iPod 4th Gen Taptic Engine Mod Tutorial

[@NekoMichi]

Update: It's come to my attention that several businesses have started selling Taptic mod kits for iPods and linking to my videos as installation guides. Please note that I am not affiliated with or employed by any of these sellers and cannot provide tech support for their products or assistance with sales, shipping, or refunds. If you were directed here by such a product and need help, please contact the seller you purchased your kit from. Thank you!

[@JimmyChin-iv6ox]

Love this guy! Clear, humourous, no-nonsense tutorials. If this guy had been my teacher at school, I would have been flying sightseeing tours through black holes by now. LEGEND. Thanks!

[@ncc74656m]

That's actually an amazing mod. Well done. I feel like I want to do this now since I hate how loud the clicker is on the regular iPod, don't like it through the headphones, and love the idea of a semi-audible haptic feedback.

[@DESTROYYER5671]

Heheheheheh, “Elder pod detected!” My catchy phrase for the 1/2nd Gen classics

[@rifleman098]

I am so happy I found this channel. Thank you for giving these beautiful nuggets the proper love and taking the passion for mods to the next level!

[@Throtle21043]

wow it’s amazing, dude!!

[@Pendleton115]

Incredible, I could not have done this better myself!

[@iolnav]

Trying to fit it into Dualshock 4 controller. I think we need a small French board to make it work. Sorry for my bad English

[@hatanaks]

Thank you for your very good guidance how to set up Taptic. my Gen6 is working. as same time, my Gen3 is succeeded to working as refer your guidance.

[@LockeTheCole]

It's funny, I went from "God this is a stupid idea" when clicking the video, to "Huh, it's surprisingly simple" then to "Wow that's genius, wonder if I should do it..." XD

[@Unkn0wnz_anon]

Can you do a tutorial for iPod Classic 5 and 7? Thanks

[@JochenSteglich]

Yes, please - great idea 👏

[@NekoMichi]

Coming right up!

[@grandtheftauto1233]

Brilliant mod!! Never seen such a neat idea

[@thecrashdocs]

bravo you madlad. building my first iPod soon, and I'll be doing this for sure!

[@katiekanal3560]

Where can I buy a glass protector for my ipod classic 4g like the one at the beginning of the video?😊

[@NekoMichi]

The clear case in that part of the video is the Proporta Crystal Case for iPod 4th generation. I got mine secondhand, the seller included it with their iPod which they sold me.

[@cutekat444]

Hey Michi, how did you learn how to solder and stuff? I would love to follow along with your videos but I’m inexperienced.

[@NekoMichi]

Self-taught through trial and error, mostly.

[@fox.9879]

if i do this i will try and keep the speaker in with it so you get the original click with the taptic engine

[@notogp]

Amazing idea, i wonder if it can be done in a 3th generation nano, i've created a larger back cover and i'm putting a 2500mah battery in it, i think i can fit also the haptic feedback, do you know the voltages used by the haptic feedback?

[@NekoMichi]

I think someone in the iPod Modding Discord connected it up to an oscilloscope and measured 3V peak voltage. I've just received a 3rd gen Nano with no back plate at all recently so that might be something to test.

[@notogp]

@@NekoMichi I'll try to measure the peak voltage in the 3th gen nano, if i can help i can tell you the measures in order to create the back and how i did it

[@notogp]

Update: For everyone wondering i installed the iphone 7 taptic engine on an iPod nano 3th gen and it works very well

[@LetsPlayKeldeo]

Amazing !

[@DynamicPants]

Thanks for the videos! Just completed the 5000mah battery upgrade on my 4th gen Photo! Just waiting on a short length sd card adapter to arrive. While I have my ipod open I checked out this video to see how the taptic mod is done but noticed some dissimilarities on my 4th gen when soldering the wires to the board. Can this mod only be done on the monochrome? Or are the soldering points different on the 4th gen Photo?

[@NekoMichi]

It can also be done on a photo model, but I think the piezo clicker is in a different location on the headphone board.

[@DynamicPants]

@@NekoMichi Thanks for the clarification!

[@peterpete6231]

Hi can the 3rd gen ipod from 2003 power the taptic engine?

[@NekoMichi]

Sadly, the 3rd (also 1st and 2nd) generation iPod can't.

[@NekoMichi]

Hi there, I have an update on this. I was able to get the Taptic Engine working on an iPod 3rd generation but the wiring is a little tricky.

[@peterpete6231]

Oh wow! That’s so cool! Does it have to go through some additional circuitry?

[@NekoMichi]

No, but the problem is that the piezo clicker is located on the main board on the 3rd gen and not on the separate headphone board, making it both difficult and risky to access.

[@gkivo]

Hi! Question regarding double sided tape vs epoxy - Of course the ideal scenario would allow for this Taptic Engine to be serviceable but does using double sided tape come loose with time. How significant is the Taptic intensity when using epoxy instead? My plan was to double sided tape it to the metal backplate and then hot glue the sides so that it doesn’t fall loose unless epoxy allows for a much much stronger Taptic feel

[@NekoMichi]

Your method should work fine too, so long as there's something solid mounting the Taptic Engine to the back plate. Double-sided tape on its own will wear down over time, especially if the iPod heats up when syncing or charging as it will slowly melt the adhesive. However if you reinforce it with hot glue then it'll be secure.

[@gkivo]

@@NekoMichi thanks for that reply! Do you think epoxy ultimately makes a big difference in how intense the Taptics are felt or is it minimal when mounted to the backplate with either method?

[@NekoMichi]

@@gkivo I think hot glue and epoxy will both have the same haptic intensity.

[@douglasmendenhall406]

is there any reason you use specifically an iphone 7 Taptic Engine? Seems like iphone 11 ones are smaller and it may be easier to find space to fit them

[@NekoMichi]

From the iPhone X and onwards, the Taptic Engine has gotten smaller but that also resulted in a different-feeling haptic output. The main reason why I use the iPhone 7 motor as opposed to newer ones is because it's the most common and cheap to find and also newer generations might not have the row of pads hidden on the side.

[@rodolfodiaz2945]

I have a couple if you wouldn't mind answering them for me since I'm fairly new to soldering and even wiring at that anyways my questions are: what kind of gauge wire are you working with? when you tin the pads on the headphone board how carefully should you do it to not ruin it? I wouldn't want to accidentally burn it and end up ruining the pads and make them unusable for soldering, those are really the questions I have so far if you could answer these for me I would appreciate it very much thank you for the video.

[@NekoMichi]

I'm using generic wire I found, the exact gauge is unknown, but they are about 1mm in diameter (including insulation). Ideally you should use thinner wire as it puts less strain on the pads if they move around, some people have taken old USB or Ethernet cables and stripped the inner wires to use and I think those might work better. As for the pads, I avoid touching the soldering iron tip directly to them and instead I melt some solder onto the tip and gently dab them onto the pads almost like dabbing glue onto a crafts project. You don't need a lot of solder to get the job done, just a thin layer will be enough. If you have any spare dead devices, they're great for practising soldering on. All the best!

[@rodolfodiaz2945]

@@NekoMichi hm I did buy 18 gauge wire which should be about the same but when I got it it did end up feeling really thick even when stripping the wire it seemed like it might put too much stress on the pads but I hope not. Also what I'm mostly just scared for about the headphone board pads is burning the metal part of it if I were to burn it or heat it up enough for it to fall out would the board no longer work? also thank you again for answering quickly I appreciate it!

[@NekoMichi]

18 gauge wire is a little thick, but can work if you're careful. Once soldered to the Taptic Engine pads, make sure to tape the wire securely to the body of the motor so that any movement is minimised. If the pads on the headphone board are damaged, the mod won't work but you'd have to be really rough with it in order for that to happen. Do you have any soldering flux? I find that cleaning the area with flux can help.

[@rodolfodiaz2945]

@@NekoMichi the 18 gauge ended up being too thick and I ruined the taptic engine I'm not really mad since I ordered two to be safe but since I'm new and do not have a steady hand I learned as it went on lol going to try out 28 gauge wire which is about the 1mm diameter range you mentioned but you wouldn't think that maybe the aluminum tin that we use to tin the soldering iron would work as well ? especially since that is also technically conductive and could possibly end being a little easier to actually solder onto it? I'm not sure would like to head your opinion on it though : D

[@NekoMichi]

You mean the solder itself? Solder shouldn't be used as a replacement for wire because as soon as you try to melt one end, it'll recede and it won't stay in place. The outside is also not insulated and will cause a short with anything it touches.

[@chillichompa34]

Hi Neko, do you know which taptic engines from either the phones or watches that have the diagnostic ports? It appears that the iPhone 12 mini does not have these pins. Is there an online references or data sheet? I'm hoping to add one to an old casio with a 593 module and thought just like an Apple Watch, these would be great.

[@NekoMichi]

I think they stopped using these pads on the Taptic Engines since the iPhone 11. I'm not sure about recent Apple Watch Taptic Engines, but I've tested a Series 2 motor and it has two pads openly accessible for use.

[@chillichompa34]

@@NekoMichi Thanks. This is still very useful. I'll see if I can narrow it down further and let you know.

[@razorbladesky]

0:05 ipdo

[@TendieAssassin]

I have a 4th gen 20gb back but I also have the generic green flash card adapter because rockbox doesn't like SD cards on the 4th gen. Is there a way to fit both the flash card and the battery with the taptic engine?

[@NekoMichi]

It will work with the stock battery, but not if you're using an upgraded battery.

[@duwang6293]

What do you think about take the taptic engine and put it into computer mouse? Is there any sense, and is it possible?

[@NekoMichi]

Most PC mice don't have any kind of audio outputs and nor do they have the programming to output any wave signals. In order for this to work, the mouse would need to have both hardware and software customisations.

[@peterthebricky]

The last couple of classic 4th generation ipod I've tried using the generic green board flash will only restore on my old mac , every time I use my Windows laptop it restores I plug it into the external power supply as usual watch it load up restart and show folder sign and soon as I connect it back to the laptop I get the error iTunes has detected message I've reformatted the card to fat32 ect, yet plug it into my old mac and it restores perfect every time luckily I have software on my laptop that let's me run ios devices Anyone got any suggestions

[@yonathansholomovpriv]

I tried to do this but it turned out to be very weak. I tried to desolder the clicker speaker but it can’t come out so u just soldered the wires and kept the clicker in. So i have both the clicker and the Taptic Engine. Now for some reason even when i remove the wires for the Engine, and keep only the clicker, now the clicker is very quiet. At first i tried using 34 gauge enameled wire but it was very weak. So i thought it was the problem of the wire thickness so i changed it for thicker wire( around the diameter you used) but it still didn't change. My current setup is both the clicker (quiet) and the Engine (weak) with 34 gauge enameled wire. I can figure out how to either make the Engine more powerful or revert to only the clicker but as loud as it was before. Please help. Thank you.

[@NekoMichi]

Is the ribbon cable for the headphone jack assembly securely plugged into the main motherboard?

[@yonathansholomovpriv]

I tried replugging the ribbon cables on both sides many times and it didn't help. Any other possibilities?

[@NekoMichi]

In previous tests I also noticed that output is weak if both the clicker and motor are connected at the same time. It might be necessary to remove the speaker fully in order for the motor to output the correct force. Sadly I haven't found a way to have both working at the same time.

[@georgbalzereit8952]

Hey Neko, really cool idea!!! And it is not just another video how to change the battery. Your video adds real value to the ipod community!!! I will definitely try this out. It seems, that the taptic engines are pretty cheap on ebay. By the way, where did you get that cool transparent cover case for your 4th Gen? I have seen a lot on AliExpress for the 5th Gen 30gb models, but not for the 4th…. Great video

[@NekoMichi]

Thanks for the feedback! The transparent iPod case was included with a bulk lot of iPods, I've searched up online and it appears to have been made by a company Proporta. The exact product name is "iPod 4th generation Crystal Case" by Proporta.

[@mysticsentertainment1800]

Does the iPhone 7 Plus Taptic Engine work??

[@NekoMichi]

The 7 Plus engine might work, but I haven't tested it before. If it has the same diagnostic port hidden under ink and tape, then it can be used.

[@mysticsentertainment1800]

@@NekoMichi should I check that out for ya?

[@mysticsentertainment1800]

I just wanna know if it has the same feel as the regular 7’s Taptic Engine

[@mysticsentertainment1800]

Or if not a better feel

[@NekoMichi]

Sure, check and see if there's a hidden diagnostics port on the side

[@LucyTheCat]

*rips open iphone 8* GIVE ME YOUR TAPTIC

[@Zeddify]

Call it motor instead of vibrator because it would be a little inappropriate if you call it vibrator.

[@ToasterCore]

Why. But still cool

[@NekoMichi]

I have a bit of a controversial opinion - I don't like the clicker speaker inside iPods. If I'm listening to music on an iPod, I'd already be wearing headphones and the iPod plays the clicker sound through the headphones anyway, so the speaker is somewhat redundant. It's also distracting to other people, especially if I'm using the iPod in a quiet place like an office or library. The Taptic Engine on the other hand solves this issue by adding an additional layer to the interaction, I can feel a definite physical click every time I scroll through a menu item and it's not loud enough to disturb other people nearby. Heck, I've gone one step further and disabled headphone clicks and rely on Taptic clicks entirely now to help navigate menus. That way I don't have this little clicking sound interrupting my music.