Hello friends! Chances are you have some old phone that you no longer use in storage. The good news is that you can give it a second life. It can be recycled into a lot of things when you’ve replaced it with a new model: a security camera, a PC, a Smart TV, a baby monitor, a Google Home, and also a home weather monitor. In this post, we’ll show you how to use your old Android phone as a weather monitor. That is, to show you the current temperature, humidity, and weather condition data, without having to turn it on and open a specific app.
Find a location and charger
The goal is for your old phone to emulate a weather monitor. Therefore, when you open the weather app the weather data should always be visible. So it is highly recommended that you put the phone on a stand that keeps it upright. It is also a good idea to keep the phone charging. Otherwise, you will have to charge it every day. Both requirements are met if your phone supports wireless charging with a charging cradle that also keeps it upright.
Keep the screen always on
Another point you should keep in mind is the always-on screen. Instead of having to wake up the phone every time you want to see the weather. There are several ways to keep the phone screen always on. Although as in this case we are going to have it charged. The easiest is probably from the developer options.
First step
Go to Settings>About phone
Second step
Then tap 5 times on “build number”. Until the message “you are already a developer” appears.
Third step
After enabling developer options, go to Settings>System>Developer options and there you should have the setting “Don’t lock screen”. Since you’re going to have the phone charging while serving as a weather station, this will cause the screen to always be on.
Note that some of the apps we’re going to use to display data on the phone already keep the screen on, so depending on which one you choose you might not need to touch this setting.
SmartMixin
This app can search for nearby weather stations to connect to and display their data. In SmartMixin you will see the current and last hours’ temperature and weather conditions. In addition to the forecast for the next few days, rainfall, air quality, and other data. It has a dark theme and the advantage of showing us a lot of data, although they will be hidden unless you scroll.
Google Play | SmartMixin Weather
Weather Station Free
A more traditional option is Weather Station Free, which is so simple it’s adorable. The app mimics the style of a simple weather station and shows the current condition, air pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind speed. The app has absolutely nothing else and has only a setting to switch between metric or imperial units. The free version has an advertising banner, which you can remove upon payment of $0.99 USD.
Google Play | Weather Station Free
WhatWeather
Finally, we have WhatWeather, which is in a way the complete opposite of the previous application. It shows you a lot of information and also has many settings to configure and customize its appearance and operation. The app has a dark theme with pure black color, more friendly with OLED screens. It will be in charge of collecting temperature information, wind, and many more data. You can choose what exactly is displayed from its settings. Thanks for reading us. Bye!
Google Play | WhatWeather – Weather Station
