I kept my old phone (an AT&T-locked Samsung Galaxy S7) going for 10 years, replacing the battery midway through and using it well into unsupported territory. I like to keep things working as long as I can within reason, and I also know that this phone is destined to become e-waste as soon as I get rid of it.
But with more apps losing support, and electronics prices on the rise, it felt like now was finally the time to upgrade (to a refurbished Pixel 8 Pro). So I got a new phone…
Still, I don’t want my old locked Galaxy S7 phone to go to waste just yet while it’s still roughly working!
So does anyone have any idea of things that I can do to reuse or repurpose my old phone?
I have some ideas in mind myself, but I’m curious what you all think and if anyone has experience with repurposing old phones in interesting or useful ways.
A dedicated home phone.
Dashcam.
Security cam.
Offline in-car map navigation.
Contribute to science research by letting your phone process data https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/
Personally I prefer to give mine to charities that help women escape domestic violence households and need help setting up their lives again. Many leave with nothing, including their phones which are usually being tracked by their abuser. Have a look around to find one, or a local homeless shelter. Or, if you’re worried it will become ewaste, send it to a recycling centre - many parts can be stripped out and made into new products.
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I put LineageOS on my old phone, put adblockers on it and added a few streaming sites to the home screen and gave it to my parents to use as stream caster to their smart TV. They freaking love it. “How is this free?! We’re cancelling Netflix!”
A lot of streaming sites are getting shut down left and right, sadly.
They’ve always been a fly by night type thing.
turn it into a webcam with a little web server thing on it so you can look at it and watch it freeze all the time because it actually kind of sucks
Maybe make it a display for a Klipper 3d print server.
You can use an app like X Server XSDL and then cut off all wireless (if you connect it with a cable, which you need to do anyway to charge it)
Have security vulnerabilities
I used an old phone with a broken screen as a webcam since covid untill it totally broke recently.
However it needed some stars to align; I had a 3D printer to make a custom holder so it could sit on my monitor unobtrusively. I also luckily had a phone with a built in method to limit the battery charging so it could be plugged in 24/7. I was able to disable all power saving and permission features, so the app could run 24/7 without being killed by android.
I used droidcam, which works with an OBS plugin nowadays. I got it to the point that I just needed to launch OBS and my webcam was on, no touching or fiddling with the phone at all.
Put some useful data in a web page (weather, traffic, stocks, whatever), keep it open in the phone web browser. Glue some magnets on the back of the phone and stick it to the fridge.
I do this by running a MagicMirror server on my media server, and Fully Kiosk browser on the phone / tablet. It’s pretty handy in the kitchen, as we’re all in there in the morning :)
you could always use it for some tech experiments! there’s lots of examples out there. retro gaming console, home server, run your own AI model (at least better than using big tech!), etc
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I’m more suggesting it as an experiment, not a full force state-of-the-art agent. Could be a great way to learn a new skill
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I always just hang on to them in case somebody breaks or loses theirs.
By the way, I’m all out of old phones and my son’s is busted, so if you don’t know anyone who could use it…
Dedicated mp3 Player?
A Galaxy S7 is still fairly powerful. It should be able to do everything a phone does. Put LineageOS if you need a more recent android version. Are you on a bootloader permalocked variant?
Use it as a security camera.
TV remote
Media streamer
Media player with apps like media monkey
I use mine as an MP3 player. I put Finamp on it, loaded it with music, and listen during the day.
