Repurpose Your Old iPhone

So you've taken the plunge and upgraded to a new iPhone. Now, what do you do with your old iPhone? Of course, you could sell it, or pass it on to a friend or family member. Or you could just keep it as a backup in case something happens to your new phone.

For my part, I like to put my old technology to work. Without cellular service, your old iPhone makes a perfectly functional iPod Touch.

Converting your iPhone to iPod duty is fairly simple. Some web sites suggest that you restore the iPhone before reuse. I have found that this is not needed if you are going to continue using the iPhone on the same computer.

The new iPhones use a different SIM card than the old, so your carrier will deactivate the old card. It's best to leave the old card in the phone, otherwise, the phone will periodically pester you about its absence. If you need the old card for some other reason, the phone will work fine without it, you just have to put up with the occasional reminders. If you do decide to restore the phone before use, you will need a SIM card in the phone to complete the restore process. You can remove it once the restore is completed.

When you are ready to go, just connect the phone to you computer with a USB cable and start up iTunes. Your phone will appear in the side bar as usual.  If your old phone has the same name as your new phone, you will want to rename the old phone so that you don't get the two mixed up. Just click once on the name of the phone to highlight it, and a second time so that you can edit the name. This is not a double click, but two distinct clicks with a pause in between. Just type the new name and hit enter.

Next, you should delete any unwanted applications to free up space. Click the apps tab, then go through the list and uncheck any apps that you don't want. Then click sync. If you want, click the music tab and add some music. Disconnect the phone, then open the Settings app. To save your battery, turn on Airplane mode. This turns off all of the phone's radios, cellular, GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi. This will make your battery last substantially longer. You will probably want to use WiFi, and fortunately you can turn just WiFi back on while in Airplane mode. If you need to use Bluetooth or GPS, you can turn Airplane mode off temporarily. Another advantage from being in Airplane mode is that the phone won't constantly be reminding you that it can't connect to the cellular network.

So what are some good uses for your new "iPod"? Unless you are retiring a recent iPhone, the old iPhone won't have the capabilities of a newer iPod Touch, but it will make a fine music player. You can play all but the more recent and demanding games. If you have an Apple TV, the Remote app will make you old phone a far better remote than the original Apple TV remote. Are you a Keynote user? Keynote Remote turns your phone into a terrific graphical remote for making Keynote presentations. Add Tune in Radio, or the CBC Music app (Canada only) to stream music. Magic Trackpad makes your phone into a trackpad to use with your Mac or PC.

Basically anything that you can do with an older iPod touch is fair game. Have fun!