys, one side, and only the settings that matter • Advanced when you want it: every setting, both sets of keys and the holds, kept as you left them THE DECK • Play, rewind, fast forward, stop and eject, each with the sound of the mechanism • Two sets of keys: a portable recorder's, with a Pause that holds the tape, or a modern player's, with skip keys that wind the tape while held • Sides and auto-reverse: fit an album to one side, or cut it to a C60 or a C90 and turn it over • Gapless playback from track to track • Over a hundred tapes, from plain shells to classic ones: pick one, flick the label for the next, let each album have its own, or take one from the pile at random • A clear shell, a cutaway and an exploded view of its parts, drawn to the standard's sizes • A handwritten label for each album, with its cover, in one of thirteen period label styles • Tape hiss, wow as the motor starts and stops, three tape types, noise reduction, and a tape condition from fresh to chewed • LED meters in the transport, if you want them • Each tape keeps its place: put an album back in and it plays on from where it came out YOUR LIBRARY • An opening screen that lists every source, what each needs and how it stands; tap one to set it up there • A demo tape to play until you have music of your own • The music on your iPhone or iPad, synced from a Mac, played as tapes • Copy album folders into iCloud Drive › Tape Deck › Music and they reach all your devices, or into the app's own folder through the Files app • Or play a folder where it is, on a NAS too • Or connect to a music server of your own, the free Tape Deck Server, a Plex Media Server, a Jellyfin server or a Subsonic server such as Navidrome, and keep albums on the device as you play them • Albums, artists and tracks, a Recent tab, search, and favourites that follow you through iCloud • Mixtapes: make one by hand, or from what you've played in the last hour • Audiobooks and podcasts from your own Audiobookshelf server, by chapter, with a reading speed, your place kept on that server, playing while they download APPLE MUSIC • With an Apple Music subscription, your Apple Music library plays as tapes too: albums, artists, songs and playlists, and a search that reaches the whole catalogue • The sound is Apple Music's own, so the tape's hiss, wear and wow step aside; the reels, the counter, the keys and the eject carry on EVERYWHERE YOU LISTEN • Turn it sideways for a bedside deck: the cassette full screen, keys on the shell, the screen kept on while it plays • Handoff: carry the tape on to your iPad or Mac from the same second • Send this tape as a link, or from Tape Deck in Messages beside eight animated cassette stickers • A Home Screen widget of the deck, its reels turning, with Previous, Play or Stop and Next, and on the Lock Screen and in StandBy • Apple Watch: the tape in your iPhone's deck on your wrist, the Digital Crown for the volume, your recent albums on a shelf, and a complication • CarPlay: Recent, Albums, Artists and Books on the car's screen • Siri and Shortcuts: "Carry on the tape in Tape Deck", "Play what's new in Tape Deck", "Stop Tape Deck" • Lock screen and Control Centre controls, and AirPlay • Named for VoiceOver throughout, and Reduce Motion is followed AND A SPECTRUM LOADER In Advanced, with the tape stopped, hold stop and eject for three seconds and the deck becomes a tape loader for a real ZX Spectrum: run a lead from the headphone socket to its EAR socket, type LOAD "" and play a game's .tap file from the Files app. Tape Deck has no account, no adverts and no tracking. It plays what's yours. ## Is Tape Deck safe? Not enough ratings yet to assess Tape Deck. ## Is Tape Deck legit? Tape Deck has limited verification signals. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Tape Deck is 58 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 4.44.0 — 2026-10-28 698 tapes in the picker, drawn from real cassettes of the 1970s to the 1990s. Choose a tape… now sits at the top of the cassette's menu. The Now Playing picture, on the Lock Screen and in CarPlay, is one choice of four in tape settings › Look: the cassette's window, the window on the cover's colours, the whole cassette, or the album art alone. The Artists view reads better with VoiceOver. ### 4.42.0 — 2026-10-24 Siri by name. "Play Rumours in Tape Deck": an album, an artist or a book, as it's written in your library. The three older phrases stay. Fifty more tapes, 174 in all, drawn from real cassettes of the 1970s to the 1990s, in the picker. A long press on a row opens its menu, with a finger or the Pencil, as a right-click does. The exploded view tilts a little as you tilt the phone. Every control is named for VoiceOver, and shows a ring when it has the focus. Smaller things: a plain http address to a named host says why it can't be used; the server's username is remembered for the sign-in; the meters rest when the cassette is hidden. ### 4.41.1 — 2026-10-22 The tape picker: every tape as a little cassette, to browse or search by name. Downloads show as they come in, on the album's row and on the Lock Screen. Books and podcasts start at your place within seconds, stream from there, and play offline once downloaded. A book left half-downloaded carries on. CarPlay: Latest and Podcasts tabs, the heart, shuffle and repeat on Now Playing, Up Next, and the books you're reading. Ask Siri to play a tape by name: "Play Rumours in Tape Deck". Clear shells show what's inside, and each tape has its own hubs. On Apple Watch, each side plays forwards under its own letter, and turning the tape over carries on from where it was. The tape plays on after a call or an announcement, and Play says so when another app has the sound. ### 4.40.1 — 2026-10-21 Simple and Advanced. Tape Deck now starts in Simple: plain keys, one clean side and only the settings that matter. Advanced, at the top of tape settings, has everything, kept as you left it. Over a hundred tapes. Pick one in tape settings, flick the label for the next, press the pile of tapes for one at random, or choose Random to give each album a tape of its own. Thirteen label styles, and two new hands, Capitals and Typed. Send this tape as a link, or from Tape Deck in Messages, beside the eight stickers. The music on your iPhone or iPad, synced from a Mac, plays as tapes: tape settings, Library. Handoff: start a tape on one device and carry it on, from the same second, on another. Sideways is a bedside deck: keys on the shell, the screen kept on while it plays, a pin to hold the transport up, and a button to turn it. Books play while they download. A first-run guide, the help led by pictures, the A–Z strip for a finger, words readable on every tape, and nothing too small to read on a phone. The sound now plays with the silent switch on. ### 4.37.0 — 2026-10-19 No release notes. ## Apps similar to Tape Deck | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Altered Player](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/altered-player/id6757346227) | 5.0 (1) | Free | Music | | [TAPE 16](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tape-16/id6785917398) | 4.5 (2) | Free | Music | | [DeliTape - Deluxe Cassette Player](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/delitape-deluxe-cassette-player/id501938280) | 4.5 (26) | Free | Music | | [Playdio Radio & Podcasts](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/playdio-radio-and-podcasts/id6755496675) | 5.0 (2) | Free | Music | | [OneMusic - Amazing Players](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/onemusic-amazing-players/id1631977822) | 3.4 (31) | Free | Music | | [DJ Control - Remix music live](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dj-control-remix-music-live/id1121693481) | 4.2 (276) | Free | Music | ## Related topics [tapedeck](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/tapedeck) · [tapedeck4](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/tapedeck4) · [retro ipod](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/retro-ipod) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-29.*