I Made An App To Re-Use Old Phones/Tablets As Information Displays

E-waste is a huge problem globally; and everyone has some old phones laying around, and those will be thrown in the trash, maybe recycled, maybe not… but many of them are still working. I had an idea some years ago to convert a 10″ tab into a smart remote terminal for my computer (and will do if we fnished our new home), but it was also in my head that an old phone can function as an information display also.

What i mean? Simply a self-refreshing web page will do the trick, but i decided to create an Android application what helps to turn your old device into an information display.

Mostly it is doing only that it loads and refreshes a web page periodically – so you can put your favourite page (weather? stock exchange? news?) into the app, or create your own information page with the content you need. A home server is useful for this, but you can do that without it also.

The app’s features

– Runs on Android 4.1 and above (devices which are 8-10yrs old)

– Can lock the content, or make it scrollable, links clickable

– Can handle SSL error messages

– Prevents locking screen as long as external power is applied

– Handles cookies

– Adjustable refresh time (or no self-refresh)

– If something fails, automatically tries to reload the content

– Completely ad-free, and free to use

I’m using it since some weeks on 2-3 devices, and i have dropped a page on my internal network server with a huge Javascript clock and a free weather widget. But there are also some applications :

– Shop display, where guests can browse only the shop’s webpage (and cannot navigate elsewhere)

– Text information display for museums, nonprofit organizations, and more (e.g. display information about the object which the guest is viewing, or policies at the entrance…)

– Smart clock at home with weather, stock exchange, temperatures…

– Smart picture frame, which you can refresh from remote…

As the target devices are old, it’s recommended to use an internal server (for security reasons) which collects data from Internet, and creates a HTML page to display; but the app can be used to display content right from the Internet, as it can only access to only one page.

So, with some creativity, it can be a very useful app on your old devices. I plan some developments in the application, but it’s mostly fully functional now. If you need help either with using it, or creating content for your display, contact me via BoredPanda :)

The app can be downloaded here : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aid.aid

More info: play.google.com