6 Smart and Sustainable Ideas For Retiring Your Old Smartphone

You can make use of your old smartphone even when it does. Not have a cell signal. As long as this phone can connect to WiFi, you can still access the internet with it. There are many other things that you can do with your old phone including trading it in, selling it, or repurposing it. Your. The old phone may turn out to be more useful than you thought therefore do not just leave it hanging around in the house.

If your old phone is in a bad condition that it cannot be reused, you can dispose of it. However, you should not just dispose of the phone in the garbage because phones contain toxic substances which can cause water pollution if they landed in a water source. These phones can also harm the people who work in the garbage collection industry. To avoid this, it is better to recycle your phone with companies that recycle phones. You can search if there are such companies close to you.

Here are some ideas on how you can retire your old phone:

Use the Phone as a Security Camera or Baby Monitor

You can make use of your old phone as a form of the home security system. To do this, the phone should be able to connect to WiFi and have a good camera. To keep an eye on your home using your old mobile phone, you need to download video applications and allow it to automatically accept video calls when you call it. This will enable you to check on the state of your home when you need to.

There are other apps that you can use on your phone if you want a more sophisticated security system. The trick is to place the phone in a good location where you want to check and test it to confirm that it is working. You can also use the old phone as a baby monitor which will help you to check on your baby when they are asleep. You will get alerts when your baby starts crying and you can soothe them back to sleep from your phone.

E-Book Reader

If you have an old phone lying idle in the house, you can turn it into an E-Book reader. The condition for your phone to serve as an E-Book Reader is having the ability to connect to WiFi. The phone should also have an application that facilitates the reading of different types of documents. If your phone meets these criteria, you can either download the E-Book material and read it when you are offline or read the material when you are connected to the phone.

Donate the Phone

If you do not have a use for your old phone, you can donate it to support a good cause. There is someone who can still make use of your phone even when it seems useless to you. Some army organizations take up old phones to help soldiers to have free talk time or help to support other veterans. You can then buy your next phone that has the features that you are looking for after you donate the old one. There is no better feeling than upgrading your phone.

Alarm Clock

You can also use your old phone as an alarm clock. If your phone already has an alarm clock, that is an added advantage. If your old phone does not have an alarm clock, all you need to do is to download one from the AppStore when connected to WiFi. You can then position the phone next to your bed on a stand and set the alarm for the next day. When the alarm goes off in the morning, you can switch it off or snooze it. With some applications, you can also use your phone to monitor your sleep at night.

As a Source of Entertainment

If your phone has sufficient space, you can download songs and videos and store them on the phone. You can then use the phone to entertain yourself when you are in the shower, pool, or even on a road trip. Your phone can also become a source of entertainment for your children. 

You can download games for them to play or children’s videos to entertain them. This will help to spare the charge of your new phone for others like making YouTube videos for your online business. This is an effective way of utilizing your resources.

GPS Navigator

If you have an old phone that can connect to WiFi, you can use it to find directions when you are traveling. Once you connect to WiFi, you can download the GPS application or Google Maps from the AppStore of the phone. This is very convenient because you do not have to keep disconnecting your new phone when traveling to answer phone calls or reply to messages.

Camera for Your Children

An old phone can also help your children to take photos. All it needs is a good camera. Your children will learn how to take photos using this old device and, therefore, when you buy them a good phone it will be easy for them to operate it.

In summary, you can repurpose your old phone instead of letting it just lie in the house idle. Some of the uses of an old phone include an alarm, baby monitor, GPS navigator, or entertainment. You can also donate the phone for a good course.