Quavery Press Kit

Last updated: September 13, 2026

Quavery turns your iPhone into a face-controlled Theremin. Its TrueDepth camera tracks how you move your face and turns that movement straight into music, entirely on-device. It's a fully touchless instrument, with nothing to learn but your own expression.

Quavery is built by Leo Makkinje, an Amsterdam-based freelance Apple IT consultant who also develops software for Apple platforms in Swift and SwiftUI, including Highlights, Cinquo and Wahtzy.

"I learned Swift and SwiftUI through Paul Hudson's 100 Days of SwiftUI course. In one of his monthly livestreams, he built a Theremin app for macOS controlled by hand gestures. The idea stuck with me, but I didn't want to build another hand-controlled Theremin for iOS. Then it hit me: what if facial expressions controlled the instrument instead? That question led me into ARKit's face blend shapes. A prototype came together quickly and worked immediately. A proper app with a clear interface followed soon after. It's probably the silliest musical instrument you'll ever play. It's also completely real, and it works."

Leo Makkinje, developer

Leo Makkinje · [email protected]

Fact sheet

Description

Quavery turns your iPhone into a face-controlled Theremin. Its TrueDepth camera tracks how you move your face and turns that movement straight into music. It's a fully touchless instrument, with nothing to learn but your own expression.

How it works:

• Open your mouth to raise the pitch
• Raise your eyebrows to bring up the volume
• Stretch your mouth to add reverb
• Stick out your tongue to add distortion
• Look left to cycle through waveforms: sine, triangle, square, and sawtooth
• Look right to cycle through pitch scales: continuous, pentatonic, and major

Every control lives on your face, so once the camera is running, you never need to touch the screen to play. A live status panel shows pitch, volume, reverb, and distortion as you shape them, so you can see exactly what your expression is doing to the sound.

Your face never leaves your device. Quavery uses the camera to track your expression in real time, and nothing is ever recorded, stored, or sent anywhere. No account is required to use the app.

Screenshots

Download app icon (1024×1024 PNG)

Links

• App Store listing
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use

Contact

For interview requests, review copies, or any other press inquiries, contact Leo Makkinje at [email protected].