So if anybody wants a solution they won’t have to scour the internet for what are essentially the same uses over and over again
Here’s a short list I made through searching this sub and other threads+articles:
#WARNING: Keeping your phone constantly plugged into the charger for long periods of time may cause the battery to swell up and potentially explode
#WARNING: Keeping the screen on constantly on a phone with an OLED screen will likely cause burn-in eventually
Keep it as a backup phone
Dedicated camera
Dedicated music player (especially LG phones with qDAC)
Baby/pet monitor
Use it as a smart doorbell
Use it to record POVs akin to GoPros
Smart Home controller
Bedside alarm clock
Universal remote
Remote PC controller
Help science by lending your phones power for research
Dedicated eReader
Dedicated gaming machine
Webcam
Dedicated car phone for GPS etc
Dashcam
Digital photo frame
Education tool for kids
Video call device
Wifi extender/hotspot
Host a media server on it (Plex etc)
Host a normal server on it (c. /u/3Werve)
Timelapse camera
Give it to kids
PC Statistics (CPU, GPU usage)
Wireless adapter for wired controllers
Kitchen recipe guide
PC Monitor
Macro pad for PC
White noise machine
Disassemble and make an art piece out of it
Experimentation (e.g trying out apps or ROMs)
Dedicated chat device (Whatsapp, Telegram etc) (c. /u/utakatikmobil)
Cast Receiver (c. /u/Substantial_Berry_14)
m3u IPTV player (c. Substantial_Berry_14)
###No uses fit you?
Donate it
Recycle it
Sell it
I may link to examples or guides but for now im a bit too lazy. Googling should be enough, if not add site:reddit.com to the end of your query
And if the reason you don’t need it anymore is that it’s no longer supported by the manufacturer, you can try reloading it with lineageOS or similar alternative ROMs to get some extra life out of it
I’ve considered using mine as a camera for a fixed install before, but the battery swelling thing is kinda scary. Doesn’t help that a lot of modern phones don’t seem to work without a battery installed, and that they often use ribbon connectors or other awkward setups internally. (so no just soldering a fixed power adapter to some pins)
Does anybody happen to know a software way of limiting charge to, say, 50%? I’m wondering if that’d help, as you’d at least be keeping the battery outside of the range where it’s hardest to shove more power into it.
I wonder if you could have the charger plugged into a timer (like the kind you use for making lights go on and off when you’re not home) so that it only charges long enough to keep it in the happy 20-80% zone? Surely some clever timing could make it work. Only keep it on long enough to charge up 60% (from 20 to 80), and have it off long enough that it drains down to 20%.
…that’s a thought. Now I’m wondering if I could scavenge a smart power plug/strip somewhere and do a bit of programming to automate things that way. A project for later, maybe – ended up picking up a few old webcams and they’re doing the job so far.
Seconding this - any way to run a phone off a constant outside power source without eventually exploding it would really boost the utility of using them in in-place installations. On phones where you can remove the battery (few and far between now) can you run them just off a charger? It’s been awhile since I had my old Droid open, I’ll have to try it.
I haven’t had any luck running any of the phones I’ve had open like that (a Redmi 9T and a few Sony phones), but it’s worth a try.
You can probably solder the wires from a suitable power adapter to the internal battery connector pins if your phone still uses those, though you may also need a resistor in-line somewhere to trick it into thinking there’s a healthy battery installed.
Make sure you get a proper adapter for the task if you go down this route. Some people recommend just chopping up a phone charger, but putting 5V on a circuit that expects ~4.3V at max sounds like a bad idea to me.
Is pretty cool to run some light server software on them.
In some places your disconnected cellphone can still be used to call emergency services, which can make them good for the car, workshops, etc.
I use my OG pixel phone plus syncthing for unlimited photo and video backup on Google photos. Think I’m going to move away from this soon though, trying to slowly get away from Google.
Hey great to see another pixel
Pixel 4a here
I used my old Droid mini as a video player in my workshop (I like to watch long-form let’s plays while I work). I screwed it’s case to a shelf and slipped it back inside, and plugged an old computer speaker into its audio jack. I’d like to also use it as an intercom to the apartment (like the ones my grandparents used to to connect my grandfather’s workshop to the kitchen) but we haven’t set up anything for that yet.
Any ideas on how to turn an android smartphone into a linux server? Like, use it to self host some apps like. Apologies if that’s linked already.
I use mine as a gaming handheld
I’ve got my last three phones still in use around the house.
Run my own VoIP server, and all of them have soft phone apps and are part of a ring group.
They also have pinned PWAs for HomeAssiatant and Emby to act as remote controls.
Excellent! Does anyone have any tutorials on how to make a static web page that works on a cell phone over termux?
I would also be interested to know if anyone knows if it is possible to mount directories with NFS using termux.
I’ve had an idea for awhile to create a video wall out of a bunch of old cell phones. Kind of like what they’ve done here with raspberry pies. Probably just an art piece, but I think it would look really cool.
