“When we got everything we wanted, we lost something.” That’s what Carter Fort told me when we had a conversation about Coax, his first indie app. He’s been writing software a long time, but Coax is his first solo app. It’s in the App Store, for Apple TV, Mac, iOS, and Vision Pro.
Coax is an app that recreates the feeling of channel surfing across your local video library (whether that library is powered by Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby). You flip through channels with a classic cable TV-style guide, and find your own TV shows and movies, and they’re already in progress. Carter is clear: This isn’t a Shuffle button for Plex. It’s a philosophy.
“I do not have an emotional connection to Netflix. Nobody should. It’s a company that’s providing a service,” Carter told me. “But I have an emotional connection to my collection — to my stuff.”
We’ve all felt the pain when you open Netflix (or Hulu or Apple TV or…) and are paralyzed, unable to find something to watch. With Coax, Carter says, “It’s not just that Aliens is on — it’s that Aliens is two-thirds of the way through.”
We form strong bonds with our favorite television series and movies. Carter talked to me about remembering where he was “physically and emotionally when I first saw” his first shows. “The psychological draw of it’s already on, that it’s this scene in this movie” is a strong one, he says. And Carter’s enthusiasm is infectious.
Carter and I first connected when Coax came up on an episode of The Rebound. John Moltz talked about his fandom of the app, and I said I loved that the app existed, but that it wasn’t for me. Carter got a kick out of that, and mocked me for it. Fairly.
And Coax comes with a free trial, because, to Carter’s point, it either scratches an itch of yours, or it doesn’t.
But literally, as Carter told me about his philosophy behind building the app, I relaunched it on my Mac and started fine-tuning some settings. By default — and this was very important to me, as a completionist! — the app doesn’t mark shows or movies as watched when they come up in Coax. So if you do flip around and see “what’s on,” it doesn’t mess up your viewing history when you’re ready to sit down and watch a show or movie from the beginning.
Unsurprisingly, Coax definitely works for Carter himself. He told me he uses the app every day.
Just a few minutes into launching the app, you can feel the care and craft that’s gone into building it. And it is remarkable to see so much of your local library just on and ready to be watched. If you miss the days of channel surfing, or if you’re just eager to be surprised and delighted by your collection, check out Coax.
The pricing is simple, too: Coax costs $3 a month or $30 a year — or, if you’d rather pay once and never think about it again, $75 for a lifetime license.
