If you have some old phones collecting dust in a drawer somewhere, don’t sell them for a fraction of what you bought them for. If they still turn on, you can put them to good use in your home.
You could turn one into a baby monitor or a makeshift Google Home speaker, for example. Those are good ideas and you can find more in the link below, but one of the most useful ways to upcycle an old phone is to make it into a home security camera.
Step 1: Get a security camera app running on your old phone(s)
To begin, you will need to choose a security-camera app for your phone. Most apps offer many of the same features, such as local streaming, cloud streaming, recording and storing footage locally or remotely, and motion detection and alerts.
Once you’re set up, you will be able to monitor your living space and control your security camera from anywhere, straight from your new phone.
One of the best options for setting up your phone as a security camera is Alfred. It’s cross-platform, so it doesn’t matter if your old phone was an Android phone or iPhone. And the same goes for your new phone.
Alfred is free to use and gives you a remote view of your live feed, motion detection with alerts, free cloud storage, a two-way audio feed and use of both the front and rear cameras. To unlock additional features, like higher-resolution viewing and recording, zoom capabilities, ad removal and 30-day cloud storage, you can upgrade to Alfred Premium.
