7 ways to repurpose your old Android tablet
Got an old Android tablet gathering dust in a drawer? Wondering if there’s anything genuinely useful you can do with it besides recycling it? Here are seven practical ways to give your old Android tablet a new life and a new purpose.
Turn it into a stationary desk hub
A productivity screen
One of the easiest ways to reuse an old Android tablet is to set it up on your desk as an always-on information display. You can turn it into a desk calendar or a digital photo frame that cycles through family photos or motivational quotes.
If you work with clients in different time zones, set up a world clock so you always know what time it is on their side. You can also use the tablet as a Pomodoro timer to track work sessions and stay productive. If your tablet supports split-screen mode, it becomes even more useful—keep a timer on one half and a notes app on the other, making it easy to view your to-do list while tracking your sessions.
Use it as a portable scratch pad
Jot down notes, or just doodle
Most Android tablets support stylus input. If yours didn’t come with one, you can pick up an inexpensive third-party stylus for around $10 and turn your tablet into a portable scratch pad. You can install a dedicated sketching app like Sketchbook or Concepts—both of which are very lightweight and shouldn’t be rough on older hardware.
This setup works great for jotting down quick notes during meetings, making checklists, or just doodling. I’ve personally found doodling very therapeutic, especially when I’m stuck on a creative block. It’s also an eco-friendly option since you’re not burning through sticky notes and notepads.
Quiz
The History of Android OS
Trivia Challenge
From a scrappy startup to the world’s most popular operating system — how well do you know Android’s remarkable journey?
OriginsVersionsMilestonesAcquisitionsDesign
In what year was Android Inc. originally founded by Andy Rubin and his co-founders?
Correct! Android Inc. was founded in October 2003 in Palo Alto, California. The original vision was actually to build a smarter operating system for digital cameras before the team pivoted to mobile phones.
Not quite — Android Inc. was founded in 2003. Many people confuse this with 2007, the year the first Android phone was announced, but the company had already been working behind the scenes for years by then.
How much did Google pay to acquire Android Inc. in 2005?
Correct! Google acquired Android Inc. for approximately $50 million in July 2005. At the time, the deal flew largely under the radar, but it would prove to be one of the most consequential acquisitions in tech history.
Not quite. Google acquired Android Inc. for around $50 million in 2005. It seemed like a modest sum at the time, but the investment paid off enormously — Android now powers billions of devices worldwide.
What was the name of the first commercially available Android smartphone, released in 2008?
Correct! The HTC Dream, sold as the T-Mobile G1 in the United States, launched on October 22, 2008. It featured a slide-out physical keyboard and ran Android 1.0, setting the stage for everything that followed.
Not quite — it was the HTC Dream, known as the T-Mobile G1, that launched in October 2008. The Motorola Droid came later in 2009 and was hugely influential, but the G1 holds the title of first commercial Android device.
Android versions were famously named after desserts in alphabetical order. Which dessert name corresponds to Android 4.0?
Correct! Android 4.0 was called Ice Cream Sandwich, released in October 2011. It was a landmark release that unified the phone and tablet interfaces and introduced the iconic Holo design language.
Not quite — Android 4.0 was Ice Cream Sandwich. Honeycomb (3.x) was tablet-only, Gingerbread was 2.3, and Jelly Bean came after Ice Cream Sandwich. The naming scheme helped make Android version updates feel like fun events.
Before pivoting to smartphones, what type of device was Android originally designed to power?
Correct! Andy Rubin and his co-founders initially envisioned Android as a smarter operating system for digital cameras. When it became clear the camera market was shrinking, they pivoted to mobile phones — a decision that changed the tech world.
Not quite. Android was originally conceived as an OS for digital cameras, not for the device you may have guessed. The pivot to smartphones came after the team recognized the massive potential of the mobile phone market.
What was the name of the dramatically new design language Google introduced with Android 5.0 Lollipop in 2014?
Correct! Material Design debuted with Android 5.0 Lollipop and brought a bold, card-based visual language inspired by physical paper and ink. It became hugely influential and was adopted across Google’s entire product ecosystem.
Not quite — the answer is Material Design, introduced with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Holo was the design language used in earlier Android versions, while Fluent and Metro are associated with Microsoft’s design efforts, not Google’s.
In what year did Android officially surpass iOS to become the U.S.’s most widely used smartphone operating system by market share?
Correct! By 2010, Android had overtaken iOS to claim the top spot in U.S. smartphone market share. Explosive growth from manufacturers like Samsung and HTC, combined with a wide range of price points, fueled the rapid rise.
Not quite — Android surpassed iOS in U.S. market share around 2010. The rapid proliferation of affordable Android handsets from dozens of manufacturers made it accessible to a far broader audience than Apple’s single-device strategy allowed.
Starting with Android 10, Google dropped the dessert naming convention from public branding. What was the internal dessert codename for Android 10?
Correct! Android 10’s internal dessert codename was Quince Tart. Google decided to stop using dessert names publicly, citing that many of the names didn’t translate well across different languages and cultures around the world.
Not quite — Android 10’s internal codename was Quince Tart. Google retired the public dessert branding because names like Jelly Bean and KitKat didn’t resonate the same way across all the countries where Android is used.
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Use it as a portable TV
Watch whatever you like
Most old Android tablets are still powerful enough to run Netflix or YouTube. If the display quality of your old tablet is still good, you can use it as a dedicated media streaming device. The larger screen makes it a decent option for watching videos, especially if you’re lounging around and don’t want to drain your phone’s battery.
That said, if you’re having issues running streaming apps, you can use a USB OTG (On-The-Go) drive to load movies and TV shows onto your device and then play them using the default media player. This approach also keeps things simple and offline—no internet connection required, no accounts to worry about.
Read e-books and manga
Or even PDFs and documents
Instead of watching movies, you can take advantage of your tablet’s larger display for reading ebooks or manga. It can be your Kindle replacement—especially useful if you don’t own a Kindle already! You can install Kindle, Libby, or Epic! on the device and turn it into a dedicated ereader for you or your kids! Likewise, if you want to read manga or comics, you can install Manga Plus by SHUEISHA and Manga UP!.
Alternatively, you can install offline readers like Lithium or Perfect Viewer to read locally stored ebooks and manga. Like before, you can use a USB OTG drive to load them onto your tablet. If you load the ebooks and manga onto your internal storage, you can read them anywhere without needing an internet connection—especially handy if your tablet is Wi-Fi only.
Emulate retro games
A hit of nostalgia
Even entry-level Android tablets from around 2019–2020 should have enough power to emulate classic consoles like the NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy. If you own legally obtained copies of these game ROMs, this can be a fun way to revisit old favorites without any additional hardware investment.
You can install Retro Emulator—that supports 1000s of retro classics—or go with standalone emulators for specific systems. An old tablet might not handle demanding stuff like PS2 or GameCube emulation, but for 8-bit and 16-bit classics, it should work great! That said, I’d strongly urge you to pair your tablet with a dedicated gamepad—if you have one lying around—and not use the onscreen touch controls.
Set it up as a Teleprompter
No need to remember your lines
If you create video content—YouTube videos, online courses, or even work presentations—an old Android tablet makes for an excellent teleprompter. Free apps like Simple Teleprompter Relaunched let you load your script, customize the font style, and adjust the scroll speed to create a personalized teleprompter.
It can take some practice to find your ideal scroll speed, but once it’s dialed in, it’s a solid upgrade over memorizing scripts or reading from sticky notes. Also, if you’re using a professional teleprompter rig with a beam-splitter mirror, the app has a mirror mode that flips the text to match your setup.
Use it as a security camera monitor
Keep an eye out
To be clear, I’m not talking about turning your tablet into a security camera, but rather using it as a dedicated screen for viewing feeds from security cameras you already have. Apps like AlfredCamera, IP Cam Viewer, or your manufacturer’s app let you monitor live feeds on your old tablet without tying up your primary phone.
This works great if you’ve set up a baby monitor, pet camera, or doorbell camera and want a dedicated display for it. Just install the viewer app, log in, and keep the tablet propped somewhere convenient—maybe your kitchen counter or bedside table. Keep it plugged in so it’s always ready, and you’ve got yourself a simple monitoring station.
Take out that old tablet and get to work!
There you have it—seven ways to breathe new life and new purpose into your old Android tablet. Just pick a role, download the necessary app (or sideload it if you have to), and give that tablet the focused purpose it deserves.
