The Retro Pod app, which was recently removed from the App Store, “replicates” the iPod experience on the iPhone, simulating the “touch, vibration” experience of the iPod Classic scroll wheel through haptics.
Retro Pod app hit the App Store in October last year and has been present in the mall since then. At the beginning of January this year, the app was fermented on the TikTok platform, and the number of related video views was close to 5 million.
After a short video about the Retro Pod app exploded on TikTok, downloads of the app on the App Store skyrocketed to nearly half a million by the time it was taken down, with the majority of downloads occurring in January.
Neither Apple nor Retro Pod’s developers have commented on the app’s removal from the App Store. However, foreign tech media outlet 9to5Mac believes that Apple saw a spike in downloads of the Retro Pod app and then took it down.
The App Store guidelines prohibit “parody” apps, especially when they try to copy Apple itself. This isn’t the first time Apple has taken down an iPod-imitating app from the App Store, either. In 2019, the “Rewound” app, which also “replicated” the iPod’s design, quickly became a hit and was subsequently taken down from the App Store.
