Smartly reuse your old smartphone! Don't scrap it

The upgrade cycle for smartphones has reduced over time. Nowadays every year with millions of phones shipping to India, people buy a new phone almost every year, some even buy in six months too. But if you purchased a new phone, it doesn't mean that your old one has to go to scrap.

You can try using your old smartphone in these smart ways:

1. As a home security camera

If it is possible for you to keep your phone plugged in for charging perennially, it can be used as a surveillance camera. Apps like IP Webcam and AtHome Camera make use of the phone's camera to stream video from one phone to another. So that means you can use your old phone to keep an eye on activities in your home. This will be helpful for those with children, pets and more. You need to ensure that it's on charge continuously as the apps keep the phone's camera on all the time.

2. As a universal remote

If your old phone had an infra-red (IR) blaster, it could perhaps operate many appliances in your house. Like Xiaomi's phones have in-built remote support. You can use them to operate AC, TVs and more. It's a superb idea to minimise the number of physical remotes you need to handle.

The phone needs the respective dedicated apps to fill the role of the remote, the devices such as smart air purifiers, Amazon's Fire TV stick, etc.

3. Control your PC with it

You will be surprised to know that an app called Unified Remote can convert your phone into a wireless controller for your PC. It works with Windows, Mac and Linux-based computers and offers different functionalities.

You can also use your phone as a wireless keyboard and mouse for your PC, accessing the file manager, mirroring the PC's screen and many things.

You need to use Chrome Remote Desktop for remote access to your PC through your phone.

4. Use it as a dash-cam

For this, you need a high-end phone or at least a good camera phone and video stabilisation. You only need to find a way to prop up the phone on your car's dashboard and put it on the video recording mode. Here you go, now you have a dash-cam.