10 Things You Can Do With an Old Apple Watch
Credit: Digital Trends
Many Apple Watch users like to upgrade their wearable every couple of years to enjoy the new features and upgrades offered by the latest models.
However, that leaves us with a big question: What should we do with our old Apple Watch? Should we throw it away? Or put it in a drawer and forget about it? You can if you want, but there is a better way.
As it turns out, even an old Apple Watch can do many different things, which means you can put it to other uses.
From just giving it away to using it as a spare, read on for ten ways you can provide an old Apple Watch with a second life.
Give it to Your Kids
This is probably the easiest thing to do with an old Apple Watch. If you have children, you can give them their first Apple Watch.
Doing this has many benefits. You can use it to communicate with them, even if they're not at home. It's also the perfect way to track them when they're out and about without constantly calling them to ask where they are. Thanks to Apple Watch Family Setup, your kids can use an Apple Watch without an iPhone.
However, if you plan on giving them an iPhone when they're the right age, the Apple Watch will also be the perfect way for them to get used to the Apple ecosystem and everything it comes with.
Give it to Your Parents or Grandparents
You can also give your old Apple Watch to your grandparents or an elderly person.
The Apple Watch stands out because of its health features. With it, your parents or grandparents can keep track of their heart rate and daily activities and even make sure they're taking their medications on time.
More importantly, the Apple Watch has a Fall Detection feature that can alert you and call emergency services if an older person falls and can't get back up.
Use Your Old Apple Watch as a Dedicated Media Player
One of the great things about the Apple Watch is that it lets you control your music and podcasts without using your iPhone. You can even download music to your Apple Watch and play it on your AirPods without even having your iPhone around.
If you like to go on long walks or like to spend time without your iPhone, using your old Apple Watch as a dedicated media player will make listening to music without any notifications a whole lot easier.
Keep It as a Spare
You don't need to give your old Apple Watch a new use immediately; instead, you can keep it as a spare in case your new Apple Watch malfunctions.
Of course, you don't just put your Apple Watch in a random drawer and hope for the best. Apple recommends several things if you want your old Apple Watch to last.
First, if you plan to keep it stored for more than six months, keep it charged to precisely 50% battery. Not only that but remember to recharge it to 50% every six months.
Apple also recommends that you store it in a cool, dry place. Ideally, it should be in a room with a temperature of less than 90° F (32° C).
Once you have that ready, turn off your Apple Watch and store it for when you need it again.
Use Your Old Apple Watch for Extreme Sports
If you like to do extreme activities but don't want to ruin your brand-new Apple Watch, you can use your old one instead.
The Apple Watch can handle tough activities, making it the perfect companion when you're mountain biking or climbing.
Likewise, even though the Apple Watch is water resistant, you might not want to put your new device underwater yet, so you can use your old Apple Watch instead.
Keep Your Old Apple Watch as a Night Stand
It's always recommended that you keep your devices away from you at night so you can fall asleep faster and have a higher-quality sleep. That said, you probably still want to know what time it is at night.
And that's where your old Apple Watch comes in. By keeping it in its charger, you can have the perfect nightstand watch. You will need to turn it on to watch the time, which will help you avoid distractions while sleeping, but you can still check the time with just one tap on the screen or even just bumping your bedside table.
Turn Your Old Apple Watch Into a Dedicated Sleep Tracker
On the other hand, if you don't mind wearing an Apple Watch while you sleep, you can turn your old device into a sleep tracker. Of course, your new Apple Watch can also do this, but this way, you won't lose battery life overnight.
Your old Apple Watch will help you monitor your heart rate and other important vitals while you sleep. It will also let you track your quantity and quality of sleep via the Health app.
The best part is that you can also use the old Apple Watch as an alarm clock. It's way harder to ignore an alarm clock when it's constantly vibrating on your wrist, so your old Watch could help you always be on time from now on.
Use Your Apple Watch to Test Beta Updates
Apple always recommends against using your primary devices to try beta software updates because you never know what might happen. Sometimes, the bugs are so nasty they might break your device, but that's something you wouldn't have to worry about if you use an old Apple Watch instead.
By keeping your old Apple Watch, you can try the beta updates months before they're available to the public. And if the beta has a bug that hinders your battery life or performance, your new Apple Watch will still work perfectly for daily use.
Use Your Old Apple Watch as a Remote
Even though the smaller screen might make it a bit uncomfortable to use, you can still turn your old Apple Watch into a dedicated remote for many things around the house.
For starters, if you have an Apple TV, you can use your old Apple Watch to control it without fetching the remote.
Or, if you have a smart home, you can use your Apple Watch to control different things without using your iPhone or your main Apple Watch. For instance, you can turn on the lights or change the thermostat without looking for your iPhone; instead, you can leave your old Apple Watch in a dedicated place to control your smart home.
Sell or Trade In Your Old Apple Watch
If you can't find a good use for your Apple Watch, you can still make some money from it.
For starters, you can try selling it. You can use platforms like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or Craigslist to find someone looking to buy an Apple Watch. Of course, you need to be careful not to fall for scams and ensure you're selling it to the right person.
If you don't want to go through all the hassle, you can simply trade it in with Apple. Apple's Trade-In program lets you use your old Apple devices for small discounts when buying a new product. And we do mean small.
At the time of this writing, if you visit the Apple Trade-In website, you can get up to $375 if you trade in an Apple Watch Ultra 2. That's just a little bit over half the price of the actual device, and it would need to be in perfect condition for you to get that money.
So, while Apple Trade-In is easier, you might make more money putting in the work and selling your Apple Watch yourself. You'll need to decide what's better for you, but you'll get benefits no matter which option you choose.