Turn Your iPad Into Juan Antonio Jiménez.
Turn Your iPad Into Juan Antonio Jiménez.
7 cool ways to use older iPads
Juan Antonio Jiménez is an Olympic equestrian (🇪🇸). He’s also 65.
Don’t throw away your old iPads. They can do incredibly cool things—here are 7 of them.
Use it as a Digital Cookbook
One idea is to turn your old iPad into a dedicated kitchen assistant.
Load it up with your favorite recipes or download a cooking app, and you’ve got a hands-free guide for preparing meals.
If you don’t know which recipe apps to use, I’ve heard good things about Paprika and Umami. If you have no idea how to cook, YouTube (or even FaceTime) is also great.
The iPad’s screen is large enough to read recipes easily, and its portability means you can move it around your kitchen with ease. Use a stand or mount it on your kitchen wall to keep it out of the way while you cook.
Create a Smart Home Control Hub
Even if it’s not the latest model, an old iPad can still control your smart home devices.
Install apps from your smart lights, thermostat, security cameras, and more, and turn the tablet into a centralized control hub. My recommendation would be to connect everything to the Home app if your devices are compatible.
Leave it on a coffee table or mount it near the entrance for easy access to control your home environment with just a few taps.
Turn it into a Digital Photo Frame
Instead of letting it gather dust, you can transform your old iPad into a digital photo frame.
Load it up with your favorite photos, set up a slideshow, and let it display your memories.
There are even apps that can pull in photos from your social media accounts or cloud storage, ensuring the display stays fresh and updated.
Become a DJ
Your old iPad can become the perfect music player.
With apps like Spotify, Apple Music, or Pandora, it can serve as a dedicated music hub for your home. Connect it to a speaker system via Bluetooth or an AUX cable to make it even cooler.
The iPad’s battery life will easily handle long listening sessions.
Turn It into a Kid’s Learning Tool
Old iPads are great for kids, especially for educational purposes.
Install learning apps, interactive books, or even use it to stream educational videos.
Just make sure they don’t become an iPad kid.
Kindle Pro
While dedicated e-readers have their advantages, an old iPad can still do the job.
Install apps like Kindle, Apple Books, or any other e-reader app. Now, you’ve got a large-screen device perfect for reading books, magazines, or comics.
Adjust the brightness and color tone to make it easier on your eyes. Don’t wanna hurt them.
Set Up a Secondary Monitor
One of the coolest things you can do with an old iPad is use it as a secondary monitor for your computer.
Apps like Duet Display or Sidecar (for Mac users) can turn your iPad into an additional screen.
It’s useful if you’re editing videos, coding, or just need more screen real estate. This is what I would do if I had an old iPad lying around.
Final Thoughts.
If you’ve got an iPad lying around, don’t waste it. There’s a ton of cool stuff you can do.
Thanks for reading!
—Adi
Concepts
Concepts is an "unlimited canvas" note-taking app I've used for years (if you don't believe me, check my post history). I use it to take notes, brainstorm article ideas, and come up with startup ideas.
It's one of the few apps I highly recommend for every iPad user out there. And I genuinely believe this (again, check my post history if you wanna verify this claim).
Concepts has been kind enough to offer a free 30-day trial. And no, you don't have to enter your credit card info.