The iPod’s click wheel was once one of the most iconic UI elements in consumer electronics. Today, it’s gone to the great user interface retirement home in the sky. Or has it? A new app suggests maybe not.
An iOS developer has unveiled a nifty app concept which aims to transform your iPhone into an iPod Classic by incorporating a virtual click wheel. Check it out.
Just like the click wheel of old, the iPod Classic-simulating app lets users scroll through album artwork to select the music that they want.
It was created by Elvin Hu, a design student at Cooper Union college in New York City. Hu recently took to Twitter to offer an early look at his project. Even “Podfather” Tony Fadell, one of the Apple execs who brought the original iPod to life, has praised it as a “nice throwback.”
Turned my iPhone into an iPod Classic with Click Wheel and Cover Flow with #SwiftUI pic.twitter.com/zVk5YJj0rh
— Elvin (@elvin_not_11) November 27, 2019
There’s no guarantee that the app will make it into the App Store, however. Apple will have to approve it, which they may well not be willing to do — notably because it infringes on Apple’s design patents.
In an email exchange with The Verge, Hu said he wouldn’t give up at a simple rejection, however. If Apple does refuse to grant permission, he plans to release it as an open-source project upon completion.
Would you download this classic iPod throwback? Would you like to see more nostalgic nods to Apple’s past in modern software form? Let us know you thoughts in the comments below.
