iOS 4 has been lovingly recreated as an iPhone app

iOS 4 initially appeared almost 10 years in the past as Apple’s first cellular working system to drop the iPhone OS naming conference. An 18-year-old developer has now lovingly recreated iOS 4 as an iPhone app, and it’s a wonderful blast from the previous. If you by no means obtained the prospect to make use of iOS 4, otherwise you’re a fan of the iPhone 3G, OldOS nearly flawlessly pulls off the expertise of utilizing an iPhone from a decade in the past.

OldOS is “designed to be as close to pixel-perfect as possible,” says Zane, the developer behind the app. It’s all constructed utilizing Apple’s SwiftUI, so it contains buttery easy animations and even the previous iPhone residence button that vibrates with haptic suggestions to make it really feel like an actual button.

Apple’s built-in iOS 4 apps have additionally been recreated right here, and it’s an actual flashback to the skeuomorphic days of the iPhone every time they launch. Photos allows you to view your current digicam roll as you’d have 10 years in the past, whereas Notes transports you again to the yellow post-it notes of yesteryear.

The solely apps that don’t work as you may count on are Messages and YouTube. Apple used to bundle YouTube instantly into its working system, and the developer behind OldOS says there are “still some major issues with YouTube” and Messages that they’re working to repair.

Everything else is generally flawless. and you’ll even browse the net within the previous UI of Safari. The App Store additionally checklist apps that can redirect you to the trendy retailer to obtain and set up. There are some issues that merely don’t work, together with folders and no jiggling to rearrange residence display apps.

We’ve seen one of these nostalgic app seem on the iPhone earlier than. Rewound launched in the App Store again in December 2019, turning an iPhone into an iPod. Apple quickly pulled the app a couple of days later, citing retailer violations.

This newest OldOS app is available on Apple’s TestFlight service, which is usually used to distribute beta variations of apps. That means it in all probability received’t final lengthy earlier than Apple takes exception, so seize it whilst you can. Zane has additionally revealed the supply code for the entire project on GitHub, so in case you’re prepared to compile it in Xcode then it can stay ceaselessly.