Build a Media Controller

Turn an old Apple Watch into a mini iPod! Use BLE on a Feather ESP32 S3 with an ANO rotary encoder wheel to control the watch interface. The encoder wheel is reminiscent of the original clicking scroll wheel interface on the first iPods

This project features the ANO rotary encoder wheel. It’s got four directional buttons and a center button for scrolling and clicking. It’s essentially a wireless USB controller that pairs with an Apple Watch over BLE. It’s inspired by The Tiny Pod project we saw online, to make an open source and hackable version!

ESP32-S3 BLE with CircuitPython

Powered by the Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3, it’s got Wifi, BLE and on board battery charging, perfect for making portable IOT and BLE projects.

The ANO Rotary encoder breakout connects over STEMMA QT, making it easy to plug and play with the Adafruit Feather.

With Apple’s watchOS, you can enable the Voiceover accessibility feature to allow pairing keyboard devices over BLE. This allows you to scroll through the elements on screen and select items using the directional buttons and center click wheel.