Playlist Maker: Mixtape

Describe a moment and Mixtape builds a playlist around what you already listen to, then saves it to your Apple Music library. No subscription, and tapes never expire.

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Inspiration

Finding the right music for your taste is work. You pick songs one at a time, and by the time the playlist exists the moment you were building it for has gone. I wanted to just type what I was feeling and get back a playlist that already matches my taste.

The name is where I started. I used to record songs onto cassettes and make my own playlists, for myself and for friends. A mixtape was a thing you made for someone and handed over. So the cassette in this app is not decoration. Every playlist you keep becomes one, and keeping one costs a tape.

I already build Mood Dial (another app of mine), and some users wanted playlist functionality. I did not want to add playlist functionality there, because Mood Dial is a radio experience: it plays, it keeps going, you turn a dial. A playlist is the opposite, a fixed thing you own and can hand to someone. So I built a separate app instead of bending that one out of shape.

What it does

You type a moment in your own words. "Monsoon evening on the balcony", "Shoegaze, but gentle", "90s Bollywood drive". Mixtape reads what you actually listen to on Apple Music and builds the playlist around that, so you get the artists you already love rather than a generic playlist that could belong to anybody.

The playlist arrives complete. You can play any song in it before you decide, drag songs into the order you want, and remove what does not fit. Keep it and it saves into your Apple Music library as a real playlist. It plays in the car, on the watch, on the speaker via Apple Music even if you delete Mixtape.

You can also ask Siri for one without opening the app, or put a single mixtape on your home screen and tap it to start.

How I built it

  • SwiftUI, targeting iOS 26 and 27
  • App Intents for Siri, Siri AI and on-screen awareness
  • WidgetKit for the home screen
  • MusicKit for playback and library writes
  • AVFoundation for song previews
  • SwiftData with CloudKit for data persistence
  • My own backend holding the tape ledger and artist filter
  • RevenueCat SDK for purchases

Monetization

There is no subscription. Nothing renews and nothing is taken away if you stop. Making playlists is free. Keeping one costs a tape. Tapes are bought once and never expire.

The reason it is built that way: the charge lands on the moment you decide the playlist is good, not the moment you open the app. By then you have heard it, reordered it and thrown out what did not fit. You are paying for something you have already held.

Challenges I ran into

The backend was harder than the app. I have built it solo while also working on my other apps. Making a backend that provides the right songs which are personalised to the users across the globe was a huge task. Music recommendation is quite a difficult task. I have spent night and days to work on it and continue to improve and work on it further.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Again, Building the backend that resolves user's query in a way to provide the songs that users will love to listen to. Really proud of the backend that I have built. Apart from this, The app's design and how it has come out from a simple idea of a Mixtape. The design has a personality and some great quality animations and I love the user experience overall. The app's design is something I really cherish.

What I learned

I learned that a small idea is enough to start. Mixtape came from something very ordinary, recording songs onto cassettes and making playlists for myself and my friends, and that one memory ended up shaping everything: the name, the design, the cassette you get when you keep one, even the way it is priced.

I also learned that building something on your own takes patience more than anything else. There were days where one small detail took the whole day. But all of those days added up into an app I am happy to put my name on.

And I learned to keep listening. A lot of the best decisions came from people using my other app and telling me what they actually wanted, and from using Mixtape myself every day and noticing the things that did not feel right.

What's next for Playlist Maker: Mixtape

Support for Other Music Services. Saving a mixtape needs an Apple Music subscription today, and that is the single biggest thing standing between this app and the people who are not Apple Music subscribers. Next I want to add support for Spotify, Deezer and Tidal. I am also working on bringing the app for mac.

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