---
url: "https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1vp09ja/i_built_popwatch_your_personal_popcorn_popping_pal/"
title: I built Popwatch - your personal popcorn popping pal
source_kind: reddit
subreddit: ClaudeAI
author: dr_hamilton
score: 561
captured: "2026-08-17T00:42:36+00:00"
comment_tree: false
topics: [ai-impact]
summary: A developer used Claude Opus to build a mobile web app that listens for popcorn pops to determine doneness, completing it in under an hour.
status: ok
---

It's staggering how quickly we can knock up an app now. I've long thought about creating some software for determining the perfect time to stop microwave popcorn. Typically the instructions say to wait until 3-4 seconds between pops.
The initial prompt I used to build with Claude Opus5
> build a mobile website that will primarily be used by android and iOS devices. It should be able to access the device microphone and listen in realtime. It needs to perform some audio analysis to detect pop sounds. This aim is to create a website that people can visit on their phone, place it down next to a microwave, it then listens for the popping sound of popcorn to estimate when the bag is most likely finished popping. This condition is usually set as when there are 3-4 sec between pops. This variable should be configurable.
build a mobile website that will primarily be used by android and iOS devices. It should be able to access the device microphone and listen in realtime. It needs to perform some audio analysis to detect pop sounds. This aim is to create a website that people can visit on their phone, place it down next to a microwave, it then listens for the popping sound of popcorn to estimate when the bag is most likely finished popping. This condition is usually set as when there are 3-4 sec between pops. This variable should be configurable.
About 5 rounds of minor adjustments and features and it's done. Less than 1hr in total.
App is free on https://olkham.github.io/popwatch/
repo: https://github.com/olkham/popwatch