4 ways I reuse my old iPhones instead of trading them in – including with robots

Now that the official yearly iPhone event is complete, so is my decision. I’m going to upgrade my vintage 2020 iPhone 12 Pro Max for an iPhone 16 Pro Max. I’m not thrilled with going through the ordering and upgrade process, and I’m even less thrilled with spending the whopping amount of money a fully-equipped iPhone 16 Pro Max will cost.

Also: iPhone 16 Pro hands-on: My 3 favorite things about this ridiculously overpowered supercomputer

I’m picking the Pro model because I’ll make good use of the 48-MP ultrawide, 12-MP telephoto (5X optical zoom) and 4K 120fps video in the Pro cameras. I’m going for the Max form factor because I prefer bigger phone displays both for productivity and for just general use.

What I’m not doing is trading in my iPhone 12 Pro Max. According to the Apple preorder system, I could get as much as $350 back for my old phone.

Verizon’s estimate is $215 if I decided to go through the carrier instead.

In fact, I never trade in my old iPhones. I find them far more useful as additional control surfaces and cameras for my YouTube video production. They join my fleet of cameras along with a couple of DSLRs, a few action cams, my DJI Pocket 2, three iPads, and some older iPhones, including the tiny iPhone SE (second generation).

I also regularly deployed my beloved 2015 iPhone 6s Plus, but after nine years, it finally died. 

Also: 6 reasons why iOS 18 makes the iPhone 16 a must-upgrade for me

Having a wide range of cameras and camera types allows me to construct shots dynamically, allowing me to pick and choose from the gear to get just the effect I want to create. I also often use a bunch of devices at once, where they serve as displays, control surfaces, and recording devices.

Speaking specifically of my iPhones, let’s dive into my four main studio uses of spare iPhones. I did my earliest recordings using just my main iPhone, but I found that there were benefits to using two or more devices at once.

1. Overhead recording

My first use of two iPhones at once was in overhead recording. This is a form of multicam recording (which I’ll talk about more in a minute).

Also: Building a $40 overhead filming rig for YouTube

When doing box opening, process shots, or reviews, it’s very useful to have a shot facing straight on (where I originally used my main iPhone at the time), and an overhead shot that lets viewers see details of whatever’s being worked on.

2. Remote viewfinder

One thing you discover about five minutes after setting up your first overhead rig is that you can’t see what’s being filmed. Sure, you can climb up on a stool or ladder to look down on the viewing surface, but it’s much nicer to be able to see what’s in frame as you’re filming.

For this, I use another iPhone or iPad. I started with the remote app for Filmic Pro, but more recently, I’ve moved on to MoviePro and MoviePro Remote. You run one app on the phone intended to be the camera. You can run the Remote app on the phone intended to be the viewfinder. It’s a very powerful combination.

Also: The iPhone 16 is undeniably great hardware – but you should still probably skip it

I also use an iPhone and/or iPad as a remote viewfinder for my Sony DSLR. You’ll need to use the Sony Imaging Edge application to set that up, and then the camera will broadcast to your iOS device, not only showing you what’s in the viewfinder but also allowing you to control the DSLR.

I also use my iPhone or iPad as a remote viewfinder on my much older Canon DSLR. That camera doesn’t have any networking, but it does have an HDMI-out intended to go to a local monitor. I paired it with a (now unavailable) wireless HDMI transmitter that sends video directly to an iOS app. You can see one configuration of that setup here.

There are some HDMI camera transmitters, but they’re much more expensive than what I used. I think the market for camera HDMI transmitters dropped off quite a bit as more and more DSLRs came with their own ways to transmit directly to iOS devices.

3. Multicam recording

Multicam recording is the process of recording a scene using multiple cameras at once. I use multicam a lot for my how-to and review videos because each camera shows a different angle of what I’m working on.

I find this hugely helpful because I can set up a bunch of cameras (I usually use three or four) to capture various angles of my work. Then, I can do whatever I’m doing on camera, often without worrying about whether the camera can pick it up. This is particularly a win when I’m using something that has a spinning blade of death, and it’s much more important for me to concentrate on operating the dangerous tool than how I look on camera.

Also: iPhone 16 Pro vs. iPhone 13 Pro: Should you upgrade to Apple’s latest model?

Sometimes I mix and match cameras to get a certain effect. But more often than not, I just use a bunch of iOS devices, each capturing its own view and storing the results in the Photos library for later editing.

Final Cut Pro on the Mac has a great tool for synchronizing multicam recordings. All you have to do is make sure sound is recorded on all the cameras, and then the editing software automatically syncs everything up.

Final Cut on the iPad recently added its own Live Multicam feature, where you can control up to four iPads or iPhones directly from an iPad, switching between them dynamically.

I still generally just record separate streams and then sync them on my desktop, but Live Multicam is great for covering events.

4. Robot motion control controller

Then there are my camera robots. I have a lot of them, and they’re all controlled by my iOS devices. This is my motion-controlled jib:

It has four degrees of motion. The jib itself goes up and down and rotates left and right. Then the head also goes up and down and rotates left and right. Using motion control software, I can set marker points and then configure the software to move between those points, changing the jib settings to the saved markers.

I also have a couple of sliders, also with remote-controlled heads, as well as a robotic floor dolly that will move an entire tripod assembly based on what I set using my iPhone’s software.

Each set of motions requires its own iOS device. So I can program in all the jib motions using one iPhone. But if I want to separately control a slide and head, that needs another iPhone. And if I want to mount the jib on a robot dolly, that needs yet another iOS device to control it.

Look, I’ll admit I probably have a few too many robots. Between the motion-control camera robots and all my automated fabrication robots, I have somewhere above 30 independently controlled semi-autonomous robots. All I can say in my defense is that I have a very tolerant wife.

Also: My 9 must-have gadgets for creating quality YouTube videos

But that’s not the point of this article. My point is that old iPhones have value as cameras and controllers. Since the trade-in value (especially since I usually keep my daily driver for three or four generations before upgrading) is fairly low, it’s much more valuable to me to have the added functionality of spare phones for my project work.

What about you? Do you keep your old phones? Do you have a bunch of robots? Are you considering upgrading to the iPhone 16? Let us know in the comments below.

You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter, and follow me on Twitter/X at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.