This article is currently an experimental machine translation and may contain errors. If anything is unclear, please refer to the original Chinese version. I am continuously working to improve the translation.
A while ago, I dug up my iPod Touch 4 from a dusty drawer at home—something I hadn’t touched in who-knows-how-many years.
The reason? I’ve been having trouble focusing while doing homework. If my phone is nearby, I can’t help but scroll through this and play with that, making me extremely unproductive…
To fix this, I decided to bring out the iPod Touch 4—an old device that can do nothing but play music (well, I can still check QQ).
I suddenly realized just how thoroughly this little gadget has been left behind by the modern world.
I knew it was coming… and yet, I still couldn’t help but marvel at how fast times have changed.
This tiny iPod was actually my first mobile electronic device. Back in elementary school, I remember being completely obsessed with it. When I first got it, my family didn’t even have Wi-Fi. But Apple devices required either iTunes or a Wi-Fi connection to activate, and downloading apps from the App Store also needed Wi-Fi. So every time I wanted to install something, I had to go to my dad’s workplace and connect to their iTunes. Now, broadband is cheaper and faster—hundreds of Mbps are standard. And yet, all this happened within just ten years. What a difference a decade makes.
Anyway, back to the topic. Let me share my experience using the iPod Touch 4 over the past month.
First, the design.
appearance
The original casing was silver, but I later added a white protective case. The screen is only 3.5 inches, so after using it for a while, even the iPhone 6’s display feels huge. Despite its small size, the screen has surprisingly wide viewing angles, and one-handed operation is much smoother than today’s oversized, full-screen smartphones.
unlock screen
The home screen still has that classic skeuomorphic style from the Steve Jobs era, complete with Apple’s iconic slide-to-unlock screen—pure nostalgia.
As for hardware, the Touch 4 runs on the A4 chip, has 256MB of RAM, and offers about 4.5GB of usable storage after the system is installed. By today’s standards, it’s painfully outdated.
But thanks to Apple’s strict background management and extreme system optimization, the device is still usable—just slow when launching apps, and occasionally lags, but nothing too disruptive.
(By the way, the battery, like most aging devices, drains fast. And the camera is pretty much obsolete now. It can’t even make out small text, let alone scan small QR codes… I could’ve said “It’s fine, I don’t care about the camera,” but now I can’t even scan QR codes!)
Now, onto software. The iPod Touch 4 can only be updated up to iOS 6.
Its 32-bit CPU and iOS 6 system mean it can’t run many modern apps—no WeChat, no audiobook apps, no Microsoft Todo, no Chrome or Firefox (all of which I actually still need).
I can only install older apps that were available back then, like QQ, NetEase Cloud Music, and Youdao Dictionary. (Homework Helper installs, but forces an update on launch… Bilibili also installs but crashes when opening videos.)
Not having WeChat and Microsoft Todo is a bit of a bummer, but then again, the whole point of using the Touch 4 was to simplify my digital life—so I can’t really complain.
QQ 
NetEase Cloud Music
Most of my classmates still use QQ, so not having WeChat isn’t a big deal. As for Microsoft Todo, I’ve resorted to writing tasks down in a small notebook. (Actually, isn’t that kind of charming?)
All the built-in iOS apps still work fine, iCloud backup is functional, and Podcast offers a lot of great content—making it a decent substitute for audiobook apps.
To sum up: Using an iPod Touch 4 as a phone replacement in 2020 is simply not feasible.
Today, the iPod Touch 4 is basically a Wi-Fi-enabled MP3/MP4 player with a touchscreen. It doesn’t do much, but it can definitely help you escape the ever-heavier burden of modern smartphones.
I’ve been using mine to chat with classmates while doing homework, and for listening to music and relaxing. Honestly, it’s a much better choice than my phone for staying focused.
Of course, I’m not suggesting anyone go out and buy an iPod Touch 4. I just want to remind you to look around and see if there’s an old device lying around that you could repurpose. In this fast-moving world, slowing down a little might not be such a bad idea.
From 2010 to 2020—just ten years—and the change has been enormous. What will the next decade bring?
Written on the evening of June 25, 2020, during Dragon Boat Festival.
This article is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
Author: lyc8503, Article link: https://blog.lyc8503.net/en/post/ipod-touch-4/
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