Q: I have a drawer full of old smartphones and don鈥檛 know what I should do with them. Any suggestions?
A: This has become a very common scenario for most households and even more so if there are lots of people in your family.
Unless you sell it outright, you basically have four choices to choose from: repurpose, donate, trade-in or recycle it.
Repurposing options
Just because a smartphone no longer has a cellular connection does not mean it becomes useless.
Connecting the device via Wi-Fi makes it fully functional for a variety of uses, such as a webcam, media player, gaming, streaming video, baby monitor or just about anything you typically use it for.
If there are younger children in your life, an old smartphone can be a great first device, because they typically don鈥檛 need a cellular connection. It鈥檚 also a less expensive way to teach them how to take care of mobile electronics and combined with parental controls, a way to help them learn how to manage usage.
Any new parent wants some form of baby monitor, which can easily be created with an old smartphone that stays plugged in to power and mounted near the baby鈥檚 crib.
There are numerous apps that provide great functionality for turning old smartphones into security or baby monitoring cameras including , and .
Donation options
Smartphones, even if they don鈥檛 work, can be a valuable donation for a number of organizations.
is a national nonprofit that was started by a couple of teenagers that heard of soldiers returning from combat with huge cellphone bills.
works with more than 4,000 organizations that you can choose for your donation.
works with a network of law enforcement and victims services groups and can make use of nonworking phones as well.
If you鈥檇 like to donate to something more global, uses old phones, tablets and accessories to fund their international health worker initiatives.
Trade-in options
Start with your current cellular provider to see if they have a trade-in program if you鈥檙e in the market for a new device.
You can get a good idea what your device might be worth as a trade-in through sites like , , and .
Recycling options
If none of the other options work for you, please do not throw the device in with your trash as it鈥檚 filled with toxic materials.
I鈥檇 recommend looking for a local recycling program in your area first to avoid having to ship it out.
If nothing is available locally, groups like , the and can help you properly dispose of your old devices.
Security wipe first
If your device still powers up, make sure you perform a factory reset to wipe out all of your personal information. If you don鈥檛 know how it鈥檚 done, do a Google search for “factory reset on (name of your device).”
