Launched this week
Flipcorder
A 1991 camcorder for your iPhone, one tape a day
148 followers
A 1991 camcorder for your iPhone, one tape a day
148 followers
Currently #3 in Top Paid Photo & Video on the US App Store 🎉 Flipcorder turns your iPhone into a 1991 camcorder. We have lost touch crafting perfect videos for social media, and Flipcorder encourages you to take shorter "flips" of 20 seconds each throughout your day to enjoy as a home video at the end of the day. No editing, just shoot and enjoy in VHS or DV style. Made for iPhone Duo, works on any iPhone. $4.99 once. No ads, no subscription, no watermark, no account.
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Hi Product Hunt! I’m Matt, and Flipcorder is the first app I’ve put on the App Store under my own name in about a decade. I’ve spent those years building apps and software for other people, so launching one of my own has me really excited. Like stupid excited!
It’s been a wild first weekend: it’s currently #3 in Top Paid, Photo & Video on the US App Store and I'm so humbled and amazed!
Flipcorder is a 1991 camcorder for your iPhone. You film little moments through the day, each one a “flip” (20 seconds by default), and they all land on that day’s dated tape. There’s no editing, so the chatter, the pauses and the fumble for the stop button stay in. Tonight, you play back one raw home movie in a warm VHS or crisp MiniDV look, date stamp and all.
I really wanted a way to capture those moments and keep authentic video alive - I feel we have lost so much chasing perfection for social media, that the messiness of a camcorder is appealing and comforting. Home movies can be for anyone, and Flipcorder is for those people.
I built it around iPhone Duo, which came out on Friday. The fold is the power switch: closed, the outer screen shows a lens cap; open it and the cap comes off. Fully open, the person you’re filming sees themselves on the outer screen with a red REC light. It works on every iPhone with iOS 26 or later too, with a big glowing POWER key instead.
A few things I cared about:
• $4.99 once. No subscription, no ads, no watermarks, no account needed.
• Your tapes stay on your phone unless you share them.
• Never lose footage: closing the phone, a call or low storage always saves the flip.
Today launches v1.1.0 that includes earning stickers, subtle streaks for your home screen widgets, some in app events (like Halloween coming up) and more. I have a lot planned for Flipcorder!
I’d love to hear what you’d film first, and anything you’d change. I’ll be here all day answering questions.
20 second flips with no editing is a fun limit. does the day's tape end at midnight or is there a cutoff you can pick?
@neerajnathany great question, it's tied to midnight (in your timezone) and works across timezones if you travel; but indeed I haven't given much thought to allow people to define their day any custom way.
Is the VHS look baked into the file, or can I export the clean footage too?
@adamvisu The footage is recorded and stored on your phone in 1080p and the look is applied when you export the tape - so you can share it or save the tape as a movie whenever you like (probably at the end of the day).
When you do the export, the effect is applied during rendering. You can change it whenever you like. Great question!
one dated tape for the whole day is a nice constraint
leaving the awkward pauses in gives it more of a home movie feel than another polished highlight reel
@saad_el_gueddari thanks, I really wanted something that felt authentic!
@saad_el_gueddari Thanks, I hope that the constraint is part of the charm and builds some habit about capturing those moments, as well as removes the pressure to be perfect about what you capture as well.
A little thank-you for stopping by: here are 5 free codes for the full app, one each, no strings. If you grab one, reply with which code you took so the next person doesn't try it.
PRTHPJXJFKMH
9EKYYFR43JER
4MN7ALM6L6JL
4PFPXRNX6937
FKT7JRM6WTER
Redeem in the App Store app (your account picture → Redeem Gift Card or Code), or at https://apps.apple.com/redeem
I'd love to see what ends up on your first tape. 📼
@macfanatic I got 4PFPXRNX6937! Thank you!
@greg_alonso awesome, great! Would love to hear what you think!
Is the 20 second limit per flip fixed, or can it be changed? Also, does the end-of-day compilation let you reorder or drop a clip before it plays?
@yuv23639661 There is settings in the app, so you can opt out of the 20 second limit if you like. But you cannot choose a different number for example, and I'm hoping people enjoy the 20 second limit per "flip".
You cannot edit the cassette at all - so there is no way to remove a flip or re-order things, that's the entire point to keep it authentic like an old camcorder!
Great questions, thanks!
I like that the pauses and the fumble for the stop button stay in. Those are often the bits that make a home video worth watching years later.
@oleksii_sekundant Agree, it's a huge part of the charm - and without forcing us, we'd all have teh tendency to cut it out. I recorded yesterday and had my face full in the view for a few seconds on the selfie camera before I realized - and that's all wonderful and fun!