I have a stack of old smartphones sitting in a drawer. The old Motorola Razr. A Samsung Galaxy S5. An old iPhone. Some have cracked screens. Others have weak batteries. One is held together with duct-tape and Goop, after it fell off of the roof of a moving car at speed and remained functional, albeit in a smashy-smashy sort of way.
I was going to turn these old phones into humorous coasters for my coffee table, but now I’m not – because I’ve been studying up on a few ways to use them in, and for, my car.
Turns out, unwanted smartphones have many uses – and some of the best are a great fit for the driver. If you’ve got an unused modern smartphone (or several), there are many handy ways to give it a new life while enhancing convenience, security, and even connectivity. In most cases, the cost is free, or close to it.
There are three main reasons that otherwise-discarded smartphones are so handy.
First, even without a data plan or SIM card, that old smartphone can be connected via Wi-Fi to the internet, provided you’ve got a Wi-Fi connection at home, which you probably do.
Second, even older modern smartphones are packed with sensors that can monitor location, temperature, sound, light, air pressure, acceleration and movement, wireless connections to other devices, and more.
Third, modern smartphones have pretty decent cameras built in, and sometimes, even two of them.
With a little ingenuity, a charging cable, and some free or low-cost software, that old smartphone can learn a boatload of new tricks that the driver might find handy.
Here are seven of them.
Car Tampering Alerts
When I was 13, I used to sneak into my dad’s car while he was gone, to practice shifting gears. I also practiced pretend parking brake slides and drifting, which meant that one time, I broke his handbrake cable. He was not impressed.
Anyhow, you may want to receive an alert if someone gets into your vehicle when you aren’t expecting it, or without your permission. This is a super-simple thing to achieve with just about any old phone.
First, you’ll install a free app called Haven – which uses the phone’s built-in sensors to trigger the logging of various events.
The app is easy to learn in about five minutes. Set it to trigger on motion, and choose the sensitivity of the motion required to trigger an alert. Settings from hair-trigger and up are available.
Then, power the phone (ensuring the battery is fully charged, or by hooking it up to an always-on USB plug in your car), set the countdown timer, and place the phone on the seat, in the car door pocket, or somewhere where the phone will move if someone gets into the vehicle. The app can be configured to work in silence, logging all motion trigger events for viewing later. It can even take photos when movement is detected.
But you can also have Haven send an alert via SMS message to a phone number you provide, so long as the handset running the app has a SIM card and an active cellular network connection. If there’s Wi-Fi coverage, another application called Signal can be used to send alerts without an active SIM card, though this is more-advanced functionality, and I couldn’t get it to work in my testing.
No connectivity? No problem. Just retrieve the phone later, and pull up the activity log, which will show if, and when, the motion trigger was set off.
The Haven app can be a little confusing at initial setup, but tech-savvy folks will have it licked in a few minutes.
Quiet Car Alarm
Using the Haven app in a different way can help you turn your old smartphone into a viable silent car alarm. Using other sensors (pressure, sound, light), triggers can be set to send an alert your way if your vehicle is broken into. A noise sensor can send you an SMS if it hears something loud and close – like a window being smashed. The pressure sensor can be set to alert you if there’s a sudden air pressure change, characteristic of a door being opened. The app can even record photos and video from the cameras when an alert is triggered, sending them to you, and recording them internally. Remember that the phone needs SIM-card connectivity or Wi-Fi coverage and an additional special app to send alerts.
Pro Tip
If you’re extra super-duper tech-savvy and have some connected home devices (like WeMo Wi-Fi light switches) and an Internet of Things app like If This Then That (IFTTT), you can configure some added functionality. For instance, if your regular smartphone receives an alert text from Haven, you could run an IFTTT recipe that, say, turns all of your interior household lighting on, or flashes the lights in your bedroom to wake you up. This is pro-level stuff, but the options are numerous.
Wireless Media Library Updates
Do you keep your listening media on a USB drive plugged into your vehicle’s stereo system? If so, when it’s time to add new music or podcasts to the USB drive, you’ve got to take said drive out of the car, plug it into your PC or laptop, upload the new files, and return it to the vehicle.
That’s not difficult – but it can be easier.
Just take an old smartphone with some on-board storage and install the Wi-Fi File Transfer program. Change the phone settings to turn on the Wi-Fi, connecting it to your home Wi-Fi network. Next, plug that smartphone into your vehicle stereo via a USB cable. Hopefully, this USB cable keeps the smartphone charged at all times, even when the car is off. If not, remember that a day or two of sitting on standby likely won’t kill the battery.
You may have to alter a setting or two to ensure your vehicle reads the smartphone as a USB drive. You’ll also want to note the directory from which your car stereo will read the audio files on the smartphone.
With Wi-Fi File Transfer software on your unused smartphone, and said smartphone connected via USB to your vehicle stereo and home Wi-Fi (which, we’re assuming, covers the garage or driveway where you park), you can now log in from any computer on your home network and use a web browser to move files to and from the smartphone outside in your car.
Congratulations – you can now update your in-vehicle media library from the comfort of your living room or home office. Just drag-and-drop via the app’s browser-based interface, and files are transferred from the computer to the USB-enabled smartphone, straight over the Wi-Fi network.
DashCam
Your old smartphone has all the ingredients of a dash cam built right in. With one or more cameras and a variety of sensors, all it takes is a little inexpensive software and a suction cellphone mount to turn an old smartphone into a dash camera, for under $20.
First, install a program like Car Camera on your old handset. Use of a high-speed SD memory card is advised, if your phone supports it, to store more video footage. Next, mount the phone with a clamp or mount that allows it to see clearly out of your windshield.
Finally, power the phone via USB. Start the app to record video in an endless loop, with newer video overwriting the oldest video. If there’s an accident or impact, the sensors in the phone pick up the shock, and lock the footage down for future viewing. See something cool or scary on your drive that you want to share? Just tap a button, and that footage is locked down, too.
Just be careful on longer drives: your smartphone isn’t designed to record video for hours on end, and it might overheat or crash. Remember to turn the app off, and stop recording, when you’re finished your drive. In any case, you’ve got a full-function dash-cam for a cost of virtually nothing.
Security Cam
A slight reconfiguration of the use of sensors and cameras on your old smartphone allows it to work as a security camera. Using an app like Alfred Camera, you can mount your phone inside of your vehicle where it’s got a full view outward. Many apps allow the user to designate an alarm area – by drawing a shape on the screen where detected motion will trigger an alert.
Once armed, any movement in that pre-defined area will record a picture or video of whatever caused it. Some apps even allow Wi-Fi cloud upload of recorded video or photos, preserving the evidence even if the phone – or your car – is stolen. Apps like Alfred Camera can send instant alerts to other devices if motion is detected.
If you’re concerned about late-night break-ins, how valet staff are treating your vehicle, or just want to see if anyone’s visited your car, its parking space, or your driveway while you’re away or asleep, all you need is an old smartphone, a mount, and a bit of cheap software.
GPS Tracker
Using the GPS and connectivity functions of your old smartphone can easily turn it into a trusty GPS tracking device that can help you find your car in a massive parking lot, keep tabs on younger drivers, or help locate a stolen ride. You’ll need an old handset, and an app to enable GPS tracking functionality.
Simply install the app, power the handset permanently, and hide the power cord and device somewhere in your vehicle where it’s not easy to find. (If your vehicle has a power outlet in the cargo area, consider plugging the handset in here, and leaving it hidden behind a trim panel in the trunk, or in the spare tire well).
With the phone powered and app running, you’ll be able to log in on another device or computer to see the whereabouts of your phone (and vehicle) in real time. Note that for the most accurate tracking, your GPS tracker handset will need data connectivity via an active SIM card and cellular connection.
Instruments / Diagnostics
With an old handset and an application like Torque Pro, you can turn your old Android or iPhone into an additional performance gauge cluster for your ride, a data logger, a diagnostic scan tool, and much more.
You’ll need a Bluetooth-enabled OBD module installed to your car’s diagnostic port and pair it to your handset. This allows the Torque Pro app to read an enormous stream of on-board data monitored by your vehicle’s ECU, and present it on-screen via customizable gauges and readouts.
Set it up, mount the handset, and you’re off: digital boost gauge? AFR gauge? Performance data tracker? Live monitoring of power and torque output? With a cheap OBD module and the Torque Pro app, it’s all at your fingertips – for far less than the cost of a custom mechanical gauge cluster.
