Turn Your iPhone Into An iPod Using This Music Player App

Earlier this week, a software developer introduced an app that turns your iPhone into an iPod, allowing iPhone users to sprint back to 2009 and make their iPhones recapture the feel and convenience of the now archaic device.

Back in 2009, music was just music. As years passed, however, Apple went on to develop new technologies, ending the era of standalone music players and causing iPods to fade into obscurity. It is out of this insatiable yearning for iPod nostalgia that software developer Louis Anslow decided to create an app that turns iPhone into an iPod—Rewound.

Rewound is a customizable music player that can turn your iPhone’s touchscreen into an iPod classic. By transforming your iPhone’s interface into the iPod classic’s, you can now easily and effortlessly transform your device into the iconic iPod you used to love, complete with its trademark scroll wheel that lets you adjust the volume and control playback at the same time.

The app, which is now available for free download in the App Store, makes use of downloadable skins to make the app look like an iPod as it syncs with your Apple Music library. The app also uses haptic feedback to simulate the feel of the iPod Classic’s click wheel, the most remarkable feature of the music device.

According to Anslow, the idea behind Rewound was pure nostalgia. “It is an experimental project exploring the blurring lines between the digital and physical world,” he said. “Edgeless displays with haptic feedback can become any device you wish. Rewound lets users morph their iPhone into a retro 2000s era MP3 player—whatever brand or model they preferred,” he added.

Because of its clever workaround, however, Rewound is at risk of running afoul of Apple’s intellectual property rules and being kicked out of the Apple’s App Store. Hence, it is not marketed as an app that turns iPhone into an iPod but as an app that simply supports Apple Music and lets you download skins once installed.