It Still Has a Perfectly Good Screen
Somewhere in your house — in a drawer, on a shelf, behind the couch cushions — there’s an old iPad. Maybe the kids outgrew it. Maybe you upgraded and never got around to selling it. Maybe it’s so slow that opening Safari feels like an act of patience.
Here’s what nobody tells you: that old iPad is more useful as a dedicated single-purpose device than it ever was trying to be a general-purpose tablet. A device that’s too slow to run five apps at once is perfectly fast enough to do one thing really well.
And the screen? Even an iPad from 2013 has a Retina display. That screen is better than most dedicated smart home displays, digital photo frames, and dashboard devices you can buy today.
So before you recycle it or let it die in that drawer, take 10 minutes and turn it into something your household actually uses.
For the Family
These are the ideas that make a visible difference in daily life — the ones where, when the screen goes black, someone in your family notices.
Kitchen Display
Mount it on the wall or prop it on the counter. Show the family calendar, today’s weather, and a grocery list. The stuff everyone checks twenty times a day, always visible, no phone required.
This was the first thing I did with our old iPad, and it went from experiment to “mission-critical kitchen infrastructure” faster than I expected. We have a complete kitchen display guide that walks through the whole setup.
Digital Photo Frame
Your old iPad has a better screen than any dedicated photo frame you can buy — and it connects to your family’s shared photo albums automatically. New photos from your phone appear on the display without anyone doing anything.
The grandparent setup alone is worth the 10 minutes: put a tablet at grandma’s house, connect it to a shared album, and every photo of the kids just appears.
Read the full article → | Complete guide series →
Family Calendar
Stick it in the hallway. Show a full-screen calendar with everyone’s schedule — soccer practice, dentist appointments, work trips, school events. Color-coded by family member. Glanceable from across the room.
No more “what time is soccer?” No more “did you check the calendar?” It’s just there.
Smart Alarm Clock
An old iPad mini on the nightstand makes a better alarm clock than anything you can buy. Sunrise simulation, sleep tracking, weather at a glance when you wake up. All for the cost of a $10 stand.
For the Kids
Old tablets and kids go together perfectly. The device is already too old to worry about, and a cracked screen or juice spill doesn’t ruin your day.
Learning Station
Load it with Khan Academy Kids, Duolingo, reading apps, and math games. Put it on a dedicated table or shelf where kids know the “learning tablet” lives. It’s always charged, always ready, and doesn’t have YouTube or games competing for attention.
Car Entertainment
Headrest mount, downloaded shows, a pair of volume-limiting headphones. Road trips solved. The old tablet gets sticky, dropped, and fought over — and none of that matters because it was already retired.
Retro Gaming Console
Load it with classic games, pair a Bluetooth controller, and hand it to the kids. Old iPads can’t run the latest titles, but they run Monument Valley, Alto’s Adventure, and every NES/SNES game perfectly through emulators. Even Apple Arcade works on surprisingly old hardware.
Around the House
These turn your tablet into a dedicated appliance — something that does one job and does it all the time.
Weather Station
Live radar, hourly forecasts, severe weather alerts. Prop it in the kitchen or hallway and never wonder if you need an umbrella again. Pair it with an outdoor sensor and you get hyperlocal temperature and humidity too.
Smart Home Control Panel
If you have smart lights, a thermostat, or a security camera, an old iPad mounted on the wall makes a better control panel than any phone app. Everything’s accessible without pulling out your phone and finding the right app.
Home Security Monitor
An old tablet can show live feeds from your security cameras. Put it by the front door or in the kitchen, and you can see who’s at the door or check on the backyard without opening an app.
Music and Podcast Hub
Pair it with a Bluetooth speaker and put it in the kitchen or living room. Dedicated music controls that anyone in the family can use — no one has to hand over their phone.
Fitness Companion
Mount it in your workout space at eye level. Follow along with workout videos, track intervals with a timer app, or display your exercise routine. A dedicated fitness screen that doesn’t get interrupted by texts.
For the Tinkerers
These require a bit more setup but are deeply satisfying if you enjoy a weekend project.
Second Monitor
Apps like Duet Display and Spacedesk turn an old iPad into a secondary screen for your Mac or PC. Extra screen real estate for less than the cost of a cable.
Digital Art Studio
An old iPad with a cheap stylus makes a surprisingly capable drawing tablet. Procreate works on iPads going back to the Air 2. For kids learning to draw, it’s even better — no precious hardware to worry about.
Media Server Remote
If you run Plex or any home media server, an old tablet makes a perfect dedicated remote and now-playing display for your living room.
Finance Dashboard
A dedicated screen showing your budget, spending tracker, or stock watchlist. Always on, always visible, separate from your phone’s distractions.
E-Book Reader
An old iPad makes a decent e-reader — bigger screen than a Kindle, and it connects to every book platform. Not great for reading in bed (too heavy, too much blue light), but fine for a reading nook or the kitchen table.
What If It’s Really, Truly Dead?
If the screen is cracked, the battery swells, or it won’t turn on at all, it’s time to let go. But don’t throw it in the trash.
How to recycle your old iPad responsibly →
The Common Objections
“Won’t keeping it plugged in 24/7 kill the battery?”
Probably, eventually. But you’re not using it as a portable device anymore. If the battery swells in two years, the iPad will have been a free kitchen display for two years. That’s a win.
“It’s too old to run anything.”
It doesn’t need to run five apps at once. It needs to run one app reliably. Even an iPad Air from 2013 can handle a photo slideshow, a calendar, or a weather display.
“I should just buy a dedicated device.”
Dedicated smart displays cost $80-200. An old iPad with a $12 stand does the same job with a better screen. Why buy what you already have?
Start With One
Pick one idea from this list. The one that solves a real annoyance in your daily life — checking the weather, managing the family calendar, keeping the kids entertained on road trips.
Set it up this weekend. If it sticks, great. If it doesn’t, the iPad goes back in the drawer and you’ve lost nothing.
Most people find that once one tablet gets repurposed, they start looking for more old devices to set up. It’s a small thing, but it’s satisfying — taking something forgotten and making it useful again.