3 Uses for an Old Smartphone [For Churches]

Don’t throw away that old smartphone, your church may need it!

Smartphones are built to do everything. So it should be no surprise that a decommissioned cell phone still has a lot of potential uses in your church and worship services. They are, after all, pocket size supercomputers with cameras... and speakers... and touchscreens... and microphones... and sensors….. you get the point. So without further ado...

3 Uses for an Old Smartphone (in your church)

(Both IPhones and Android phones can be used for any of these purposes)

Playing Synth Pads

Synth pads can be used both as standalone apps or as mp3’s in your stock music player app. I personally use mp3 files (one in each key) and play them with the cell phone which is hooked up to a volume pedal for control. For a detailed look on how to use pads on your old cell phone, check out my video tutorial here: https://youtu.be/vjRdxeDpLAk

Recording Sermons

If you are a small church, such as a house church, that doesn't have the setup to record a sermon, then a smartphone is the perfect solution. All you need is to buy a clip-on lavalier microphone made for cell phones ( $30-$40 on amazon), attach it to the person speaking, press record on a voice recorder app, and put the phone in the speaker's pocket. Boom goes the dynamite! A sermon podcast ready to go.

Controlling Announcement Slides

If you want to display announcements in your church lobby for people to see while they are hanging around preservice, an old cell phone can do the trick. Mount a TV on the wall, attach a Chromecast, and use google slides on the cell phone to play announcement slides. Bonus: You don’t have to hide a bulky computer since you can hide the phone pretty much anywhere.

These are just 3 of many possibilities for that old smartphone in your church. I foresee more uses for old cell phones coming to this blog in the future….so stay tuned!

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