4 things I do to get the most out of an old iPad

• Turn it into a smart display
• Handing it down to a child
• Creating a retro handheld console
• Trading it in or recycling it

Much to Apple’s chagrin, people tend to hold on to iPads for a long time, at least compared to smartphones. Three years is actually a low number — I’ve had my iPad Pro for almost six, and I’m sure there are people using older hardware. The truth is that for what most people do with them, iPads are overpowered, and there’s often little reason to replace them until they break, lose battery capacity, or no longer get iPadOS updates. You don’t need an M5 chip and a tandem OLED display to read books or watch Netflix.

Some people continue to hold onto old iPads after they upgrade, or even after they’re officially obsolete. If you’ve found yourself in that camp, you might be wondering what you can do with your tablet that doesn’t involve tossing it in the trash or letting it gather dust on a shelf. There are quite a few possibilities — only a few of which I have the time and space to touch on here.

Turn it into a smart display

At home or on the road

For some of you, this might be the most obvious application. Smaller iPads are around the same size as a Nest Hub or Echo Show, and yet way more powerful. As a bonus, it doesn’t particularly matter how well the battery is doing — smart displays are meant to be plugged in 24/7.

Installing an iPad in a car (as seen in the photo above) isn’t particularly complicated — it’s just a question of finding a large enough mount, and maybe a specialized case if the mount requires it. You’ll have to use your phone as a hotspot if your iPad doesn’t have built-in cellular, though, and you’ll need a way of stashing the tablet out of sight when you’re parked. Indeed you may need to take it inside periodically anyway, depending on how much power your car’s USB ports are capable of delivering. I’d also recommend customizing your homescreen to focus on apps and widgets relevant to driving. If you’re worried about reading text, check out the options under Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.

Things can potentially be even easier for an indoor smart display, but some people like to mount their iPad on a wall, which involves screwing a specialized mount into wall studs, and finding some way of managing or concealing a power supply. If you want to turn it into a single-purpose display — locked into Apple Home or another smart home app, for instance — you’ll need to set up Guided Access. Follow Apple’s instructions to get started.

One thing that’s essential for any smart display is disabling Auto-Lock. You can do that by going to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock. Your iPad stay active permanently until you restart or hit the Sleep/Wake button.

Handing it down to a child

Be very, very careful about screen time

In some respects at least, an iPad makes for an ideal first computer. Kids seem to have an intuitive grasp of touch gestures, and if you use a rugged case and screen protector, it’s difficult to break. A lot of iPad apps encourage education and creativity — my son will spend hours making music and sound effects if we let him.

That, however, leads me into my key point, which is that you have to manage a hand-me-down iPad very carefully. You’ll want to set up Family Sharing, which allows the creation of child-level Apple Accounts with control over downloads, and what apps can be used and when. Once you’ve reset an iPad and assigned it to your child’s account, use Apple’s Screen Time feature to set up a schedule. With young kids, you’ll probably want to treat iPad time as a reward — they shouldn’t have access when they’re supposed to be getting ready for school or doing homework, and they should engage in non-digital activities as well. The addictive nature of iPad apps can be a tough thing to escape — to the point that some kids will throw tantrums when you take them away. If you’re really concerned, you might just want to keep a child’s iPad out of reach most of the time, and/or take advantage of Guided Access (see the last section).

There’s not too much else to say here, but I’d additionally recommend turning on automatic app and iPadOS updates, and giving your child some safe but easy way of charging if you’re not going to do it yourself. Kids aren’t necessarily diligent about shutting off screens. If you set up Ask to Buy, you can approve or reject downloads from the App Store. Do make sure you have a preferred payment method set up on your Apple Account.

Creating a retro handheld console

Some assembly required

One thing old iPads are distinctly unsuited to is keeping up with state-of-the-art 3D games. Titles like Resident Evil: Village can push the limits of an M4- or M5-based iPad, never mind older processors. But that’s the beauty of retro gaming — titles that are 30 or 40 years old are going to run on just about anything, while benefiting from more recent technologies like the ability to save your progress anywhere.

This is all made possible by emulator apps, which replicate older devices such as the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. Two of the most popular ones are Delta and Retro Arch, the second being more flexible, but less beginner-friendly. As a rule, any emulator should be paired with a dedicated gamepad, whether it’s a separate Bluetooth controller or one that clamps onto your iPad, like the Razer Kishi Ultra. Touchscreen gestures just don’t work well for anything more complicated than Tetris or Pac-Man. Even then, a gamepad is likely to allow snappier reaction times.

The major hurdle here is amassing a game collection. While emulators are legal, the ROM files they load technically aren’t unless you’ve dumped them from your own cartridges. A lot of these games can no longer be bought anywhere, however — they’re effectively abandoned, so it’s not too hard to find ROM stashes if you search online.

Trading it in or recycling it

The ideal end of the line

One of the main reasons I put a case on any new iPad is preserving its trade-in value. Companies like Apple, Best Buy, and Amazon are relatively lenient about reduced battery capacity and light scuffs, but you’ll instantly lose money if there are any screen cracks or deep dents. I feel it’s worth spending $50-plus dollars up front if it nets $200 or more towards newer hardware. Just be aware that Apple is only going to give you credit towards other Apple purchases. If you want to step outside the company’s ecosystem, you’ll have to sell your iPad elsewhere.

When an iPad is too damaged or rundown to be worth anything, it’s time to recycle it. The companies I just mentioned have recycling programs, and there may be options specific to your region. Don’t just toss an iPad in the garbage — the components in them can be dangerous, and there’s no sense adding to e-waste landfills when the materials can be repurposed.