DualShot Recorder hits top paid iPhone app list after fast rise

In short: A new iPhone camera app called DualShot Recorder reached number one on Apple’s top paid apps list within 12 hours, after being built by a wildlife video creator using AI tools.

What happened

DualShot Recorder is an iPhone camera app made by Derrick Downey Jr., a Los Angeles creator known for short videos of squirrels that visit his patio. The app quickly climbed Apple’s App Store rankings, hitting the top spot for paid apps in about 12 hours after release, according to Downey. It stayed number one for eight days and was still in the top 20 when The Verge published its report.

Downey built the app because he wanted to record the same moment in two shapes at once, vertical for TikTok and Instagram, and horizontal for YouTube. Many creators solve this with two devices or by cropping the video later, but that can reduce video quality because you are using only part of the camera image (like cutting a small rectangle out of a photo and throwing the rest away).

The app uses Apple’s camera tools that let an app capture video from the phone’s full camera sensor (the sensor is the part that “sees” the image). It then saves both a vertical and a horizontal version from that single recording. Downey also said the app can record from two different iPhone cameras at the same time.

Downey is not a professional software developer. He said he relied on AI chatbots, including Claude, to help write and fix code, and he had to double-check the AI’s answers when they were wrong.

Why it matters

This is a simple example of how small creators are turning to AI assistants as a helper, not a replacement, to build practical tools. For everyday users, it could mean more niche apps that solve specific problems, sometimes with clearer privacy choices. Downey says DualShot Recorder has no subscription, collects no user data, and keeps videos on the device.

Source: The Verge AI