Press kit

Fact sheet

Short description

Foldwriter is a letter machine for iPhone. Half-fold an iPhone Duo and it becomes a typewriter, paper above the hinge and keys below. Pick one of three machines, each with its own recorded sound, type one sheet, pull the page, stamp the envelope, and send it as a picture, a PDF or a video that re-types the letter with sound.

Long description

Most foldable tricks are about watching. Foldwriter is about writing to one person. The iPhone Duo's half-folded posture puts the paper on the top half and the typewriter on the bottom half. There are three machines that differ in shape, keys and mechanism: Sunday, a hooded 1950s portable with pillow keys; The Editor, a 1920s desk machine with glass keys on levers; and Rosso, a red 1969 pop portable with square keys. Each plays its own recordings of a real manual typewriter, with matching haptics.

The carriage moves, the ink lands a little unevenly, and a bell rings near the end of the line. Backspace moves the carriage but does not erase, so a mistake gets typed over, like on the real thing. When the letter is done, you pull the page. On the Duo you can simply close the phone: the sheet is swapped for an envelope, waiting on the outer display. Type a name, choose one of five original stamps, and the envelope gets a dated postmark.

The letter goes out through the share sheet as an image, a vector PDF, or a short video that types the letter again, key by key, with the machine's sound. The person receiving it needs no app. Foldwriter works on every iPhone and with a hardware keyboard. It collects no data and never goes online.

What makes it different

• It sends letters, not documents. One sheet, one person, an envelope, a stamp and a postmark. It is a gift you make, not a writing tool.
• The fold is the gesture. Half-fold to type, close to pull the page.
• Three machines you can hear. Each has its own form, its own recordings and its own haptics.
• The receiver sees the magic too. The re-typing video turns a short note into something people post.

Videos

3D film, 16:9
17 s, three machines, real app screens and sounds 3D film, 9:16
17 s, for Stories, Reels and TikTok 3D film, 4:5
17 s, for the Instagram and Threads feed Launch film, 16:9
29 s, the app's own screens and sounds Launch film, 9:16
For Reels, TikTok and Shorts Typing a letter, 9:16
Screen recording, Sunday machine, with its sound Three machines, 9:16
Each machine with its own sound Bin the page, 9:16
A wrong start crumples into the wastebasket Re-typing letter, 9:16
The video the app makes, as received Re-typing letter, 4:5
For X, Threads and Instagram Re-typing letter, 1:1
The video the app makes, square

Sounds in the videos: recordings by Joseph Sardin (BigSoundBank, CC0), Work With Sounds / Konrad Gutkowski (CC BY 4.0), BryanSaraiva (CC BY 4.0), Leossom (CC BY 4.0) and _stubb (CC0). Full list: sound credits.

Holidays

New in version 1.1: three seasonal stamps (Sinterklaas, Christmas, New Year), and a letter addressed to Santa Claus or the Kerstman gets a NORTH POLE postmark; one to Sinterklaas comes from MADRID. These are 3D renderings of an iPhone Duo with real screens from Foldwriter 1.1. In the close-up, the envelope on the outer screen is drawn at full resolution by the app's own envelope renderer, so the postmark can be read.

A letter to Grandma, 16:10
1600 x 1000, evening, Sunday machine A letter to Grandma, 4:5
1440 x 1800, with lights in the window To Santa: NORTH POLE postmark, 4:5
1440 x 1800, Christmas stamp

Screenshots

Sunday, half-folded
iPhone Duo inner display The Editor, half-folded
iPhone Duo inner display Rosso, half-folded
iPhone Duo inner display Sunday, open and wide
iPhone Duo inner display The Editor, open and wide
iPhone Duo inner display Rosso, open and wide
iPhone Duo inner display Addressing the envelope
iPhone Duo inner display Stamped and ready
iPhone Duo inner display Send screen outside
iPhone Duo outer display On any iPhone
Regular iPhone The letter as received
Share image App icon
1024 × 1024 PNG

Screenshots are rendered from the app (version 1.0) at iPhone Duo and iPhone sizes; the typing demo is a screen recording from the simulator with the machine's own recordings laid under it. You are welcome to use these images and videos in coverage of Foldwriter.

About the developer

Richard van Yperen is an independent app developer in the Netherlands. Foldwriter is his answer to a simple question: what would you do with a phone that folds like a tiny laptop? Write someone a letter.