Would you want the iPod’s iconic click wheel on your iPhone?

My first iPod was a 1st generation iPod Nano, with a piano black finish. I think it had 4GB of storage, a tiny screen, and it couldn’t really do much beyond play my favourite tracks for me. But navigating through its simple UI was a joy, thanks to the iconic click wheel that provided haptic feedback as you scrolled through menus.

Touchscreens are great, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something I miss about have such a unique navigation method on the classic iPod. And now, it turns out that someone has been developing an app that lets you turn your 2019 iPhone into an iPod of the past.

Elvin Wu, a design student at Cooper Union college in New York City, has been working on the app as part of a school paper on the development of the iPod. Have a look:

The app also includes the “Cover Flow” feature seen in some of Apple’s older devices, yet another throwback to certain models of the iPod.

And even if the app never makes it onto the App Store–which seems likely due to licensing issues–Wu’s post has generated a fair amount of interest on Twitter. In fact, even the “Father of the iPod” tweeted his approval:

As skeptical as I am about the likelihood that we will see Wu’s app actually hit the app store, there’s a part of me that wants it so badly.

It’s a virtual click wheel, and it won’t be the same as 12-year-old me flicking my way through my iPod’s menus–but it would be one heck of a throwback.

[ VIA ]