See through their tastes
Cthru’s main feature is a unique way to share music. Users can swap accounts in-app, transforming their entire app’s content and algorithm.
Cthru Music Player
Personal ProjectSummary
Music discovery once happened by looking through another person's collection. Streaming made music easier to access but pushed that social experience to the margins. I founded, designed, and built Cthru to help people discover music through the tastes of people they trust. Using AI-assisted coding, I took it from an idea to a functioning TestFlight beta with Apple Music playback, personalized stations, a full-stack data pipeline, privacy controls, and a polished adaptive interface.
Challenge
Take Cthru from concept to a fully functional iOS product through self-taught, AI-assisted coding and end-to-end product ownership.
Outcome
Fully functional iOS app currently in TestFlight beta testing. Request early access at cthru.app.
My Contribution
- Defined a social discovery model centered on experiencing another person's music taste.
- Made the product frictionless to try while preserving privacy and data ownership.
- Designed and built the full product system across mobile, playback, recommendations, and backend services.
See through their tastes
Cthru’s main feature is a unique way to share music. Users can swap accounts in-app, transforming their entire app’s content and algorithm.
Like Swapping Phones
When another user’s account is selected, you see their stations, playlists, and favorites where yours would normally appear.
Tastemakers
The social-first app lets you find public accounts and encourages users to invite friends to join.
Privacy First
Sharing content is sensitive for everyone. The app provides fine-grained privacy controls so users can choose exactly what they share.
Stations
Stations are Cthru’s primary way to play music. They are endless play sessions powered by a custom-built algorithm based on your listening history and favorites.
Edit Stations
Generated and user-created stations can be customized by choosing the anchoring artists, eras, and popularity. They can be reordered or deleted to personalize the home screen.
Color Drenching
The app is designed to indulge the senses. A robust color system adapts the entire app’s palette based on the current track’s album art.
Luscious & Accessible Color
The adaptive colors use luminance thresholds to keep type clear and legible.
The Player
The player is designed around a dial that echoes the original iPod’s click wheel, making it easy to precisely scrub through a track.
No Barrier to Entry
The app can be sampled without having to connect Apple Music or sign in.
Auto-stations
Once Apple Music is connected through the one-tap flow, the system automatically builds stations from your Apple Music activity.
Nudges to Sign In
Users can continue using the app with all changes saved locally. When they perform an action that can be saved to their account, there’s a nudge to sign in.
Playlists
The app finds playlists by curators you might like based on your listening history. You can also create your own playlists to share in Cthru without affecting Apple Music.
Favorites
Cthru favorites are separate from Apple Music favorites. They can be shared with other users and help drive the station algorithm.
Search
Search provides clearly delineated categories that can be filtered to show your favorites.
Details
Micro-interactions create a polished experience in every corner of the app.
Artist, Album, & Playlist Views
Consistent layouts and styling are used across views for better memorability, while subtle cues distinguish different types of content.
Early Iterations
I developed the design language and product solutions while building with AI-assisted coding.
Agent Architecture
I developed my own approach to agent architecture to make coding agents more consistent and improve their output quality. The system uses three types of docs depending on the need:
- Source-of-truth docs: durable rules
- Playbooks: reusable workflows
- Trackers: short-term work streams
Beta
The app is currently beta testing in TestFlight. Request early access at cthru.app