If a new cellphone is coming to you from Santa this Christmas season, you will be faced with the question: What should you do with your old phone?

You could just toss it in a drawer, perhaps use it as a spare if your new phone breaks.

I know I have more than a few phones in my drawer, and I’ve never had to use one as a spare.

There are some pretty good uses for cellphones, if it is not too beat-up or broken.

Here are five things you can do with your old phone, and none of them require an active SIM card.

Security camera

You can set up your old phone to be a security camera with a free app called Alfred (https://alfred.camera), which is available for Android or iPhone.

You install Alfred on your old phone and your new phone and the app will walk you through setup to be able to view the old phone’s camera remotely.

This is a great and free way to keep up with what your pets are doing when you are not home.

TV remote

If you have a smart TV, chances are that an app will let you control it from your phone.

I have a Roku TV and a TiVo in my entertainment centre, and I use my phone to control them both. Roku and TiVo have apps and use the phone’s WiFi to connect.

My wife keeps the actual remotes and I just use my phone to control the TV. Of course, you will have to keep a charging cable handy.

Home automation controller

We have various apps to control our smart home functions, including turning lights on or off, setting our home alarm, seeing who’s at the front door or any home security cameras and controlling the thermostat. All those apps can run on an old phone. You might place the phone on a charging dock in a convenient spot.

Alarm clock

I can’t remember the last time I used an actual alarm clock, because I use my phone’s alarm function to wake up. You can use an old phone as an alarm clock. Again, a charging dock will keep the phone powered on and visible. A kitchen is a good place for an old phone to use for setting timers.

Music player/Sonos controller

Finally, we have Sonos speakers in most of the rooms in our house, and the music played through those speakers is controlled by an app on a phone. Keeping an old phone on a side table in the living room makes changing the music much easier.

 - TNS