I use a iPhone 7 for mobile gaming and web browsing, but what do you use your old iPhones for today
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Other What have you done with a pre iOS 26 compatible iPhone
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I recently unearthed my OG iPhone 16GB (along with 30-pin charging cable) while cleaning up. It gives an error when connecting to wifi so I reckon its only use now is alarm clock and calculator. It does have books loaded on Stanza but after getting used to retina displays, the resolution is just awful for use as ereader.
Our semi-recent phones are unlockable so they get used with local SIM during travel.
Our semi-recent phones are unlockable so they get used with local SIM during travel.
My OGSE is on iOS 15.8 and my 8 is on iOS 16.7, both are fully updated.
I tend to use my 8 when I am in bed so I can watch something quietly (NFL highlights at the moment) while trying to get to sleep.
My OGSE is a media streaming device on Netflix, Prime and Disney+ if I am wanting to watch something with earphones in while my partner is watching something else on TV.
I do watch media on my 17 Pro however I tend to use other devices so I can do web-browsing or instant-messaging while I am watching something on another device.
The OGSE’s retina screen is so good that my partner recently looked at the screen and was shocked at how sharp the image was for such an old phone. The screen clarity is pretty much the same as my 17 Pro albeit the colors are more washed out given that it’s an LCD rather than a OLED panel. It still looks great to this day though.
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Ah, let's see…
Right now, no current use for my 3GS, my 4 and my 4s. I'm waiting on ideas to use them
Both my iPhone 5 and my wife's iPhone 5 are serving as occasional speakers (through AirFoil Satellite) for my Mac Pro, as well as 'stereo' sound for the Westminister Chimes app (on the quarter hour).
My 6+ is intended to be the music streamer on my bicycle, if I ever get back on to it. In the meantime it's for anything I need it to be for.
My Pixel 3a XL is for anything I need it for, and anything an Android can do that my iPhones won't necessarily be able to do easily.
My 6s+ is my secondary line and goes with me peroiodically.
My 11 Pro Max is my primary phone. <-- Oh, but it's on the iOS 26.1 dev beta, so maybe not what you were asking.
Right now, no current use for my 3GS, my 4 and my 4s. I'm waiting on ideas to use them
Both my iPhone 5 and my wife's iPhone 5 are serving as occasional speakers (through AirFoil Satellite) for my Mac Pro, as well as 'stereo' sound for the Westminister Chimes app (on the quarter hour).
My 6+ is intended to be the music streamer on my bicycle, if I ever get back on to it. In the meantime it's for anything I need it to be for.
My Pixel 3a XL is for anything I need it for, and anything an Android can do that my iPhones won't necessarily be able to do easily.
My 6s+ is my secondary line and goes with me peroiodically.
My 11 Pro Max is my primary phone. <-- Oh, but it's on the iOS 26.1 dev beta, so maybe not what you were asking.
I use my iPhone 10XR to control my home theater equipment. Its browser controls my processor settings, and the iOS remote app controls my Apple TV. The phone also hosts the Sonos app which controls music streaming. I have a charging stand on the table next to my easy chair to keep the phone charged.
iPhone 5s space grey and the iPhone XR I have given them away after upgrade.
I keep my 7 as it has so much of my late grandparents photos and so much high school memories on it that couldn’t be backed up into iCloud, and to take pictures of my iPhone 15 pro in cases
I use an iPhone 6s on iOS 10, another 6s on iOS 13, and an iPhone 8 on iOS 14 for music. As long as they are compatible with Apple Music and they have enough storage to download 2,000-3,000 songs, it’s fine. Battery life is great on the 6s on iOS 10 and the iPhone 8. Even for music, I have to recharge the 6s on iOS 13 mid-afternoon if I play music via a speaker since the morning. This is downloaded music, on Airplane Mode, on standby. Garbage.
I love the 4.7-inch design, even if it looks “outdated” at this point.
I have an iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 I have no current use for. I have thousands of pictures so I sometimes boot it to look at them. I have an iPhone 5c on iOS 10 that is so pathetic that it isn’t worth the time it takes to boot.
My main iPhone is an iPhone 16 Plus on iOS 18.
I love the 4.7-inch design, even if it looks “outdated” at this point.
I have an iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 I have no current use for. I have thousands of pictures so I sometimes boot it to look at them. I have an iPhone 5c on iOS 10 that is so pathetic that it isn’t worth the time it takes to boot.
My main iPhone is an iPhone 16 Plus on iOS 18.
My dream iPhone for music is a 1st-gen SE on iOS 10. I’d buy it today if I found one.
I have lost two previous iPhones due to damage, but I do still have my old iPhone 6. I actually use it as an iPod, listening to music. That way when I bike, if I drop the my music player, I don't have to worry about it being my new iPhone. Works pretty well as an iPod though.
Ah, the good old days of the home button. Something to me that says simplicity, of course with the downsides, being space used in the frame, tough for cold, wet hands with gloves, etc.
Yeah, you know, while those drawbacks do exist, the real-world incidence of those issues for me is negligible. I do like using my home-button iPhones and my 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
They’re the Classic Apple design, and I’ll use them for as long as possible.
Sure, I love the full-screen design of these days, especially on iPads, but I still love the home button devices I have.
I’ll continue using these devices until Netflix, Prime, Disney+, and YouTube are no longer compatible. That’ll be the final nail in the coffin, rendering these units as useful as a doorstop. At that point, they’ll be permanently retired in their original boxes.
I have a 13 on iOS 26 with a fresh battery, which will serve as my secondary WiFi-only media device once iOS 15/16 are completely phased out.
Y’all ever use your old iPhones to do photography of your current iPhones in cases or product shots?
Also to run older App Store apps or discontinued ones too!
Also to run older App Store apps or discontinued ones too!
Haha, yep. Most of my photographs on here, such as the pictures of my 17 Pro, were taken by my 8 and OGSE.
Yeah, that’s a bit of a massive shame. There’s no reason why those apps should ever stop working.
I absolutely love my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 but it’s so incompatible that it has pretty much been off since I upgraded.
That said, however, with two main iPads (Air 5 and 11th-gen iPad (A16)) it’s not like I would use it even if it were compatible.
I do love my first combo ever (iPhone 6s and 9.7-inch iPad Pro, bought the same day. My previous devices were purchased separately), but they’re running iOS 10 and 12 respectively. Usability is too limited.
I can’t use seven or eight devices at once though. The other issue is that I need to take advantage of my newest devices as much as possible, so I prioritise using them as much as I can.
Hopefully your devices have a very long lifespan. I use an iPhone 8 on iOS 14 for music and I hope to use it for years on end. I have a certain nostalgia about the 4.7-inch iPhones. I haven’t used one as a main in six years now.
I’m keeping my red iPhone 7 as long as it’s still useful. It won’t be recycled by Apple because of all the photos and memories it holds. Plus, I need a second camera for product photography and iPhone 15 pro case shots.
I still have my iPad mini 1 in my dresser, which is amazing considering it’s eleven years old! It started me on Apple.
That one’s has no use since no game or app is compatible with it, especially since it crashes while I play Roblox. Even on simple games. It can’t be used for sidecar either because its last version is iOS 9.3 (really pre-iPadOS era), so it’s still sitting there. I’m planning to back up its photos to my MacBook Pro, put it in recovery mode, and restore it when the next Apple Earth Day promo comes so it can be laid to rest and recycled.
When I need a bigger screen for my work and games, my Mac is always there for me.
My iPhone 15 pro I’ll keep it until it is DONE! And same goes with my MBP (well, of course as opencore is axed anyway after macOS Tahoe changed the way of running macOS version on Intel Macs)
I agree. My old OG iPad Mini, on iOS 9, ran Netflix fine up until 2022 which was when it lost all support. It’s now back in its box and will likely never be used again. I guess it’s only usable for internal iOS applications such as Apple Music, Podcasts and FaceTime. Everything else, even basic web-browsing, is incompatible.
I tend to use my older tech because, once they’re redundant, they’ll be useless to me. My 8 is getting a lot of use now because it’s still a great performer on iOS 16 in 2025. I had a battery replacement carried out by Apple just over a year ago and it’s already down to 92% battery health because I use it so much. It’s my main WiFi only device and I do use it for a lot of TV shows on various apps which are presently all fully supported.
I have no intention of upgrading my 17 Pro for at least 5 years so my 13 will eventually become my secondary WiFi only device. I reckon iOS 15 has less than a year of third-party app support and iOS 16 has 2 years so there’s still a little bit of life in my old tech.
I have a pristine 6S with a new-ish OEM battery fitted by Apple (97% battery health) which I really like because it was my first iPhone. I can’t really use it though because it’ll last only 2.5-3 hours on WiFi which is pathetic. My OGSE is fine and can do upwards of 4+ hours of SOT despite having a smaller battery. The 6S is back in its box now but I might bring it out again for a few months in the near future.
As a second camera it is cool! Also for music like I use the iPhone 8 on iOS 14. That will probably work forever. I pretty much don’t use the camera on the Xʀ however. I grab that one to browse my pictures and a little MacRumors sometimes (as it still works perfectly on iOS 12 - and 10, last I tried).
I don’t have much use for a second camera myself, so the Xʀ is sadly mostly unused, even if I would like to use it. For some games I just use the iPhone 8 too.
Thing is, there is obviously a massive overlap between my main iPhone (a 16 Plus) and the others, so it leaves the older iPhones relegated to some specific functions.
I use them for music, a second camera, some games, and there’s not much else. I have the same issue with the internal “competition” between my Air 5 and my 11th-gen iPad. Since standby battery life is so poor on the Air 5 even though it is on iPadOS 15 (its original version), I prefer to keep it off instead of watching it be drained by standby inefficiencies.
The iPad Mini 1 on iOS 9 is completely unusable for me. A family member has one and I just cannot tolerate its performance. If I don’t update current, 64-bit iPhones do as not to lose performance and battery life, the Mini 1 is definitely intolerable for me. Even with full compatibility I wouldn’t use one. Basic functions like (yes!) sliding to unlock are so slow and laggy that I don’t even have the patience for that. It crashes a lot and when it doesn’t it’s so laggy that I can’t tolerate it. The lightest games and apps crash it, so it’s no surprise it crashes too for you.
My similar device in terms of processing power is an iPod Touch 5G… flawlessly running iOS 6.0.
Those devices if updated aren’t worth the materials with which they are built. It’s so pathetic, I don’t understand how Apple’s software division ever approved those updates. The iPhone 4s on iOS 9 is yet a another piece of garbage.
As I told @goldmac2006, I don’t know how you, considering you have an iPhone 17 Pro, can remotely tolerate the absolute garbage that are 32-bit devices fully updated. As I said, they aren’t worth their value in materials.
Yes, this is what bothers me about my usage overlapping between devices. I know I HAVE to use my older devices before they are unusable and I just can’t because I don’t have a usage pattern wide enough to accommodate them. My Air 5 has 63 cycles in three years, ridiculous.
Sure, my 9.7-inch iPad Pro is fully unused now, but that’s one doesn’t bother me as much. Not only it is my only “main” device that’s updated, but I also used it pretty significantly up until last year. That makes it NINE years. I took advantage of it and now it’s time to use the others.
That said, I’m a bit shocked by that health drop. You probably use it far more than me (I’ve added about 37 cycles in 5.75 months for a monthly average of 6.43 cycles. It has almost 2300).
92% in a year is a LOT. How many cycles do you have?
I think it’s great that you can take advantage of a great device like the iPhone 8 and hopefully you can use it for many years to come.
The good thing about that usage pattern is that battery life just stops mattering. My iPhone 8 runs iOS 14 and battery life is good (and health is amazing for nearly 2300 cycles, at 76%). I use it for music several hours a day and typically charge it with 70-75%. Just once per day is enough. The 6s on iOS 13, with the same usage, needs a recharge in the middle of the day. It’s ridiculous.
Yeah, my Xʀ could actually become my Music iPhone, but not only would I have to clear some 20-25GB of storage for that (my 128GB Xʀ has about 18GB left), but also standby battery life is quite poor, so the drain would be explained more by standby than by usage. The 8 is fine on iOS 14. The Xʀ has always been poor. My 16 Plus on iOS 18 is amazing. I don’t know why. It runs and has always been on iOS 12.
I think you’re being massively conservative with that estimation. You have far more than a year on iOS 15 and two on iOS 16 if you have a non-main usage pattern and can circumvent issues with other devices like your 17 Pro.
As I said, I’m not surprised. Apple killed battery life on the 6s after iOS 13. iOS 12 severely affected it and iOS 13 finished it off. As I also said, new batteries help up to a point but they can’t correct the massive software inefficiency. My 6s on iOS 10 is flawless. I use the one on iOS 13 because it has more storage, and like I said, eventually battery life just doesn’t matter as much anymore.
I reckon there’s also a LOT of overlap between your 6s, 1st-gen SE, 8, and 13. I have a similar lineup: 6s, 6s, 8, and Xʀ.
How do you distribute usage between these devices? Do you swap? How are you currently using the 13? Is it on iOS 26?
I used my iPad Mini mainly for Netflix, as videos are videos and it ran everything smoothly. Occasionally, I’d use the Podcast and Apple Music apps. The battery was incredibly good, even on iOS 9. I wouldn’t dare use it for anything else though because, as you said, it was utter garbage.
I don’t really pay attention to battery cycles and don’t have Coconut Battery or any other third-party app to give me an accurate count. I tend to charge my 8’s battery once a day, from around 50% to 100%, using a 12W charging pad. I didn’t expect it to drop to 92% battery health so quickly, though. It doesn’t affect my usage as the 8’s SoT is well over 4 hours and I only really use it for video streaming and web browsing.
I hope so! The last proper iOS update (15.8) was in 2023, so I hope I have underestimated how long they’ll be supported by third-party apps.
I’m surprised that despite the 6S’s battery life being obliterated, the OGSE is still fairly usable.
The use-case overlap between my 6S, OGSE, and 8 is pretty much absolute given I only use these devices for web-browsing, Apple Music, Podcasts and, most importantly, video steaming via Disney+, Netflix, Prime and YouTube.
I usually swap them out after 4 to 5 months of continual use. However, I’m really enjoying my 8. I use it while I’m in bed to watch something before falling asleep. The LCD panel is also the dimmest, which is perfect for that purpose. I have 2 legacy iPhones in use as my WiFi only devices at any one time since I don’t really use iPads, PCs or laptops. A small exception is my iPad Mini 4 on iOS 15.8 which runs poorly (given the A8 chip inside) however can stream all media like a champ. I don’t use it very often anymore though.
My 13 is no longer in use and has been returned to its box. I’ve updated it to iOS 26, which surprisingly runs well. It also has a brand new OEM battery with 100% battery health. I don’t plan to use it until the 6S/OGSE are truly obsolete and no longer being cycled in and out of use.
Yeah, maybe just for videos those devices work. Battery life is also decent on those iOS devices so if performance is good enough to just open the app and play videos then it might work. Still, with newer devices I wouldn’t even tolerate that. The Mini 4 that you have may run poorly, but it surely runs circles around the 1st-gen Mini. Still, the A8 was quite underpowered for iOS 15. It should’ve been dropped sooner. That’s probably true for most iOS devices pre-iPhone 8, however. And if we’re are mentioning battery life I’d even go newer than that. Maybe the Xʀ/Xs, well, the A12 Bionic devices remain half-decent on iOS 18. iOS 26 is killing everything so it just ends there. The iPhone 8 on iOS 14 is like-new. iOS 16 is probably worse but how much I can’t tell you. If you get 5 hours with low brightness, then maybe I can get 7-8, so 25% worse or so? Nothing unusable, in any case.
I’ve long intended to run a battery life test on my iPhone 8 on iOS 14. Considering it doesn’t last very long (7-8 hours of SOT isn’t much. I get 16 on the Xʀ and 27 on my 16 Plus), maybe I’ll run one and let you know.
Yeah, it’s like I said earlier, even with poor battery life, devices remain usable because battery life isn’t as needed anymore. 4-5 hours is decent and usable.
Yeah, I’m guessing you have. I hope you have, as I have an Air 5 on iPadOS 15 that is too new and too powerful to start struggling.
To be fair, the 1st-gen SE has practically 6s Plus-like battery life on iOS 9 and 10. Not quite there, but close. It is not surprising that it maintains some kind of advantage over the regular 6s, even if it is now unremarkable. Even 5-6 hours would be rather poor with low brightness content consumption. It was around 9-10 on iOS 9.
Yeah, I have the same experience. They overlap so it’s tough to use all of them.
Yeah, that’s a good way of keeping your devices usable for as long as possible. The Xʀ goes really dim, I think it is dimmer than both the 8 and the “1 nit brightness” 16 Plus. I didn’t activate reduce white point on the latter, however.
I never liked Apple pushing iPads more than iPhones. My theory has always been that they can’t kill battery life more on iPhones and they wait until iPads are similarly poor (9.7-inch iPad Pro on iPadOS 16: garbage; 10.5-inch iPad Pro on iPadOS 17, garbage battery life too)z
That makes a lot of sense, and that, I guess, is the advantage of updating. When battery life drops and it doesn’t matter the importance of compatibility increases.
With the use I give them however, updating now would be pointless. I doubt I’d use my Xʀ more if it were fully updated in spite of its current lack of compatibility.
It’s funny that we both have our newest secondary iPhones as the least-used iPhones. I don’t plan to change my approach: my main secondary iPhone will remain my iPhone 8, I really love it. The final 4.7-inch flagship ever. It’s just perfect. Good storage for music (64GB, more than enough for me), good (like-new) battery life, completely smooth performance, good compatibility. Just the whole package that I need for a secondary phone. And I also get to use the classic iPhone design.
As many posters in this thread, I am also one who never sells his old iPhones🙂
I don’t have any old iPhones in working condition except from 4 that finds no use. My main phone is 11 Pro on iOS 17, I am not planning to trash it with neither 18 nor 26, I hope browser works for long enough for me to decide on new phone which I would like to upgrade to.
But I have two old iPad Air devices - 1 and 2 from 2013 and 2014 respectively. And they are still kinda usable for light browsing and watching movies off pirate websites. I had also done some impossible thing, since I hate Minecraft after it was destroyed by stupid Microsoft and after this idiotic 1.17 or 1.18 update (which coincidentally made it impossible to play on neither of my old iPads), I downloaded old IPAs with old iTunes version, Windows 7 and Charles that helped me to change some protocols. Not sure if method still works but with it you can get all old app versions for any app you want. I was able to download many of these old Minecraft versions for backup but installed only one that is my favorite - 1.8 Bedrock. It runs very good on this old iPad. So whenever I want to play the old game (I do it rarely), I have it on this tablet. Same for 1st gen but there I installed even earlier version (1.6 or 1.5, I don’t remember).
Also I have all three GTAs installed on my Air 2. Ironically we haven’t evolved past that and there is still no GTA IV port for iOS, so no use for new iPhone’s power. As if development of tech stopped in 2013.
The second-gen iPad Air still supports the all-new iPad Instagram app, works about fine, laggy but enough to watch few fun videos. Reddit also works, lags a bit but enough to read subreddits from time to time.
I also have 6s that malfunctioned some time ago (weird reboots and battery), I am afraid motherboard is damaged but maybe it is just a dead battery. I had an idea to revive it with a new battery but not sure it is worth the hassle, thought I like that camera doesn’t overprocess as much as my current 11 Pro which can be ideal for some scenarios, though night performance is atrocious
I don’t have any old iPhones in working condition except from 4 that finds no use. My main phone is 11 Pro on iOS 17, I am not planning to trash it with neither 18 nor 26, I hope browser works for long enough for me to decide on new phone which I would like to upgrade to.
But I have two old iPad Air devices - 1 and 2 from 2013 and 2014 respectively. And they are still kinda usable for light browsing and watching movies off pirate websites. I had also done some impossible thing, since I hate Minecraft after it was destroyed by stupid Microsoft and after this idiotic 1.17 or 1.18 update (which coincidentally made it impossible to play on neither of my old iPads), I downloaded old IPAs with old iTunes version, Windows 7 and Charles that helped me to change some protocols. Not sure if method still works but with it you can get all old app versions for any app you want. I was able to download many of these old Minecraft versions for backup but installed only one that is my favorite - 1.8 Bedrock. It runs very good on this old iPad. So whenever I want to play the old game (I do it rarely), I have it on this tablet. Same for 1st gen but there I installed even earlier version (1.6 or 1.5, I don’t remember).
Also I have all three GTAs installed on my Air 2. Ironically we haven’t evolved past that and there is still no GTA IV port for iOS, so no use for new iPhone’s power. As if development of tech stopped in 2013.
The second-gen iPad Air still supports the all-new iPad Instagram app, works about fine, laggy but enough to watch few fun videos. Reddit also works, lags a bit but enough to read subreddits from time to time.
I also have 6s that malfunctioned some time ago (weird reboots and battery), I am afraid motherboard is damaged but maybe it is just a dead battery. I had an idea to revive it with a new battery but not sure it is worth the hassle, thought I like that camera doesn’t overprocess as much as my current 11 Pro which can be ideal for some scenarios, though night performance is atrocious