I created an itunes account for my daughter when she was two months old. The phone stays on a charger in her room and is used for nothing but playing apple music when she's sleeping.
Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
11–20 of 61 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#12Old iPhones make excellent portable music players. Use them yourself in the patio, car, bathroom, etc.
Donate to others who would have a need.
I donated my favorite iPhone5s (the best iPhone ever) to my dedicated home helper (yeah ... they exist in this part of the world!)
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#13Depending on how old, sell them on eBay. They have okay resell value, you get money and keep a phone out of a landfill.
Every time I upgrade I sell my old phone on eBay. I keep my hardware in good shape and I’m often surprised at the resale value after 2-3 years. Feels great to recover some of the cost of the upgrade!
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#14I use my old phones as wireless IP security cameras with visual and audio triggers to capture the video, I also use them as backup 2FA devices.
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#15I use them. I've actually never bought a smart phone (nor gotten one for "free" due to some contract) because there seem to be so many people willing to stop using functional phones. Currently I'm using an iPhone 5c and don't have any upgrade plans anytime soon.
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#16I pass them down to my kids as iPod Touches. Then I mostly forget about the previous generation.
I'm hesitant to replace their iPhone 6's with our iPhone 7's. It doesn't feel like an upgrade. Our 7's have had issues since the beginning, and the headphone jack is very valuable to the kids.
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#17Old smartphones are good as security cameras: they have a nice camera and wi-fi of course, but also could be much better than traditional security cams as they also can have 3G/4G networking and a battery, in case power/internet is cut for example. They could also record or play sounds, like an alarm. I have an iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 doing that. However, it's not easy to find an app for such a use, I'm planning to open-source my custom one + setup.
However, BE CAREFUL, devices with batteries MAY BE DANGEROUS. I have had so many bulging/swollen batteries, even with devices just stored in a drawer. No incident or fires yet fortunately. So always keep an eye on them!
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#18Old smartphones are good as security cameras: they have a nice camera and wi-fi of course, but also could be much better than traditional security cams as they also can have 3G/4G networking and a battery, in case power/internet is cut for example. They could also record or play sounds, like an alarm. I have an iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 doing that. However, it's not easy to find an app for such a use, I'm planning to ope…
> Old smartphones are good as security cameras
They don't get updates and are not secure to be used as network connected security cameras.
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#19Old smartphones are good as security cameras: they have a nice camera and wi-fi of course, but also could be much better than traditional security cams as they also can have 3G/4G networking and a battery, in case power/internet is cut for example. They could also record or play sounds, like an alarm. I have an iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 doing that. However, it's not easy to find an app for such a use, I'm planning to ope…
Consider storing devices with lipo batteries in a lipo bag. And always keep a powder extinguisher ready.
Re: Ask HN: How do you make good use of old iPhones?
#20This might be quite UK centric and is a very dry answer but old smartphones should be donated to asylum seekers.
I remember reading an article a year or so ago about how asylum live on the welfare afforded to them and their phone bills (a necessary expense) were a huge chunk of it, basically all of them paying well more than I do on my PAYG for similar service. What I see must be the issue is that, without a phone of their own, the cheapest short term option is to sign up for an option that provides a phone.
This immediately limits them from the ultra low budget GiffGaff/Asda/etc type options and will very frequently tie them down to a much less budget friendly carrier if not straight into a contract.