Smart TVs are universally terrible. No, not the panels which continue to improve year-on-year, but the “smart” part that runs on them. Slow CPUs lead to sluggish app performance, if you can find the apps you want to use. To fix it, many opt for external streaming devices, but these are, for the most part, underpowered.
You might have the solution sitting in your home’s junk drawer — that old smartphone that you couldn’t bear to part with. With a fast CPU, support for most, if not all, of the codecs used in streaming, and HDMI output over USB-C, it’ll be more powerful than almost any external streamer. You could use it for other things as well, like a security camera, making it a multipurpose smart home device in minutes.
All you’ll need is a smartphone, a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter, and an HDMI cable, and you’ll be on your way to streaming from your Jellyfin server or anywhere else you want. Any phone from the last five years or so should be fine, as long as it supports “MHL” or “DP Alt Mode”.
This is the one thing I’d love to see changed with Jellyfin
It needs better official apps.
You probably have the best streaming device in a drawer
Any smartphone with HDMI out over USB-C will do the trick
If you think about it, most streaming sticks run a mobile operating system to begin with, so using an older smartphone isn’t much different. Once you’ve got your Jellyfin server set up, you don’t need that many other things to get your smartphone set as a dedicated streaming client:
- USB-C dock with HDMI output that supports pass-through charging
- HDMI cable
- Bluetooth or USB remote/keyboard
If you’ve got an older iPhone instead, you’ll want a Lightning-to-HDMI adapter, and then you’ll be on your way to streaming supremacy.
- iOS compatible
-
Yes
- Android compatible
-
Yes
Choose a Jellyfin client, and you’ll be on your way
Android users have things a little easier
Jellyfin will need a client app on the smartphone, which means you’ve got a choice to make. For iOS users, Infuse is probably the best option, but there are a few others (although no native app, yet). Android phone users will likely want to sideload the Android TV client APK from the official Jellyfin GitHub releases page, as it provides a TV-optimized layout.
Now to make it into a dedicated streamer
What sets streaming boxes apart from simply plugging a laptop or smartphone into your TV’s HDMI input is the integrated experience. That’s possible when you’re repurposing an old smartphone, with a little bit of work. The first thing you’ll want to do is to turn off lock screen notifications in the privacy menu, because it’ll be really annoying while you’re deeply invested in watching a movie.
Android users will want to enable developer options and set the Stay Awake When Charging flag to enable it to behave like a streaming stick. Then, in Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Home App, set Jellyfin as the default home launcher. It might be a slightly different branch in your menus depending on which phone you have, but it won’t be much different.
Now we want a few things turned off, so we don’t get rudely interrupted. Auto updates are the first thing to be turned off; otherwise, your phone might reboot just before the exciting parts. Background app refresh can go too, so it doesn’t slow down your network. Adaptive brightness doesn’t need to be on either; your TV will handle that part. And the Do Not Disturb feature is going to come in clutch for anything we might have missed.
Smart TVs have gotten so bad that a $35 streaming stick does everything better now
Not so smart anymore.
Your old phone deserves to avoid being e-waste
You don’t have to suffer slow streaming sticks anymore
Whether you’re repurposing it into a streaming device or starting your home lab, the processing power of an old smartphone can manage more than you might think. Whatever you choose, it’s better than letting that lovely phone languish in a desk drawer. Plus, it’s likely to support all the codecs you’d want, which you can’t always say for streaming sticks.
I turned an old phone into a Home Assistant dashboard for my desk
It’s actually really useful, and super easy to do, too.
