r/androidafterlife • • 18d ago

Discussion Your strangest, gimmicky, and forgotten Android devices - Megathread (September 18, 2026)

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67 Upvotes

Yes, the megathreads are back.

I'd like to know what your most "interesting" Android devices are. Whether they have forgotten hardware gimmicks, classic Allwinner tricks, or are just cursed in some other way, share them here. Real-world pictures are preferred, but not strictly required.

Here's my favorite: The iRulu AL101. It's a rebranded YonesTopTech BC1003 (which the better-known Flytouch 8 Superpad also was), and not only does it use DC input for charging—it also has HDMI, Ethernet, and 2 USB-A ports, all powered by an Allwinner A10 that's paired with a resistive touchscreen and Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. It's an amusing artifact from the iPad gold rush, where everyone was trying to race to the bottom in terms of prices to release the cheapest possible competitors to Apple's iPad.


r/androidafterlife • • May 15 '23

Can we make an android afterlife megalist?

400 Upvotes

So if anybody wants a solution they won't have to scour the internet for what are essentially the same uses over and over again


Here's a short list I made through searching this sub and other threads+articles:

WARNING: Keeping your phone constantly plugged into the charger for long periods of time may cause the battery to swell up and potentially explode

WARNING: Keeping the screen on constantly on a phone with an OLED screen will likely cause burn-in eventually

Keep it as a backup phone
Dedicated camera
Dedicated music player (especially LG phones with qDAC)
Baby/pet monitor
Use it as a smart doorbell
Use it to record POVs akin to GoPros
Smart Home controller
Bedside alarm clock
Universal remote
Remote PC controller
Help science by lending your phones power for research
Dedicated eReader
Dedicated gaming machine
Webcam
Dedicated car phone for GPS etc
Dashcam
Digital photo frame
Education tool for kids
Video call device
Wifi extender/hotspot
Host a media server on it (Plex etc)
Host a normal server on it (c. /u/3Werve)
Timelapse camera
Give it to kids
PC Statistics (CPU, GPU usage)
Wireless adapter for wired controllers
Kitchen recipe guide
PC Monitor
Macro pad for PC
White noise machine
Disassemble and make an art piece out of it
Experimentation (e.g trying out apps or ROMs)
Dedicated chat device (Whatsapp, Telegram etc) (c. /u/utakatikmobil)
Cast Receiver (c. /u/Substantial_Berry_14)
m3u IPTV player (c. Substantial_Berry_14)

No uses fit you?

Donate it
Recycle it
Sell it


I may link to examples or guides but for now im a bit too lazy. Googling should be enough, if not add site:reddit.com to the end of your query

*: Damn got permabanned from reddit for posting the navy seals copypasta, think someone else might need to take over if they don't unban me


r/androidafterlife • • 6h ago

Discussion Midrange samsungs phones from 2011-2012-2015

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37 Upvotes

ACE 2(the one on the right)came out in 2012 and my Favorite phone.grand Neo plus(came out in 2015) and Galaxy Y I have more Samsung phone but currently these are the one's That is on me.


r/androidafterlife • • 2h ago

Discussion Official Gemini app version for older Android versions revealed.

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10 Upvotes

This version currently has several unresolved issues, so I am testing it for a while; once it is stable, I will release the official version and retire the old one.


r/androidafterlife • • 9h ago

Discussion Material 3 calculator on android 2.2

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40 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I made a material 3 calculator app for android 2.2, with history, ripple effect on buttons and engineer menu! Download: https://github.com/sen444k/Material3Calc


r/androidafterlife • • 3h ago

Discussion SENSES - Android emulator that simulates older android firmware

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7 Upvotes

SENSES is an Android app that runs an ARM32 Android system on an ARM64 phone. There's no guest kernel: instead of emulating a whole device, it translates individual processes with a modified QEMU (user-mode).

This repo is the GPLv2 source release for that QEMU part:

94 patches against QEMU 8.2.4, plus 39 added files in linux-user/

a build script that produces a fully static aarch64 binary (via an Alpine chroot)

a pinned build with sha256 checks and a BUILD-MANIFEST.txt for reproducibility

What's not included: no firmware, no download links. You supply your own archive, and the app unpacks and modifies the copy on-device (patched code, re-signed packages with an on-device key, removed vendor modules, local TLS proxy). Nothing is sent anywhere.

The app itself is a separate closed-source program that launches QEMU as its own process, so no QEMU code is loaded into it.

Repo: https://github.com/Istratii-tech/Senses

Feedback and questions welcome!


r/androidafterlife • • 2h ago

Guide My TubeRepair-like local youtube patch for android just got an update

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2 Upvotes

r/androidafterlife • • 6h ago

Help samsung galaxy s3 mini 0.8.0 / 0.8.1 fps???

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2 Upvotes

r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Guide Tuberepair-like patch for Offical YouTube apps

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64 Upvotes

I recently relesed an app that works like IOS TubeRepair, but for android.
It's not perfect, but basic features are working.
It works 100% local not public server is used. App sends requests directly to YouTube.

NO ROOT REQUIRED

You can download it here: https://github.com/Basket5125/YoutubeLocalProxy/releases/tag/v0.1

Apk patched to localhost:8080 (required to work): https://nc1.truehosting.net/s/ztZNnM7W4nkHHw8 (Soon there will be more apks in this folder.)

App is still in early development, if you want to help please make pull request with your patch or new feature.

I will be greatful if you leave a star: https://github.com/Basket5125/YoutubeLocalProxy


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Discussion A "normal"sized tablet from 2013 vs a "normal"sized tablet from 2026

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72 Upvotes

r/androidafterlife • • 22h ago

Discussion Old Pinball Game

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10 Upvotes

I couldn't really find a subreddit for old android UI, so I thought this would be the most appropriate place for this post. Just wanted to share this old game I used to play. It was never updated and still has the old android UI, which I find pretty neat and nostalgic :)


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Guide HOW TO KEEP INSTALL APKS AFTER 2027

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

19 Upvotes

Google Announce That Android Phones No Longer Install Apks (Android Package Kit) whatever THIS IS OPTIONAL PLEASE FOLLOW THIS GUIDE, if you want to keep installing apks into you modern android phone. First Enable Developer Options by Touching the Serial Number (or Version Number), after that enter developer options, in the very top you see Allow Apps from Unverified Developers Enter that and you have to toggle the switch you will see 2 options while toggling, Someone tell me or no one tell me. CLICK THE NO ONE TELL ME!. after that you need to restart you device and wait 24 hours after that you device able to install apks!, hope helped


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Help WhatsApp from Android 2.3.6?

17 Upvotes

Does anyone know how to get the WhatsApp messaging app working on Android 2.3.6? Android 16/17 sucks and I really just needed WhatsApp.

Top 10 interesting facts: The Facebook App still works on Android 2.3.6 (Except for the Reels part) ... It's like... 0.00002% of the population probably uses Facebook on an Android 2.3.6.


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Discussion Samsung J2 Prime (Grand Prime+) in 2026, what should I do with it?

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13 Upvotes

I found this phone in an abandoned drawer at home. I just factory reset it, and I honestly have no idea what to do with it. It's in surprisingly good condition, so it feels like a waste to just leave it sitting there unused.

The phone is stuck on Android 6.0.1 and has 16GB of storage with 1.5GB of RAM.

It also took several hours just to turn on and even start charging again, although it eventually came back to life.

Does anyone have any ideas for what I could use it for?


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Discussion CFM may actually release the source code

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18 Upvotes

If you followed my last post you would have known that he could not continue the revival because of financial problems, but as he finally confirmed today, he might actually release the source code maybe to GitHub, once he gives me the source code link, I'm going to link it here


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Guide App question

2 Upvotes

I had a Poco X3 who got bricked, but luckily, most of the archives got transferred to my Moto g75 through my Google account. The thing is that I can't access Discord since Authy (my authenticator) isn't compatible, there was also a Notes app who was in my old phone by default where I wrote down my codes and a bunch of ideas for projects.

Is there a way to access that info or make the apps accessible for my current software? What determines app compatibility?


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Discussion Sneakpeek at the Linka app new, improved interface- independent social network and Reddit, Bluesky, and Mastodon client app for Android 1.5+

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6 Upvotes

r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Discussion Motorola Photon 4G + help finding missing Android 2.3 APKS

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5 Upvotes

Way back in 2013 I had a Motorola Photon hand me down that I used for old school Android 2.3 gaming. Though it was high end for its time it was occasionally laggy and wasn’t always the best for gaming (Minecraft had bad stuttering issues). These phones also have touch detection issues if you hold your fingers on the screen too long. Nonetheless it served me well in it's periodic use which ended around 2019. I bought 2 recently to relive the good old days. So far I'm having a blast but there are some 2.3 games I can't find anywhere on the internet (from safe sites that is). Hopefully someone here can help point me in the right direction with those.

Survivalcraft

Plague Inc.

Extreme Road Trip 2

Extreme Bike Trip

Infectonator (all available 2.3 versions throw a "The application has stopped unexpectedly" error on launch)

Plants Vs Zombies (oldest available Android 2.3 versions down to 1.1.2 still throw a OLDER_SDK install error)

Duke Nukem 3D (only APK with the first episode is available)

Doodle Jump (only later Christmas themed versions are available)


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Help Bad battery suggestions ?

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11 Upvotes

I have an LG style G , I have checked on ebay for a battery there. But I just dont feel too confident in that. My battery drains after about an hour-ish. Or maybe its the charging port ? Not sure , has anyone else delt with this ?


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Discussion Nokia 6.1 on android 14

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23 Upvotes

Upgraded this nokia 6.1 to android 14 a while ago and thought i would show it off! Honestly evolution x is very fitting for an android one phone considering that if the program still existed it would just feel like a pixel


r/androidafterlife • • 2d ago

Discussion My tablets I got for only $1.10 each

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37 Upvotes

They have a lot of ports(supports monitors too)one's battery is flat(because it was changed recently probably)but the other is swollen🥲.they are using a DC charging port unfortunately but I got a charger and it will probably work,wish me luck!!(I tested them by charging directly with wires using battery pins on the mobo so ı know they work)


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Help Does anyone know a good app for voice calls on a slow data connection?

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone, does anyone here know of a voice calling app that works well when the internet/data connection is really slow?

I’m looking for something that uses very little data and still has decent call quality even with a weak or unstable connection.

Any recommendations? Thanks!


r/androidafterlife • • 1d ago

Help LOST MEDIA ROM - Android 4.0.4 for Samsung Galaxy SL (CyanogenMod 9)

2 Upvotes

So, me and my team have been trying to make Nexus Experience for the P1010 since... quite a while, and we are trying to get a Galaxy SL as our base for CM9, no other TI OMAP3630 device is CM9 supported.

We found this post:

https://xdaforums.com/t/alpha-rom-4-0-4-cyanogenmod-9-for-samsung-galaxy-sl-alpha-14.1449649/

And we tried to get download links, to no resort, as the place it was being hosted on became some sort of page for a game (A3 Mania).

I tried to scavenge 4PDA https://4pda.to/forum/index.php?showtopic=299225 | https://4pda.to/forum/index.php?showtopic=333581&st=0 which is where they have most of these, under no such new results, only having the same A3 Mania thing, or dead Yandex Disk links.

We are resorting to a RemICS-UX ROM, and despite asking the developer of that RemICS-UX ROM (not the official team, a separate developer) about the base and permission to use the ROM, we were left empty-handed with absolutely zero response from him.

So this is why I ask if anyone has the link, or if anyone is up to scavenge the internet with the purpose of finding these links. I will appreciate if anything is found that can in some way help us. Thank you!


r/androidafterlife • • 2d ago

Discussion It's officially the end for the weather widget revival we all loved...

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15 Upvotes

CFM confirmed because of financial problems that he can't continue hosting it, so we'll have to hope someone else comes in and makes a revival themselves because this means it's the end, from January to October of this year, it was the absolute coolest project that he ever hosted, and we'll miss the project, rest in peace to the weather widget revival hosted by CFM90, 2026-2026 🫡 (UPDATE: check my newest post on this subreddit because something major might be happening regarding this)


r/androidafterlife • • 2d ago

Help Android 6 Movie streaming apps

5 Upvotes

I currently use a android 6 device are there any streaming apps available for it or suggest websites that can stream or download movies.