While you can often sell your old iPhone to help pay for your next one, sometimes you’re left with one which is a bit too old or damaged to be worth trying to sell. Or you may want to keep it as a backup phone just in case. Either way, instead of letting your old iPhone waste away in a drawer, here are some creative ideas to put it to use again.
Combined Dash Navigation & Camera
While built-in GPS navigation and Apple Carplay has become quite common in modern vehicles these days, there are plenty of older cars that don’t have a GPS. Purpose-built dash-mounted GPS systems typically don’t have any internet connectivity and as a result, their maps quickly become outdated and they don’t display traffic information, but your old iPhone does.
Grab a dash phone mount and you can take advantage of your old iPhone’s up to date maps and traffic information as well as use the built-in camera as a dashcam. There are also options to mount your iPhone to your windscreen, from your review mirror, air vents, and even your old CD slot.
Home Automation Controller
Old tablets and mobile phones make excellent home automation controllers. Pair them with your smart home hub, like the Samsung SmartThing Hub, and then mount them onto the wall or even leave them on your coffee table. They’re perfect for parties and guests, allowing people to control your smart home functions without having to hand your phone over to them.
Baby or Security Monitor
There are a number of baby monitor and home surveillance apps that are perfect for turning your old iPhone into a remotely accessible video camera, some with two way audio communication as well. Dedicated WiFi-enabled cameras can be expensive, especially if you consider that you may have a free one just lying around. All you need is a phone mount and a dedicated charger cable and you’re good to go.
Weather Station Dashboard
Download a barometer or weather app and you’ve got yourself an interactive weather station dashboard. You can even mount your old iPhone behind some two-way glass and make your own mobile phone smart mirror, you can then display notifications and reminders as well.
Wireless Music Hub
If you’ve got Apply TV or an Apple Device playing music through your home entertainment system, you can use another iPhone and the iTunes remote app to control the music, playlists, and even access your library and add and remove songs to the current playlists. Pair this with a home automation app as mentioned earlier and you’ve got a really powerful smart universal remote.
Turn It Into A Handheld Gaming Console
You can buy a few different gaming grips and control adaptors for iPhones which turn them into functional handheld gaming consoles. Rather than using your new iPhone, which would require you to add and remove the grips all the time and rapidly degrades your battery life, use your old iPhone as a permanent handheld gaming console.
What have you used your old iPhone or mobile phone for? Let us know in the comments section below.