Introduced earlier this year, the weird case that lets you use your Apple Watch like an iPod music player is now available for purchase. Evoking nostalgia, the TinyPod is a cleverly designed silicone case that holds your Apple Watch with the strap detached.
The TinyPod comes in two versions. The basic $30 TinyPod Lite edition features a cutout on the side, which enables the Digital Crown to protrude so you can use it for scrolling and more. Want the whole experience? That’ll be $80 a pop! For that kind of money, you get the same silicone case but with an integrated scroll wheel below the display cutout and no Digital Crown hole. Both versions expose the watch’s back crystal for charging.
But how exactly do tactile navigation and scrolling work on the $80 TinyPod? Surprisingly, this vesion integrates mechanized components which directly connect the scroll wheel to the Digital Crown, so that turning the scroll wheel turns the Digital Crown itself. The ingenious design solution allows for natural scrolling and navigating the Apple Watch user interface. A legitimate concern here is that mechanical parts introduce points of failure. We’ll have a better idea of how that built-in click wheel holds up over time when long-term reviews arrive.
The main pitch for the TinyPod is that it’s a way to curb your phone and social media habits “without losing all the utilities of a phone in your pocket. And if you do leave your iPhone behind and use only your cellular Apple Watch, the TinyPod will make it feel like a compact dumbphone. It’s a “phone away from phone” ideal for kids, the company says.
We’ll have to see how well that ends up working. Using an Apple Watch without an iPhone is certainly possible, but don’t forget that the Apple Watch needs skin contact for authentication—you’ll need to unlock the watch with a passcode every time you’d like to use it with the TinyPod case on. Disabling the Wrist Detection feature will fix this, but your security and privacy will be decreased, and you’re still going to need to enter your passcode to use Apple Pay, NameDrop, and similar features requiring authentication.
One thing TinyPod has going for it is freeing up your wrist for a stylish mechanical watch or a dedicated fitness tracker. At the same time, your Apple Watch becomes a second-screen accessory for interacting with watchOS apps without arm fatigue.
The TinyPod is available in the 41/40mm and 45/44mm sizes, compatible with Apple Watch SE and Series 4 models and up. There’s also the 49mm size compatible with the Apple Watch Ultra, but it’ll cost you an extra $10 over the regular version. You can order yours from the official website, with shipments commencing “this summer.”
