In a box of old cables, I recently discovered an old 30-pin Apple charging cable that came with my iPad 2. It reminded me that I still had my old second-generation iPad lying around somewhere. After a bit of hunting, I tracked it down and charged it up. It still works just fine.

I soon discovered there were several things I could no longer do with the outdated tablet, such as opening certain apps and websites. However, there are still several ways you may put your old iPad to good use.

The Trackpad app running on an iPad 2.

The trackpad on my MacBook Air is a joy to use. Swiping between screens with three fingers has become such second nature that I really miss it when I’m using my iMac. I keep thinking that I should invest in aMagic Trackpad, but there are always more pressing needs for the $129 it would cost to buy one.

When I found my old iPad 2, I found the Touchpad app that I’d installed years ago. Remarkably, when I fired it up, it detected my Mac, prompted me for my password, and was working within seconds. The large touch screen of the iPad is ideal for three-finger and four-finger gestures, meaning I get a Magic Trackpad effectively for free.

The first page of Moby Dick in the iBooks app on an iPad 2.

One of the biggest issues with using an old iPad is getting content onto the device. My iPad 2 doesn’t support AirDrop due to the lack of necessary wireless hardware. AirDrop requires a fourth-generation iPad or newer.

The good news is that if you’re usingApple’s native Books app(still called iBooks on my iPad 2), you can still download books directly from within the app. It will also automatically sync content you’ve downloaded on your other Apple devices. For example, if I download a book on my iPhone, it will shortly appear in the iBooks app on my iPad.

The opening titles of a Warner Bros Bugs Bunny cartoon playing in the Plex app on an iPad 2.

The iPad is a perfect size for reading on, and while the older models are fairly heavy compared to newer models, they’re still great for short reading sessions. It’s a simple way to upgrade your bathroom library collection.

The larger screen of an iPad makes it much better for watching shows and movies than an iPhone. Sadly, my iPad 2 is too old to run apps such as Netflix. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t still watch content on it.

Home Assistant running in the RealVNC Viewer app on an iPad 2.

Thankfully, the Plex app can still run on my iPad 2. This means you can use your iPad to stream shows and movies from a Plex server, whether it’s one that you set up locally or one thatsomeone else has shared with youthat is set up for remote access.

I also tried installingJellyfinto see if it was possible to use this alternative media server software, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to install a compatible version of Jellyfin on my iPad 2.

A dialog box in the App Store on an iPad 2 asking if you want to download the last compatible version of an app.

I useHome Assistantto control and automate my smart home, and many Home Assistant users spend a lot of time creating the perfect dashboards to control and monitor their devices. These are often displayed on tablets or other displays that are mounted on walls.

I’m not a big fan of the idea of smart home control panels. My ideal smart home is one where everything happens automatically without requiring me to press any buttons or interact in any way. However, sometimes, you just need some buttons to push.

Fruit Ninja running on an iPad 2.

I was disappointed to find that I wasn’t able to open my Home Assistant dashboard in a browser on my iPad 2, because Safari is so out of date that it can no longer open modern websites. However, thanks to the Home Assistant community, I found a workaround by using a VNC server to stream a browser running in a virtual machine which I could access on the iPad.

I can now use the iPad 2 as a dedicated smart home controller. If smart home dashboards are your thing, it’s useful to be able to put older devices to use in this way.

A photo montage of two images in a slideshow in the Photos app on an iPad 2.

Some games are very well suited to the larger screen of the iPad. Back in the day, I lost many an hour playingFruit Ninjaon the iPad. I was pleased to discover that the game was still installed on my iPad 2, and still plays like a charm. The larger screen of the iPad makes it much easier to get accurate hits on fruit.

While most modern iPad games can’t run on older iPads, games that were around when your old iPad was new will still run with no problems. If you don’t already have them installed, there’s a simple trick you can use.

A note with a realistic paper background in the Notes app on an iPad 2.

Download the game you want to add to your old iPad on a modern device, such as an iPhone. Once it’s downloaded, open the App Store on your iPad, and go to the “Purchased” tab at the bottom of the screen. Find the app you downloaded in the list of purchased apps and tap the iCloud icon.

You’ll see a pop-up message saying that the current version of the app isn’t supported on your device, but it will ask you if you want to download the latest compatible version. Tap “Download” and your iPad will install an older version of the game that works on your old iPad.

I’ve used this trick with games such asBroken Sword 1: Director’s Cut,Scribblenauts: Remix, andCatan, all of which play without issue on my ancient iPad 2.

My kids love using tablets. If given the chance, they would spend hours watching mindless videos on YouTube or playing games such as Crossy Road. The trouble is, it means that my wife and I have to give up our tablets or iPads whenever they want to play. Giving them an old iPad to use is a no-brainer, as it keeps them happy and isn’t a big deal when they inevitably smash it.

The trouble is that an old iPad can’t run a lot of the apps that they want. TheYouTube Kids appwon’t work on my iPad 2, and even opening the YouTube Kids website fails when I try to sign in. You could use the same trick as with the Home Assistant dashboard and stream a browser from a virtual machine that would give them access to current websites, but this is a lot of effort and isn’t ideal.

The simplest option is to just install a bunch of compatible games on there and let them play those. My kids had never seen Fruit Ninja and really got into it for a while. The best part is that when they get bored of the limited game selection, they will often put down the iPad themselves and go and do something more productive instead.

I have tens of thousands of photos on my iPhone, and there must be thousands of them that I’ve never looked at since I took them. The problem with digital photos is that they’re much easier to forget about than physical photos.

An old iPad can make a good digital photo frame to display your photos on a loop. Even the version of the Photos app that runs on my iPad 2 has a slideshow feature that I can use to play a loop of any photos that I select. Put the iPad inside a nice photo frame, and you have a great way to enjoy looking at photos that would otherwise stay hidden on your phone.

While many of the apps on my iPad 2 no longer work as expected, the native Apple Notes app still works really well. The notes sync perfectly with notes on my other devices, and creating new notes on the iPad is a real joy. That’s because the outdated version of Notes on my iPad 2 still uses the realistic paper texture as the background that Apple got rid of in subsequent updates, to the disappointment of many.

Notes on my old iPad lacks some features, such as theApple Intelligence features I have available on my iPhone 15 Pro. However, for basic notes, the larger keyboard of the iPad more than makes up for this.

There’s a lot that an old iPad just can’t do. The software is so outdated that most apps are no longer supported, and many websites simply won’t work correctly. However, if you have an old iPad that’s still in working order, there’s no reason why you can’t get some use out of it. Even if that use involves wasting your life playing Fruit Ninja.