If you have an old Android phone or two lying around your house collecting dust, this article is for you. Phones are versatile devices that can do just about anything, so there’s no need to buy specialized gadgets when an old phone does the trick.
1 Repurpose It as a Storage Device
One of the most versatile ways to use a phone is as a storage device in place of an external drive. Sure, USB sticks are small and inexpensive, and external SSDs can reach insanely fast transfer speeds, but they also cost money to buy, whereas you already have an old phone. Plus, they don’t usually support Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for wireless transfers or screens and speakers to show and play your stored media.
You probably won’t get a lot of mileage from a 16GB phone, but even a 32GB phone can store 26,786 12MP photos, 10,417 songs that are 3MB each, or 168 minutes of 1080p video. The real-world numbers would be slightly lower since the operating system takes up a few gigabytes, but those are still substantial numbers. Not to mention that many old Android phones have SD card slots, allowing you to expand the storage significantly.
2 Use It as a Mini Smart Speaker
An old Android phone that supports Google Assistant is the perfect smart home speaker; in a way, it’s even better because you can use it unplugged. You just have to enable all of Assistant’s hands-free features so that you can use it even when the phone is locked, and you’re all set.
You could permanently connect it to a Bluetooth speaker if you want it to be as loud as a real smart speaker, but it’s not necessary. Plus, you’d have to keep both devices plugged in or charged, so it’s too much of a bother if you ask me.
3 Give It to Your Kid
If you don’t want to buy your child a phone because phones are an expensive commodity or for parenting reasons, I hear you. Thankfully, Android phones give you plenty of ways to manage a device other than enabling Kids Mode on your own Samsung phone.
There are tools and apps you can use to manage what your kids can do on their phones and how much they can use it. This way, your child can have a way to contact you without getting glued to their screen. Old phones also make for pretty decent cameras for kids.
4 Use It as a TV Remote and Streaming Device
Many old Android phones have IR blasters, meaning you can use them as a traditional remote for devices with IR sensors, like TVs. If your old phone doesn’t have one, you can still connect it to your smart TV and use screen mirroring to watch a TV show.
Granted, you can do this with your main phone as well, but I like to immerse myself when I watch content. It’s better to have a dedicated phone remote that isn’t logged in to anything, especially with an easily distracted family.
I’m all in favor of retrofitting touchscreens in old cars to get modern features like Android Auto, Google Maps, and Spotify. However, if you don’t want to spend money on a car stereo and spend several hours figuring out the wiring, just hook up an old phone to the stereo. The phone can double as a dash cam, so if it’s plugged in, it can act as a permanent multimedia solution for your car that doesn’t rely on your main phone.
6 Strap It to Your Bicycle
If you want the Android Auto experience on your bicycle, just use your old Android phone. This way, you won’t damage your main phone in the case of an accident, and the constant vibrations won’t break your camera’s optical image stabilization (OIS).
7 Leave It in Your Kitchen
A kitchen tablet or phone left permanently on a phone holder above your counter is the best way to find and follow recipes or just watch YouTube. Simply set the screen timeout to 30 minutes and create a home screen dedicated to your favorite cooking apps and websites. You’ll always have a device ready to go in an instant, and the best part is that you won’t even care if you get tomato sauce all over the screen.
8 Use It as a PC Webcam
Cheap webcams suck. What’s worse is that the drivers with some cameras (like mine) are a nightmare to install. Since even old smartphones have pretty good cameras, they can make for a solid webcam. Just grab a simple monitor phone mount and use a spare USB port to charge the phone.
There’s actually a native webcam option in the latest Pixel and Motorola phones; a universal wireless webcam solution is also present in Windows 11. You can also try some third-party solutions.
9 Turn It Into a Security Camera or Baby Monitor
Your old phone already has everything that you need in a security camera—a solid camera, microphone, Wi-Fi, and storage. Smart security cameras are expensive and arguably more prone to hacking than smartphones, though you shouldn’t fully trust a phone running an outdated version of Android, either, so exercise caution. Follow our guide to turn your old phone into a security camera.
10 Use It as a Cheap Handheld
If you don’t want to spend money on a dedicated handheld, an old phone can do the trick. Granted, there’s a strong argument in favor of using your main phone as a handheld, but the old phone can be more convenient if you want to attach a game controller permanently to the phone. Your old phone is probably smaller, so it’s more portable, and you can be more careless with it when you travel.
Offloading a couple of games and emulators to the old phone also saves on storage. Not playing games on your main phone also means a longer battery life and no annoying notifications.
The Unified Remote app allows you to control your PC from your phone. One useful function is that you can use the phone as a general media remote. It essentially gives you media keys if you don’t have dedicated media keys on your keyboard. There used to be a more advanced app called PCVolumeControl, but the project seems to have been abandoned.
If you’re a music producer, you can leave an old phone permanently on a phone holder to use it as a DAW controller. The touch screen makes for a perfect DAW control surface, as demonstrated in the following video:
12 Transform It Into a Picture Frame or Calendar
Extremely slow Android phones and tablets are the perfect digital photo frame. If your old phone is so old and laggy that you can’t use it for anything functional, you can at least use it as a decorative piece because it doesn’t demand any advanced processing. Place it on a stand, plug it in to charge, and turn on a photo gallery app that supports slideshows (either from the cloud or device storage), such as Fotoo.
13 Sell It
It doesn’t matter how old or broken your old Android phone is; it must have some monetary value. Just snap a few photos and describe its condition on online marketplaces like Facebook Marketplace and eBay, and you’re good to go.
Check similar listings to see the market value to determine if it’s even worth your time, as you’ll have to spend a few minutes on answering messages and shipping the phone. If it’s just $5 or $10, it’s probably not worth it. I have several friends and family members who never sell their old phones. They keep them as backup devices, missing out on the opportunity to make a couple of hundred bucks.
