https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-promised-make-old-phones-useful-galaxy-upcycle/ Menu XDA logo Sign in now [ ] Close * + News + PC Hardware [ ] Submenu o CPU o GPU o Storage o Monitors o Keyboards & Mice + [ ] Software Submenu o Productivity o Self-Hosting o Home Lab o Other Software + [ ] Operating Systems Submenu o Windows o Linux o macOS + Devices [ ] Submenu o Single-Board Computers o Laptops o Gaming Handheld o Prebuilt PC + [ ] Home Submenu o Networking o Smart Home + Gaming [ ] Submenu o Game Reviews * Sign in * Newsletter [ ] * * * * * * * * * Menu XDA logo Follow Followed Like Threads 16 More Action Summary Generate a summary of this story Sign in now [ ] ESP32 Windows 11 NotebookLM Gaming Forums [ ] Close [ ] Samsung's Galaxy Upcycle promised to make old phones useful, then won an award for giving up Galaxy Upcycling home screen 4 By Adam Conway Published Feb 11, 2026, 2:30 PM EST I'm Adam Conway, an Irish technology fanatic with a BSc in Computer Science and I'm XDA's Lead Technical Editor. My Bachelor's thesis was conducted on the viability of benchmarking the non-functional elements of Android apps and smartphones such as performance, and I've been working in the tech industry in some way or another since 2017. In my spare time, you'll probably find me playing Counter-Strike or VALORANT, and you can reach out to me at adam@xda-developers.com, on Twitter as @AdamConwayIE, on Instagram as adamc.99, or u/AdamConwayIE on Reddit. Sign in to your XDA account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread 16 Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I'm 5 Give me a lighthearted recap In 2017, Samsung stood on stage at its Developer Conference and announced one of the most exciting sustainability ideas the smartphone industry had seen. Galaxy Upcycling would let you take your old Galaxy phone, unlock its bootloader, and turn it into whatever you wanted: a smart home sensor, a baby monitor, a Linux computer, a retro gaming console. iFixit co-launched the program. The open-source community was thrilled, especially given that Samsung had a GitHub page for it and everything. Then nothing happened. For four years. When Samsung finally shipped something called "Galaxy Upcycling at Home" in 2021, it bore almost no resemblance to what was promised. And then that quietly faded into irrelevance too. Galaxy Upcycle's initial pitch was great Turn your old phone into a game console galaxy-upcycling-original-page To understand why this story is so frustrating, you need to understand what Samsung actually promised. In May 2017, iFixit's Chief Tool Officer Eric Essen stumbled upon Samsung's upcycling project at Maker Faire in the Bay Area. iFixit's CEO Kyle Wiens was later invited to Samsung's headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, where he saw working prototypes. Old Galaxy S5 phones were being used to mine Bitcoin in a cluster. Others had been turned into smart doorbells and baby monitors. The plan had two parts. First, Samsung would unlock the bootloaders on old Galaxy phones, which would also help projects like LineageOS that let you install custom operating systems on Android hardware. Second, Samsung would build an open-source marketplace where developers and makers could share applications purpose-built for repurposed phones. You could run whatever operating system you wanted on your old Galaxy. The project had a GitHub page, and iFixit's name and logo were all over the marketing materials. The suggested use cases covered a lot of ground: smart fish tank monitors, weather stations, nanny cams, pet feeders, retro game consoles, full Linux computers. Old smartphones have fast processors, cameras, multiple sensors, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS, all of which still work fine long after people stop using them as daily phones. The idea was compelling because it was practical, and they weren't vaporware concepts, either; Samsung had built working demos. Imagine what it could do with a modern Home Assistant stack? Wiens referred to it as "one of the best ideas that not only Samsung has ever had, but anyone in the entire device ecosystem has ever had." He wasn't wrong, and the concept was genuinely exciting. Years of silence, then nothing All we got were two sensors Galaxy Upcycling sensors After the 2017 announcement, Samsung went quiet. There were no public statements or references to the program; not even iFixit could get a response, as Samsung stopped replying to their emails entirely. People inside Samsung allegedly told iFixit that leadership wasn't enthusiastic about a project that lacked a clear product tie-in or revenue plan. Wiens believes the engineering team had the whole thing ready to launch and ran it up the corporate flagpole, only for it to be killed off by executives. This makes sense when you think about what the original program actually required Samsung to do. Bootloader unlocking would strip Samsung's proprietary software from phones, cause PR headaches, and give the custom ROM community far easier access to modifying Samsung devices. Making old phones useful for longer also directly conflicts with Samsung's core business of selling new phones. Samsung's trade-in programs, which offer credit toward new devices, tell you what Samsung actually wants to do with your old phone: get it back and sell you a new one. In other words, there was no clear way for Samsung to make money from Galaxy Upcycling. And for a company that ships hundreds of millions of phones per year, that's likely a death sentence for an internal project. When Samsung announced Galaxy Upcycling at Home at CES 2021, you'd have been forgiven for assuming based on the press release that the project had finally arrived. Unfortunately, it hadn't. The shipped version could do exactly two things through the app: detect sounds (baby crying, dog barking, cat meowing, knocking) and measure room brightness to trigger smart home automations. That was it. There was no bootloader unlocking, no open-source marketplace, no custom operating systems, no community-built applications. The device compatibility list was also strange. It required a Galaxy S9, Note 9, or newer running Android 9 Pie or later, meaning phones from 2018 onward. At the time of the beta launch, a Galaxy S9 was still worth around well over $100 on the secondhand market. In other words, Samsung's upcycling vision amounted to turning a phone that could go for $100 or more into a $30 light and sound sensor, and its availability was massively limited. To be specific, the Galaxy Upcycling application was only launched officially in the US, UK, and South Korea, and it never really left beta. iFixit at the time referred to it as "nearly unrecognizable" compared to what was promised and what the iFixit had essentially co-launched alongside Samsung. Samsung won an award for its cosmetic sustainability Even after it stripped the program down Samsung Galaxy S25 FE (10) The most frustrating part of this saga, I find, is that Samsung actually won an award for its Galaxy Upcycle program. When it launched in 2021, the company won the Reuters Responsible Business "Circular Transition Award" for Galaxy Upcycling at Home. The judges praised it as "a simple initiative with a basic idea, which helps shift the mindset on the value of old phones. A genuine closed loop versus recycling of e-waste with an innovative twist." Funnily enough, Samsung then folded the program into its "Galaxy for the Planet" sustainability initiative and tied it to UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, which covers responsible consumption and production. So, just to recap: * Samsung announced an open-source upcycling program in 2017 * Supposedly ghosted its partners * Seemingly killed the project internally * Shipped a version so stripped down it barely functioned * Won a sustainability award for it Meanwhile, Samsung's own recycling numbers tell a different story. Its old phone collection campaign, running since 2015, had collected just 38,000 phones as of May 2019. Samsung had sold 2 billion Galaxy devices by February 2019. That's a recovery rate of 0.0019%, and Samsung wasn't actually doing a whole lot for sustainability, either. You see, in 2022, despite the Upcycling experience, iFixit agreed to partner with Samsung on a self-repair program, and it seemed that iFixit was willing to give Samsung the benefit of the doubt. However, just two years later, in May 2024, iFixit ended the partnership entirely. The reasons given by iFixit were particularly damning. Apparently, Samsung priced parts so high that consumers often just replaced devices instead of repairing them. On top of that, Samsung limited repair shops to seven parts per quarter, which iFixit called "non-viable" since most shops handle seven Samsung repairs per day. Finally, Galaxy devices remained "frustratingly glued together," forcing bundled battery-and-screen replacements that drove up costs even more. Both of these partnerships with iFixit ended the same way. Samsung's sustainability announcements look great in press releases and award submissions, but when they conflict with selling new hardware or keeping control over the software ecosystem, the sustainability project loses out. You don't need Samsung's help, at least You can do things yourself The OnePlus 12R, Galaxy S24 FE, and Pixel 8a form factor. The OnePlus 12R, Galaxy S24 FE, and Pixel 8a form factor. You don't need Samsung's permission to pursue the original Galaxy Upcycling vision, at least not all of it. Old phones can be repurposed right now, though Samsung's locked bootloaders make it harder than it should be. For example, you can turn an old phone into a security camera using apps like Alfred or IP Webcam, use one as a dedicated smart home controller mounted to a wall, or set it up as a baby monitor, media player, e-reader, or digital photo frame. If you want to go further, the Free Software Foundation Europe runs " Upcycling Android," which promotes installing free software on old Android devices to keep them going longer. LineageOS and other custom ROM projects let you install updated, lightweight operating systems on older hardware, though Samsung's phones with locked bootloaders make this way harder than it needs to be. You could still do something with it though, like turning it into a Home Assistant dashboard. Even still, none of this matches what Samsung originally promised. A manufacturer-backed upcycling ecosystem with bootloader unlocking and an open-source app marketplace would have been something else entirely. But the workarounds exist, and they're better than letting your old phone collect dust. Shockingly, Galaxy Upcycling at Home is technically still available to install as of 2026, but it hasn't been updated or expanded since its beta launch. Samsung hasn't said anything about reviving the original vision. Even the original Galaxy Upcycling GitHub page is still online, gathering dust. Funnily enough, Samsung never officially canceled the original program. There hasn't been an announcement, explanation, or even an acknowledgment of the gap between what was promised and what was delivered, and it feels as if the company moved on hoping that people would just... forget. To be cynical, smartphone manufacturers have every reason to make you buy a new phone and almost no reason to help you keep using your old one, yet Galaxy Upcycling directly threatened that model. It could make your old phone useful, possibly even useful enough to skip an upgrade cycle. And for a company that makes its money selling new ones, that was a problem no sustainability award could solve. * Smart Home * Samsung Follow Followed Like Share Facebook X WhatsApp Threads Bluesky LinkedIn Reddit Flipboard Copy link Email Close * Today's best deals An image of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor's contacts. 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Your comment has not been saved Send confirmation email Sort by: [Popular] * Chris User Display Picture Chris User Display Picture Chris #ZF136290 Member since 2023-10-11 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View I think there's a few holes in the logic here. First off, even under the current anti-sustainability climate of Samsung phones, people are still skipping as many generations as they can to save money down the road. I'm still rocking an S22+ in 2026. All phone brands have people who do this. Secondly, just because someone repurposes their phone to do something else doesn't mean their not going buy a new one. To stay relevant, one had to eventually buy a new phone. I don't think that would've changed with Upcycling. Lastly, if Samsung gets back such a small percentage of their phones back anyway, are they really losing much money at all with an Upcycling program? Doesn't make much sense to me. They have little to lose from my point of view. It's like companies these days have forgotten that selling a product by itself isn't enough, but they need to build customer trust too. They don't want to do that though. It costs them .0001% of their revenue. 2026-02-12 05:58:08 Upvote 20 Downvote Reply 1 Copy * Jarrod User Display Picture Jarrod User Display Picture Jarrod #IZ796143 Member since 2025-10-10 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View The way I see it is a corporate circle jerk. Samsung came up with a great idea to get attention, dumbed it down to something stupid then got given a sustainability award for disappointing people. Samsung wore the "Right to Repair" costume to the gala but left the actual policy at home. 2026-02-12 20:22:54 Upvote 5 Downvote Reply Copy * Olumide User Display Picture Olumide User Display Picture Olumide #TX564075 Member since 2024-08-23 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View If I'm able to repurpose my old phone, it doesn't stop me from buying a new phone. Would I convert my phone into a baby monitor cam and then go around phoneless? That would be ridiculous. In fact, being able to convert my old Samsung phone would be an incentive for me to continue buying Samsung phones knowing fully well it would remain useful in the future. 2026-02-12 12:06:21 Upvote 12 Downvote Reply 1 Copy * Michael User Display Picture Michael User Display Picture Michael #RZ177926 Member since 2026-02-13 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View The point of upcycling isnt to stop you needing to buy a new phone, though extending the lifestyle of the phone would be good, its to delay it going to landfills. If you use that old samsung as a baby cam, you dont buy a baby cam. Personally I wish there was a law that when you end support for a device it DOES have to be unlocked. Ive seen schools with stacks of old ipads, ive personally had a samsung note 3 that gave over 8 years of service as a phone (i had to replace the battery ) because I was lucky enough I could run lineage on that model. And I gave it away to someone else at that point. 2026-02-13 13:31:25 Upvote 1 Downvote Reply Copy * j r User Display Picture j r User Display Picture j r #IT428406 Member since 2026-02-12 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View I'm wondering if it might have something to do with assurian/ affirm. They control the return industry on hundreds of products all over the world 2026-02-12 10:41:27 Upvote 4 Downvote Reply Copy * Terry User Display Picture Terry User Display Picture Terry #CP714817 Member since 2026-02-13 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Well I stopped buying anything Samsung five years ago. Their TV's are inferior in many ways, especially the lack of Dolby Vision and their failure rate is pretty high the past few years according to a lot of repair industry Tech's, they have gone downhill in quality. My latest TV purchase is a 65 inch LG OLED and my 2016 LG LCD/led backlit 55 inch is still going strong. No way did I even consider a Samsung with the lack of the industry standard Dolby HDR. Samsung smartphones seem pretty stagnant these days too. I find my Pixel 7 and now 10 very refreshing over my previous Samsung Galaxy phones. The lack of all that Samsung bloatware is so much nicer. I know many others who have dropped their habit of just getting the next boring Samsung Galaxy, going for other manufacturers phones now. Samsung just doesn't seem to see it and dropping the Upcycling project looks quite bad in them! 2026-02-12 19:19:43 Upvote 4 Downvote Reply Copy * Tanishq User Display Picture Tanishq User Display Picture Tanishq #UK915862 Member since 2026-02-04 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Sadly Samsung going downer hill then apple. 2026-02-12 21:25:03 Upvote 3 Downvote Reply Copy * ddscentral User Display Picture ddscentral User Display Picture ddscentral #TL060565 Member since 2024-08-23 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Here in the EU, fortunately Samsung was required to allow bootloaders to be unlocked. That's how I repurposed my old S20+. I turned it into a Linux server, ported LXC and Docker to it. And learnt quite a bit about how various things work under the hood, especially the network stack, init system, etc. It was a really fun experience and a useful one too, the device is still in use to this day. It's sad some countries are treated differently, with devices left locked down, with outdated software, no low level access and limited ways to repurpose. A 5 year old high-end phone can have a lot more computing power than most single board computers, it still has plenty of uses with the right software. 2026-02-13 13:57:09 Upvote 1 Downvote Reply 1 Copy * Mike User Display Picture Mike User Display Picture Mike #EG535871 Member since 2026-01-03 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Are the scripts for unlocking devices in the EU available, or do I need to bring my old Samsung's with me on vacation to get them unlocked. 2026-02-13 21:45:13 Upvote 2 Downvote Reply Copy * Fake_3mpire User Display Picture Fake_3mpire User Display Picture Fake_3mpire #BO217045 Member since 2026-02-13 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View I don't know about anyone else's old device but after 2 years of constant use the battery is shot. Even if up cycling was implemented. How useful would the devices be that could barely last 24hrs being on. I still have my old S20 Ultra, I have stripped it off most of it's apps and occasionally turn it on, last I did, and left it on. The battery died within 24hrs. Samsung and other manufacturers need to incentivise recycling/ exchanging more. 2026-02-13 04:14:42 Upvote 1 Downvote Reply Copy * Steve User Display Picture Steve User Display Picture Steve #LH388783 Member since 2023-09-18 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View The way this helps Samsung make money is simple, announce this bullshit initiative, suckers like me stupidly trust that organizations like iFixit aren't going to lend their name to scam and buy a Samsung phone. Counting on the program to not actually be a massive lie. Samsung only need to slide a small kickback to their partners in crime at iFixit and get to pocket the rest of the product from increased sales. Never again Samsung, never again iFixit. You fooled me once. 2026-02-12 14:25:00 Upvote 3 Downvote Reply 1 Copy * Professor_Yana User Display Picture Professor_Yana User Display Picture Professor_Yana #SU043669 Member since 2026-02-13 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View ...you didn't read the article, did you? iFixit was bamboozled by Samsung just like everyone else. So shame on you for lumping them in with Samsung. 2026-02-13 03:17:40 Upvote 6 Downvote Reply Copy * AdiNugraha User Display Picture AdiNugraha User Display Picture AdiNugraha #CR977680 Member since 2025-12-15 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View I trade-in for new phone so no phone wasted 2026-02-14 18:42:52 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Vaff User Display Picture Vaff User Display Picture Vaff #II735894 Member since 2024-11-01 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View How about if they restore their credibility by collecting any old phone regardless of make and stripping them into individual components that can be used assemble cheap SILCo (sensor, instrument, logic and communication) packages for drones to support the defense of Ukraine? With modular PCB's, open-source drivers, and scavenged Exynos, Qualcomm, or MediaTek processors running lightweight Android controller firmware all you're missing is $50 worth of flight frame, motors, and propellers--ordnance optional. 2026-02-12 12:00:37 Upvote Downvote Reply 1 Copy * James User Display Picture James User Display Picture James #MV258789 Member since 2026-02-12 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View Depending on which Samsung phone you use and how good their batteries were at the time, the ordnance may already be included! 2026-02-12 14:25:24 Upvote 2 Downvote Reply Copy * Steve User Display Picture Premium Member Steve User Display Picture Steve Premium Member #SI718256 Member since 2023-10-18 Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View It's a good time to launch a performance award for this kind of thing out of piezofibers... it's a 8' x 8' rug and occasionally it contracts to to 2' x 2' to sell the rug pull they did. Comes with hanging instructions if you don't want to flip the VP on the regs. Reuters Awards Dep't...le'ss JV dis pig. Yeah making yard terminals and panopticon stubs wasn't getting it for the OG bits. It's not like an aging 22 can't run NeRF scans or with bits of ingenuity run lens changes, direct set dressing, scan eye condition, microscopy roughing and work, tag pinholes, do some IR hyperspectral auditing for major pollution on roads, supervise drones, set and tear down tea parties... 2026-02-12 07:58:13 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy * Terms * Privacy * Feedback Recommended Stremio on a laptop Stremio organizes streaming services I already pay for better than any of them do The Ottocast Car Care attached to a headrest rail Ottocast's Cabin Care review: The ultimate in-car baby monitor Running the Ultimate Updater script on Proxmox I love Proxmox community scripts, but a single command executes 8 remote scripts as root An image of a mobile lab built with Proxmox and a mini PC. 9 Docker containers that run 24/7 on my $100 mini PC Shorts alosleak-tn 4 By Alex Dobie 1:17 Android for Desktop has leaked xpnost-tn 4 By Alex Dobie 1:12 Why are we so nostalgic for Windows XP? nexphone-sh-tn 4 By Alex Dobie 1:11 The closest we'll ever get to Windows Phone 11 ava-razer-ces 4 By Alex Dobie 1:17 Razer made a holographic AI anime Assistant ram-vertical 4 By Alex Dobie 0:59 When will the RAM crisis actually end? 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