MEPION

Once you upgrade to a new smartphone, do not let the previous one accumulate mud within the junk drawer. Listed here are six artistic concepts for placing that used (however nonetheless useful!) device to work. In case your old smartphone still works, think about using it as a second phone. A second telephone can serve a number of purposes: a knowledge backup in case your new phone dies or gets lost; a safer selection for 5 Step Formula camping journeys, beach outings, or different places the place your fancy new phone might get damaged; or even as an untraceable "burner" phone. To make use of the backup phone to make calls, it'll must be an unlocked telephone that means that you can swap out the cellphone's SIM card for a new phone quantity and calling plan. Since you'll only be using the backup telephone sometimes to make calls and ship texts, choose a "pay-as-you-go" plan that only charges you when you utilize the telephone.

These plans might be as cheap as $2 for each day you that you utilize them. In any other case, there's no cost for letting the phone sit idle for months. A second telephone will also be a helpful data backup in case your new cellphone runs on the identical operating system. Ensure the previous telephone is loaded with the identical apps and cloud entry as the new phone. That manner, should you lose the new cellphone or it breaks, you continue to have access to your whole cloud-primarily based contacts and 5 Step Formula pictures, and you won't fall behind in your favorite social media feeds. Should you need a second phone for added privacy and safety -- a quantity to make use of on courting websites or Craigslist, for instance -- flip the previous telephone into a "burner" machine by wiping and resetting it, and signing in as a new user with a new email deal with (hint: don't use your actual title!). With an app like Burner, you don't even should get a new SIM card with a brand new telephone quantity.

The app uses VoIP to assign you a temporary telephone quantity. You may even textual content from it. Each time you get in the automobile, you probably click your smartphone into a dashboard mount, plug in a power cord and fiddle round connecting to your stereo through Bluetooth. And 5 Step Formula then you need to disconnect all the things once more whenever you get out. Depending on how you utilize your phone in the car, you can save some hassle by turning your old telephone right into a devoted automotive stereo and GPS device. This would possibly not be as useful in case you make quite a lot of palms-free calls in the automobile and your outdated telephone doesn't have its personal lively calling plan. However in the event you primarily use the telephone for playing music and podcasts, and for real-time driving directions, this might assist. All it takes is a little preparation. Since your old cellphone shall be offline in the car (no entry to wifi or a cellular knowledge), you must preload it with music and podcasts in your own home, workplace or wherever else with a wifi connection.

Also, to make use of GPS you may have to upload maps to the telephone. CNET has an important checklist of map apps that can be preloaded for offline use. The perfect apps and maps price money, but it surely beats getting hopelessly misplaced in Tulsa. Do not spend cash on a baby monitor! There are lots of cool apps that may turn any smartphone digicam into an affordable baby monitor or even home safety digital camera. To make use of your old phone as a baby monitor, mount it within a number of ft of the child's crib and download an app like Dormi (Android) or Cloud Child Monitor (iOS). Both apps pair your old and new telephone so you can watch and hearken to the baby from anyplace. Features embrace alerts when the child is crying and the flexibility to speak remotely to the child by the phone. Presence is a free Android and iOS app that instantly turns your old telephone into a streaming video digicam accessible from any paired device.