# Apple iPod touch

13 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple iPod touch and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 18.7 years (4 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a small, intuitive pocket device that lasts for years. The common caveat is that locked software and OS updates have made some units unusable.

## Why people recommend it

- Small, pocket-sized and handy (2 comments): "It was pretty neat at that time to take this responsive, color-screened pocket computer with me on a walk" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46841700)) "Half the time when I'm home I still use my iPod touch because it's even smaller than the mini." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47228316))
- Better typing experience than iPhone (2 comments): "Absolute perfect typing experience, better responsiveness and almost entirely free of mistakes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237943)) "the keyboard experience was vastly superior than the iPhone now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49709181))

## What people warn about

- Locked bootloader and no terminal access (2 comments): "It was first real-computer-class-computer I had that had no official terminal access or total freedom to run anything I want" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49232974)) "Apple would rather old iPhones and iPods become useless e-waste bricks than release an EoL update to unlock the bootloader" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583863))
- OS updates leave units unusable (2 comments): "Apple would rather old iPhones and iPods become useless e-waste bricks than release an EoL update to unlock the bootloader" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583863)) "Two iPads, an iPod Touch and an iPhone of mine have been made unusable by OS updates." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45946114))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Apple iPod nano](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ipod-nano.md): 15 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Apple+iPod+touch&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Apple iPod touch", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ipod-touch/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).