My teenager wants an iPod but he only streams music through our Apple Music subscription. I don’t want him to buy a used iPod touch only to have it not work. Which generation will still support Apple Music streaming and offline downloading?
The Apple Music subscription service works with devices running iOS 10 or later.
Which means an iPod 6th or 7th generations should work.
Alternatively any recent iPhone will also work. There's no need to activate cell service if you don't really want to and it can connect to Wi-Fi just fine and access the Apple Music subscription service and will work like an iPod.
I'd probably go for an iPhone 12 mini. It doesn't even matter if it's carrier locked.
Whether you go for an iPod or an iPhone, you'll want to make sure its not activation locked and is properly erased by the previous user.
click here ➜ The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying … - Apple Community
and here ➜ What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
The Apple Music subscription service works with devices running iOS 10 or later.
Which means an iPod 6th or 7th generations should work.
Alternatively any recent iPhone will also work. There's no need to activate cell service if you don't really want to and it can connect to Wi-Fi just fine and access the Apple Music subscription service and will work like an iPod.
I'd probably go for an iPhone 12 mini. It doesn't even matter if it's carrier locked.
Whether you go for an iPod or an iPhone, you'll want to make sure its not activation locked and is properly erased by the previous user.
click here ➜ The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying … - Apple Community
and here ➜ What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
According to
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apple-music/id1108187390
It requires iOS 10 or higher. That means one of the last two iPod Touch items, the 6th or 7th generation. However, good luck finding one since Apple hasn't sold them in many years. An alternative would be to get an old iPhone which is about the same size, newer, and you do not have to set up cellular service on it if you do not want to. I used to use my old iPhone basically in iPod mode without cellular service.
You could buy the iPod touch 7th generation. It was released in 2019 and latest OS is ios 15. I’m sure ios 15 still works with apple music and offline downloading.
An iPhone SE 2nd and later will run current iOS 26 and the upcoming iOS 27, and only needs cellular during activation.
Beyond having optionally-available cellular if (when?) that becomes useful, that’ll get you some options around security and settings with what has been announced at WWDC keynote for kids’ devices in the upcoming iOS 27, as well.
Put differently, I’d stick with iPhone 11 or iPhone SE 2nd or later.
An iPod touch is already falling off third-party app support with iOS 15.
I'll add that if you do find an old iPod Touch or iPhone, check it carefully. The battery is probably about to die, and review (similar applies to iPods but they no longer exist in the Apple psyche):
What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
If you want to buy a preowned iPhone - Apple Support
Which generation of iPod touch do we need?
