Key Takeaways
The tinyPod is an Apple Watch case that has an iPod-inspired look.
It lets you focus on the Apple Watch's smartphone-like features.
There are issues with usability, but it makes the case that the Apple Watch is more capable than it looks.
The tinyPod, an Apple Watch case that synthesizes growing interest in dumbphones and retro tech into one stylish gimmick, has made me think a lot about my wrist.
I've grown accustomed to wearing a watch since I started wearing one in middle school, and in the last few years, I've gotten more attached to the Apple Watch than I expected to. My wrist feels empty without one. In retrospect, that's not all that surprising -- it acts as everything from a bedside clock to a fitness tracker every day.
The tinyPod's ability to turn that smartwatch into something that looks and works more like an iPod, but is still capable of many of the tasks of an iPhone, is an interesting experiment in restraint. But using the tinyPod, I was less surprised to learn that you can use the Apple Watch as a second, more distraction-free phone, and more surprised at how not having my Apple Watch made me feel.
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There's a decidedly mechanical component to this case
The tinyPod looks like a classic iPod. This is entirely intentional. The case comes in three sizes; 41/40mm, 45/40mm, or 49mm depending on the size of your Apple Watch (tinyPod supports the Apple Watch Series 4 and up). If you're looking to save some money or aren't enamored with the case's key gimmick, there's also a soft rubber version of the case without a scroll wheel called the tinyPod Lite.
The tinyPod costs $79 for the two smaller sizes, and $89 for the larger 49mm option. The tinyPod Lite is $29 for the smaller sizes, and $39 for the 49mm model. New orders for the tinyPod are supposed to ship in three to six weeks, giving you plenty of time to source a new or refurbished Apple Watch if you don't already have one. For my purposes, I opted to put my Apple Watch Series 7 , which has been a faithful companion for years, at this point.
According to its creator Newar, the tinyPod went from an experiment to an actual product on the back of its scroll wheel, which emulates the resistance of the mechanical scroll wheel on the very first iPod. It feels good, with a smooth motion, but a textured surface that feels interesting to swipe across, even if it takes some getting used to. It's also one of the more complicated parts of the case.
An empty tinyPod case with the Digital Crown turning mechanism visible on the side.
From what I can tell, there's a pulley connecting the scroll wheel at the bottom of the case to a gear that rests against the Digital Crown along the inside. Scrolling one scrolls the other, with the Apple Watch haptics vibrating through the case to add to the effect. The center of the tinyPod scroll wheel is solid plastic and doesn't click, but otherwise the case offers 1:1 control over the Digital Crown. You're still able to push the Apple Watch's main button on the side of the tinyPod, and its larger side button, too. The rest of the case is glossy plastic, rounded corners, and a simple backplate that holds the Apple Watch in place and keeps the whole thing together.
You have to do things like turn off wrist detection and rotate the orientation of your Apple Watch to make it work in the case, but once you do, you'll have a little, phone-like device to play with. It was right around then that I realized that the Apple Watch really wants to be a watch.
The Apple Watch can do a lot, but it's limited
You already have a smartphone on your wrist
A hand holding a tinyPod with the Apple Watch weather app open.
The tinyPod treatment of the Apple Watch as a standalone device is based on reality. Smartwatches are very advanced in 2024. They can have cellular radios, run shrunken-down versions of powerful mobile apps for your Calendar, Reminders, and Mail, and even have their own App Store. Apple is more devoted than most to letting the Apple Watch work like a separate device if you need to. The tinyPod is just recontextualizing things a bit by taking it off your wrist.
I have no good excuse for why I go for my iPhone when an Apple Watch can do the same things, just slightly differently or slower. Using my Watch in the tinyPod case, I was struck by how phone-like the Apple Watch is from the jump. Its screen looks big and bright for one thing. Using it on a walk, I was able to add something to my shopping list for my grocery run later that day and play a podcast I had downloaded without relying on my phone. At home, I made a call and used voice dictation to shoot off a few quick messages. It felt, at times, like there was something to the idea that an Apple Watch could step in as a more purposeful kind of phone. But over time, problems added up.
watchOS is not designed to replace iOS
Unlike iOS or iPadOS, watchOS does not treat the Apple Watch's grid of apps as its home screen. You can get there with the press of the Digital Crown, but once you're inside an app, you can't go back to that grid directly. Pressing the Digital Crown again takes you back to your watch face. The Apple Watch is a watch, so displaying the time should be its first concern, but that puts a pretty big hamper on the dreams of the tinyPod.
By default, watchOS wants to tell the time.
There are ways around it. If the app you need to switch to is already running in the background, you can press the Digital Crown twice and pull up the app switcher and access other apps that way. You could also put your most used apps as complications on your watch face to make it easier to jump back into them. But neither option feels as easy or offers as much flexibility as a classic home screen with a grid of icons.
By default, watchOS wants to tell the time. You can adjust settings so that it waits longer before switching back, but eventually, if your Apple Watch display is asleep for long enough, you'll end back up on the watch face rather than whatever email you were looking at. These limitations bothered me, but mainly, I missed the watch-y things I was using my Series 7 for every day:
As a silent alarm clock in the morning
As a nudge to actually use my standing desk
To track my steps when I go for an afternoon walk
To give me some insight into why I feel terrible after staying up too late.
Inside the tinyPod case, you don't get to take advantage of the things that the Apple Watch is uniquely good at, just the things that it's surprisingly capable of. It's the smartwatch in reverse, focused on the smarts (especially the smarts that come from the smartphone) and not the watch.
The tinyPod makes me want to rethink how I use my Apple Watch
I haven't been using the smartwatch to its fullest
It feels like we're far from that world now, but at one point, the Apple Watch was expected to step in for your iPhone a lot more than it does right now. Many of the Watch's skills are remnants of the device it was at launch, a wrist-bound communication device that was a quasi-replacement for your smartphone.
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An Apple Watch in a white case with a scroll wheel.
tinyPod
The tinyPod is an Apple Watch case that makes the smartwatch look like an iPod with a working scroll wheel, that's designed to take advantage of the Apple Watch's smartphone-like abilities.
I don't think the tinyPod's clever design makes the Apple Watch something it's not. Besides how fun it is to play with, the main thing the tinyPod has done for me is make me realize I'm not using my Apple Watch to the fullest. I should be letting my watch step in for my iPhone more often, especially since I increasingly have a problem using my smartphone for one task and putting it down. I've realized I already have a potential answer to some of the problems of attention the tinyPod claims to solve, and I don't even need a special case to use them.