A London studio's replacement circuit board promises Bluetooth, USB-C and Spotify for certain old iPods, but only a few models are supported.
A London studio has a crowdsourced project that could let some old iPods connect to AirPods and stream music from Spotify and Apple Music. It is called the Sprout Pi Mainboard. It is a new circuit board that replaces the one inside an older iPod. The launch video has passed 1 million views on YouTube.
Most iPod mods swap the hard drive for faster flash storage and add a bigger battery. The rest stays old, including the software and the wired-headphones-only limit. Sprout replaces the whole logic board, which is the main circuit board that runs the device. The original screen and click wheel stay, so the iPod looks the same. Everything behind them is new.
The interface looks a lot like the original iPod's. The board adds several modern features:
It also promises streaming from Apple Music and Spotify. No iPod other than the iPod touch has ever done that.
Support is narrow. The board works with the 1st and 2nd-generation iPod mini and the 3rd and 4th-generation iPods. The iPod classic, the iPod nano and the original iPods with color screens are not on the list.
There are two versions of the board. One only plays music stored on the device. The other adds Wi-Fi for streaming apps and AirPlay, Apple's wireless audio feature.
Some newer iPods already have wireless features. The first iPod touch had Wi-Fi only. Every later iPod touch had Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. So did the last iPod nano, from 2012. But streaming apps now need newer versions of iOS, Apple's phone software. The 7th-generation iPod touch, the last iPod Apple sold before ending the line in 2022, can only be updated to iOS 15. The final nano could not install apps at all.
The material on the project leaves some details open, including the price and when boards would ship. Anyone interested should check the project page before counting on a date or a cost.
There are other routes. You can modify a classic iPod model. You can also buy a used iPod touch, sync music to it and connect your AirPods. The iPod turned 25 in October 2026.
Sprout could give an old iPod mini, 3rd-gen or 4th-gen iPod modern features, but check your model, the version and the unknown price first.
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