6 ways to repurpose an old iPad
The Apple iPad is an exceptionally long-lasting device. There’s no reason to upgrade them frequently, and in my personal experience, these tablets don’t show much battery wear over the years either.
In fact, I now have a five-year upgrade cycle and my original iPad 2 remained in use for a decade as it was passed down from one family member to another. Which is a way of saying that even if you get a shiny new iPad, you can probably do something cool or useful with the old one that’s worth more than just selling it.
Turn it into a smart home controller
Having a central, split screen that everyone in the house can use to control your smart devices is a really useful thing. With an iPad, you can basically install any app your smart home ecosystem uses and leave it open or at least front and center on the home screen for anyone who needs to adjust something.
Unfortunately, you can no longer use an iPad as an Apple HomeKit hub, but it’s still perfect for HomeKit UI tasks, paired with a hub device like an Apple TV or HomePod.
Use it as a digital photo frame
There are many inexpensive digital photo frames you can buy online or in stores, but why spend $50 or more on a digital photo frame when you can use an old iPad you already own? iPad screens are great and there are so many mounting options that you won’t have trouble creating something stylish and attractive.
The only downside here is that the photo tools integrated into iPadOS are not really suitable for this use. You can set up a basic slideshow and get a simple photo frame experience, but to do it properly you’ll need a third-party app. If you want one without ads, a paid service is the right way to go. I don’t have a specific recommendation because there are many options, but Synchroned Photo Frame has a one-time fee and is a good example of the type of app you should look for.
One thing to keep in mind is that your old iPad is still more than just a picture frame, so you can leave it idle as a frame and then pick it up at any time or hand it to a guest to use for something else like browsing the web.
Transform it into a kitchen helper
In fact, I’ve found that my primary personal iPad is my most useful cooking and cooking tool. I have several digital cookbooks on it, I constantly use Siri to set timers and reminders, and of course I look up information and videos when in doubt. So dedicating an old iPad to your kitchen for everyone to use isn’t a bad idea at all.
Turn it into a second monitor
I actually use my personal primary iPad as a second monitor for my MacBook when I’m working away from my desk, but if you have an old iPad, this is a great way to give it some permanent and useful extra life. After all, portable screens aren’t cheap!
If you have a Mac, you can use the built-in SideCar feature to turn it into an extended display. If you have a Windows system, you will need to use a third-party application like Duet Display. Some USB-C iPads can also act as HDMI monitors, but using a USB-C HDMI capture dongle and a third-party app like Orion.
Reuse it as a drawing and sketching pad
There are so many great drawing apps for iPad that this is the perfect solution as a dedicated drawing pad. The idea is of course to use an Apple Pencil, provided you have an iPad compatible with one of the Pencil models. However, if you don’t want to spend that much extra money, you can go pretty far with a “dumb” stylus in apps like ProCreate.
Another great option is to use an app like EasyCanvas to turn your old iPad into a PC-connected drawing tablet, similar to how Wacom devices work. Allowing you to draw directly in software like PhotoShop.
Transform it into a retro or cloud gaming console
Thanks to Apple’s relaxed stance toward emulators, I enjoy using my iPad as a retro gaming machine. Not only is the typical iPad more than powerful enough to emulate most retro systems, but the 4:3 aspect ratio of the vast majority of iPads is perfect for gaming in the CRT era of console gaming. iPadOS offers exceptional controller support, and it’s easy to connect to external displays (depending on model) and an external audio system.
There are also many great cloud gaming services, which means playing the latest games over Wi-Fi on your tablet. As long as you temper your expectations, an iPad can be a very good gaming option.
