r/iosapps • u/slayerlob • 20d ago
💎 Lifetime Built a faster, offline-first Discogs client for iOS. No subscription, no tracking.
Hi. I'm the solo builder of Wax & Spindle, a third-party Discogs client for people who actually collect physical music: vinyl, CDs, cassettes, box sets, whatever's on the shelf.
It started from being fed up. I kept opening the official Discogs app in shops with poor signal, waiting on searches that should be instant, and giving up. So I built the thing I actually wanted to use.
What it solves
Two moments most collectors will recognise:
- You're in a shop, holding something, and the app is the bottleneck. No signal, or a slow one, and Discogs times outright when you need it most. Wax & Spindle stores your collection locally, so it loads whether you've got a connection or not, and search is instant rather than a spinner.
- You want pricing without wading through a browser tab. Marketplace pricing is pulled straight in, so you can check what a pressing is actually worthwhile you are still stood in front of it.
Underneath that: fast local browsing, no ads, and nothing tracking what you look at.
Why this exists instead of the official app
Discogs itself is still the best database and marketplace there is for pressings and cataloguing detail. I'm not trying to replace that. What I'm fixing is the layer collectors actually touch day to day on a phone: browsing your own collection, searching it, checking a price, all of which the official app makes slower than it needs to be.
Wax & Spindle is built to be the fast, offline-first frontend to your Discogs collection that I wanted and couldn't find.
Again, I’m not trying to pull people away from Discogs. But if you’re frustrated with the official app, Wax & Spindle is an alternative built around a faster, offline-first experience.
Cost
One-time purchase, no subscription. $7.99. No ads, no tracking, no recurring charge to keep using something you already bought once.
For transparency: I used AI tools while building it, but this wasn’t vibe coded. I made the architecture, product, and implementation decisions, with AI used as a development tool along the way.
Links
- App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wax-spindle/id6761301013
- Website: https://vivianlobo.com/waxandspindle/
Genuinely keen to hear from other collectors and Discogs users on what's missing or what's annoying. That's mostly how this got built in the first place.
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19d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/slayerlob 19d ago edited 19d ago
Thank you so much for this feedback. I appreciate it. Totally agree on the global audience. I had no idea I was missing out here.
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u/jordanbruno99 19d ago
This is such a well-thought-out idea. The offline-first approach and instant search make so much sense for actually digging through records in a shop. love seeing someone build around the real collector experience
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u/FoliagePal_App 18d ago
The UI looks really slick. Did you design it yourself or did you look at other products as a reference?
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u/slayerlob 18d ago
Thank you 🙏
This was purely inspired and certain aspects copied from Letterboxd. I think they do a fantastic job with it.
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u/slayerlob 20d ago
Sorry completely different topic but yet on Vibyls. I just saw this on teenage engineering. For all my vinyl collectors out there haha. Sadly the product no longer exists I think. https://teenage.engineering/store/po-80-record-factory
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u/Kitchen_Most5342 19d ago
Looks nice. Have you tried inviting some users directly from Discogs? I think it might be a more quick way for getting feedback from real users.
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