The tinyPod transforms your old Apple Watch into an iPod-like minimalist phone

The tinyPod is a case for your Apple Watch, which probably doesn’t sound too exciting on its own. However, its unique angle — a click wheel that controls the watch’s Digital Crown — makes Apple’s wearable look and feel (at least in its marketing) like the company’s first breakthrough product of the 21st century: the iPod. Although you can use it as a music player, it also works with everything else in watchOS, transforming Apple’s smartwatch into a minimalist, distraction-free “phone.”

The $80 tinyPod works with Apple Watch models in Series 4 through 9, along with the Apple Watch SE. (The 41/40mm and 45/44mm Apple Watches have separate tinyPods.) Meanwhile, another 49mm version for the Apple Watch Ultra — because who wouldn’t want to turn their $800 wearable into a minimalist phone? — costs $90. There’s also tinyPod lite, a $30 case sans click wheel.

That click wheel is its core gimmick, and its creator apparently believes it will be safe from Apple’s lawyers. (The fact that it relies on an Apple product probably doesn’t hurt.) The case’s wheel syncs its movement with the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown via “carefully mechanized components inside” that make “direct rotation contact with your Apple Watch crown.” In other words, anywhere on watchOS that lets you scroll with the crown will be scrollable with the tinyPod click wheel. In theory, anyway.

The tinyPod website says it can support multi-day battery life by turning off the watch’s wrist detection (which you don’t need here). But living up to that may be a tall order, given how short the battery life of cellular Apple Watches tends to be when used without a phone in Bluetooth range. Of course, you could use a GPS-only model (or turn off cellular) and stick to locally stored music, but that would also limit what it can do.

tinyPod is the product of Newar, a former Snap designer and one-time jailbreak guru. In May, the creator posted that it began as a side project before being transformed into “a real, shipping product for one reason: Whenever I left the house with it, I loved how I felt.”

Whether the tinyPod lives up to its billing as a minimalist, distraction-free and nostalgia-laden “phone” or not, its creator appears to have put significant thought into aesthetics, clarity of purpose and consistency in marketing. Its website demonstrates an eye for detail that relishes in its iPod inspiration, including era-appropriate Apple fonts and a teaser video in a classic 4:3 aspect ratio. (Cue silhouettes dancing to Gorillaz.)

The tinyPod is available for pre-order ahead of shipments “this summer.” You can reserve one today at the product website.