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Tablets are a great way to watch movies and play games on the go. You could do the same on your phone, but the screen is too small to enjoy much of anything. When I upgraded to a tablet with better specs, though, my cheap Android tablet stopped finding a place in my backpack.
It was still working perfectly, so instead of letting it collect dust, I dug it out and found ways to give it a new life. Four free apps later, each one has saved me from buying another piece of hardware.
Fotoo
Turn your tablet into a digital photo frame
A photo frame on your desk or living room shelf adds a nice personal touch. A digital photo frame that cycles through your favorite memories is even better. But a decent one with a 10-inch HD display runs anywhere from $60 to $80. My old tablet already has a higher resolution screen, touch input, and more storage than most dedicated frames, so it was not difficult to see the use case here.
The missing piece, however, was an app that could loop customizable slideshows from my gallery, and that's where Fotoo comes in. It's a freemium Android app that turns your tablet or TV into a digital photo frame. You can pull photos from cloud storage like Google Photos, Dropbox, and OneDrive, or just use the images already on your tablet.
The free version limits you to a single pan-style transition, which works but isn't the prettiest. The premium upgrade unlocks over 15 transition effects, non-stop slideshows, and a date and time overlay that gives the whole setup an authentic photo frame look. You can even schedule the app to auto-start and set a timer to save battery. For what it costs, the upgrade is worth considering if you plan to leave the tablet on your desk full-time.
Spacedesk
Use your tablet as a second screen for your PC
If you have a 10-inch or larger tablet, Spacedesk can turn it into a second monitor for your Windows PC. There's no hard screen size requirement, but a secondary display still needs enough real estate to be useful, and anything smaller than 10 inches starts to feel cramped.
Install the Spacedesk driver on your Windows machine and the free viewer app on your tablet. Connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi network, and the tablet will automatically detect your PC. From Windows Display Settings, set the new display to Extend and drag it to match where your tablet is sitting. That's it.
In practice, tapping the tablet screen interacts with whatever Windows window is showing on it. It's not mouse-level precise, but for scrolling through a reference page or tapping a link, it works well enough. For productivity tasks like keeping Slack or a document open on the side, the experience feels like sitting at a dual-monitor setup, just smaller.
The catch is that performance depends heavily on your Wi-Fi. On a stable home network, the lag is barely noticeable. On a busy or weak connection, you'll see stutters and compression artifacts, especially with video. It's best suited for static content like documents and chat apps rather than media playback. If you're looking for an alternative, GlideX by ASUS does the same thing and adds support for wired USB connections, which can help with stability.
Touch Portal
A free Stream Deck-like macro controller
One app that has saved me at least $140 in the last year is Touch Portal. I'd been eyeing an Elgato Stream Deck for months, mostly for productivity rather than streaming. But before pulling the trigger, I figured I'd see if my tablet could do the same thing, and Touch Portal turned out to be exactly what I needed.
It's a free app that turns your phone or tablet into a customizable control surface. You install a companion desktop app on your PC, pair both devices over Wi-Fi, and then build pages of tappable buttons that can launch apps, trigger keyboard shortcuts, or run multi-step macros. Think of it as a software Stream Deck without the dedicated hardware.
Setting up Touch Portal isn't the most intuitive process, though. You need to pair the devices by scanning a QR code from the desktop app, then click empty button slots to assign actions. For a basic app launcher setup, select Launch Apps & Games in the button editor, pick your app, and assign an icon. The IKON pack from Touch Portal's asset store gives your buttons a polished, Stream Deck-like look.
The free version limits you to a 4x2 grid and two pages, which is enough for a basic productivity layout. My setup has buttons for Slack, Spotify, my browser, file manager, and a few apps I use daily. The Pro upgrade is a one-time $13.99 purchase that offers unlimited pages and up to 110 buttons that you can customize. For my needs, the free version does everything I want, though I wish background color customization weren't locked behind the paywall.
Libby
Your old tablet as a dedicated e-book reader
An old Android tablet makes a better e-reader than you'd think. I never considered mine for reading until I realized it had one advantage over my phone: a screen large enough to read comfortably without constant zooming and scrolling. And unlike a Kindle, it isn't locked into a single ecosystem.
Libby is what makes this work. It's a free app by OverDrive that connects to your local public library, giving you access to thousands of e-books, audiobooks, and magazines. All you need is a library card. There are no subscription fees, no late fees, and borrowed titles return themselves automatically when the lending period ends.
What I like about using Libby on a tablet instead of a phone is the reading experience. Text is large enough to read without strain, and you can adjust fonts, margins, and background color to suit your preference. If you're into manga or graphic novels, a tablet is noticeably better than an e-reader because you get full color and faster page rendering.
The one downside compared to a dedicated e-reader is screen fatigue. E-ink displays are easier on the eyes during long reading sessions. If you read for hours at a stretch, you'll feel the difference. But for shorter sessions or mixed-media reading like magazines and comics, the tablet holds its own.
Free apps to make your tablet useful again
These apps can breathe new life into your old tablets, devices that often get sidelined not because the hardware is bad, but because the manufacturer has stopped releasing software updates. They can even replace a gadget you were planning to purchase, so you might save some money, all for free.
