What to Do With Your Old Phone?
By Riki Baker, who repairs, buys and sells phones on the workbench every day · Updated 31 August 2026
The short answer: an old phone has four honest futures, whatever make it is: sell it, trade it in, repair it, or recycle/donate it. Still works and you just want something newer? Sell it for cash or trade it towards a refurbished upgrade. One thing broken but otherwise fine? Almost always a same-day, fixed-price repair. Genuinely past either of those? Sell it to us for parts or donate it, never bin it. Whichever of the four fits, wipe it properly first, that part is the same no matter which route you take. The one path that is never right is leaving it in a drawer unused, or worse, in general waste: a phone's battery is a real fire risk once it is crushed in a bin lorry.
Which one are you?
Any make, any model, the same four questions apply. Work out which one fits, then jump to that section below.
- 1
Still works, you just want something newer
Sell it for cash or trade it towards a refurbished upgrade. It has real value right now, and that value only drops the longer it sits in a drawer.
- 2
Something's broken, otherwise it's fine
Most single faults, a cracked screen, a dying battery, a flaky charging port, are a same-day, fixed-price repair on any make. Worth ruling out before you write it off.
- 3
Old, faulty, or already replaced
If it's genuinely not worth fixing or selling on, we still buy it for parts, or a charity can take it. Either beats it going in a landfill bin.
- 4
Made your decision to sell, trade or recycle it?
Wipe it properly first. It is the one step that protects both your data and the phone's value, and it takes ten minutes.
Still works? Sell it for cash or trade it in
A working phone loses value every month it sits unused, not because it stops working but because a newer model comes along and the second-hand market moves on without it. Material Focus, the UK body that tracks electricals recycling, surveyed the market in January 2024 and found people reselling an unwanted mobile phone privately could typically expect somewhere between £75 and £554, depending entirely on the model and condition. That is a genuinely wide range, and it is exactly why we don't quote you an average: tell us your model and condition and we give you a real number, locked for a few days while you decide, not a guess.
What we'd pay today, in excellent condition
Updated automatically from our live buyback price list, any make
Excellent is the top grade on our own condition ladder for a used phone: a flawless or near-flawless screen and casing, no iCloud or Google account lock, all original parts, and no previous repairs. Good and faulty sit below it on the same ladder, and you pick the grade that actually matches yours when you get a quote, so the number you end up with is for your phone rather than an idealised one.
And "sell it for cash" is not only for phones in good nick. A cracked screen, a cracked back glass or a fault does not rule it out either: that same iPhone 13, faulty, is still worth £41 to us, not nothing. Tell us what is actually wrong with yours and we will make you a real offer on it as it is, no need to fix it first.
To put that in context with a real, live example: a tidy iPhone 13 currently sells refurbished in our shop from £296, with a 12 months warranty. If yours is in similar condition, trading it in towards that kind of upgrade can work out better value than selling for cash and buying separately, depending on the trade-in credit and the price of the refurbished one. Worth comparing both before you decide.
Sell it for cash
Any make, any model, working or with a fault. Same-day payout in store, price locked while you think it over, and every device is securely wiped the moment it arrives with us.
Get a price for your phoneTrade it towards an upgrade
Put its value towards a professionally refurbished phone with a 12 months warranty, and pay less than buying outright.
Browse refurbished phonesSomething broken? It's probably worth repairing
A cracked screen or a battery that no longer lasts the day is one of the biggest things that drags down what a phone is worth, whether you plan to keep using it or sell it on. On most single-fault repairs what you get back in resale or trade-in value covers the cost, so it is worth checking before you write it off, and you get a phone that works properly again in the meantime. We fix every make, iPhone, Samsung, Google Pixel and beyond, not just the brands with the biggest blog posts.
A real, live example: a same-day iPhone 13 battery replacement is currently £86, and a screen replacement is £129, pulled straight from our current price list, not a typed-in guess.
Real example: iPhone 13
Updated automatically from our live price list
Weighing up whether it is genuinely worth it, against buying new or trading up, deserves more space than one section here. Our full guide, is it worth repairing your iPhone, or buying new, walks through the real numbers and the rule of thumb we use at the workbench, and the same logic holds whatever brand you have.
From the workbench: when we'd say don't bother
There are three situations where we will tell you a repair is not worth your money:
- Two or three things are wrong at once.
- The model dropped off the manufacturer's update list years ago.
- The same fault has already come back after a repair somewhere else.
One fault on a phone that still gets software updates and works fine otherwise is the opposite: an easy call, and almost always worth fixing. But in those three cases we would rather tell you honestly and buy it from you for parts, or point you towards a refurbished upgrade, than take a repair job that will not really pay off. Bring it in for a free diagnostic and we will give you a straight answer either way before you spend anything.
Genuinely done with it? Never just put it in the bin
Material Focus estimates UK households are sitting on 880 million unused electrical items between them, phones and remote controls among the most common. Most of that is not laziness, it's not being sure what the right thing to do with it actually is. Binning it is the one option that is genuinely the wrong call, and not just because of the WEEE Regulations that govern how electricals should be disposed of: a phone's lithium battery is a real fire risk once it gets crushed in a bin lorry or at a waste site, and the National Fire Chiefs Council recorded over 1,200 battery fires at UK bin lorries and waste sites in a single year to May 2024, a 71% rise on two years before.
If it is genuinely beyond repairing or selling on, you still have four honest routes, and most of them do not involve us at all.
Sell it to us for parts
A phone that is past repairing still has parts worth recovering, so it is worth something rather than nothing. We buy them completely dead, too. One thing to know: a device that will not power on cannot be priced by the online form, because that needs the phone to switch on so its condition can be graded. So for a dead one, contact us for a quote instead. Send photos and we can give you a rough estimate, then we confirm it properly once we have had a look at the device itself.
Donate it to charity
Charities including the British Heart Foundation run phone and tablet donation schemes. You send the device in, they confirm the data has been wiped, then they resell it to fund their work. We do not run a donation scheme ourselves, so if that is the route you want, theirs is the one to use.
Still switches on? Repurpose it before you recycle it
A phone too old to be worth selling can still be useful. Wiped and left on wifi with no SIM in it, it works fine as a dedicated dashcam, a baby monitor, a bedside alarm clock or a kitchen music player, at no monthly cost. It is the cheapest of the four routes and the one people forget.
How to dispose of an old phone securely in the UK
Securely means two separate things, and people usually only do the first. Wipe it properly, which on a modern encrypted phone means signing out of your Apple or Google account and then factory resetting it, so the data is genuinely gone rather than just hidden. Then get the hardware to somewhere that handles it under the WEEE Regulations rather than into a bin. If you are nowhere near us, Material Focus runs a postcode search for electrical recycling points near you, covering shop drop-off bins and household waste sites. Any of these four routes beats a drawer, and all of them beat a bin.
Whichever path you take, wipe it first
Selling, trading in, donating or recycling, the phone needs wiping properly first. Back up anything you want to keep, take out the SIM and any memory card, then wipe it, and know that a factory reset on its own is not always enough. Both Apple and Google build in an anti-theft lock, Activation Lock and Factory Reset Protection, that stays switched on through a reset unless you sign out of your account first. Miss that step and whoever gets the phone next, a buyer, a charity, even us, is stuck with one they cannot use. Our full guide to wiping your phone before selling it covers the exact steps for iPhone and Android, in the right order. Or skip the faff entirely: sell or trade in with us and it is done for you, every device we take in, bought or traded, is securely wiped as standard the moment it arrives with us, as part of the buyback service, not an optional extra you have to ask for.
The bottom line
An old phone is never just rubbish, whatever make it is and however tired it looks. If it still works, it's worth selling or trading in. If one thing is broken, it's usually worth fixing. If it's genuinely done, it's worth selling for parts or donating rather than binning. The only bad outcome is the drawer, or worse, the bin. Wipe it properly, pick the path that fits, and either way you'll get more out of it than leaving it where it is.
What to do with your old phone: your questions answered
What should I do with an old phone I don't use anymore?
It comes down to four honest questions. Does it still work properly? If yes and you just want something newer, sell it for cash or trade it in towards a refurbished upgrade. Is one thing broken but otherwise it's fine? That's usually a same-day repair, on any make. Is it genuinely past that, too old, too faulty, already replaced? We still buy it for parts, including phones that are completely dead, though a dead one needs a quote from us directly rather than the online form, since that needs the phone to switch on to grade it. Or a charity can take it. Whichever of those applies, wipe it properly before it leaves your hands, and never just put it in the bin.
Can I just throw my old phone in the bin?
Please don't. A phone's lithium battery is a genuine fire risk once it gets crushed in a bin lorry or at a waste site, and the National Fire Chiefs Council recorded over 1,200 battery fires at UK bin lorries and waste sites in a single year, up 71% on two years before. Take it to a recycling point, sell it, donate it, or bring it to us, but keep it out of general waste.
Do I need to wipe my phone before recycling or selling it?
Yes, always, whichever route you choose. A factory reset alone is not enough if you are still signed into your account: Activation Lock on iPhone and Factory Reset Protection on Android both stay switched on unless you sign out first, which can leave a recycler or buyer with a phone they cannot use. Our full guide to wiping your phone before selling covers the exact steps for iPhone and Android, in the right order.
Is it worth repairing an old phone before selling it?
Often, yes, if it is one fault on a phone that otherwise still works and gets software updates. A cracked screen or a tired battery is genuinely one of the biggest things that drags down what a phone is worth second-hand, so fixing it first can pay for itself in the higher price it then sells for. It stops being worth it on a phone that is already old, low-value, or has more than one thing wrong with it, at which point selling it to us for parts or trading it in usually makes more sense than paying to fix it.
How much can I get for my old phone?
It depends entirely on the model, its condition and its age, so treat any number you see online as a rough guide, not a quote. Material Focus, the UK's official electricals recycling body, found in a January 2024 survey that people reselling an unwanted mobile phone privately could typically expect somewhere between £75 and £554. Tell us your model and condition and we will give you a real number, not a range, with the price locked for a few days while you decide.
How do I destroy or securely get rid of an old phone in the UK?
You almost never need to physically destroy it. Sign out of your Apple or Google account first so Activation Lock and Factory Reset Protection are switched off, then do a factory reset: on any modern phone the storage is encrypted, so that is what actually puts the data beyond recovery. Once it is wiped you can sell it, donate it or take it to an electrical recycling point. Smashing it is not a safer substitute, and it is genuinely a bad idea: puncturing or crushing a lithium battery is a fire risk, which is the same reason a phone must never go in a general waste bin. We do not run a certified shredding or destruction service, but every device we buy is securely wiped as standard when it reaches us.
Can I donate my old phone to charity?
Yes. Charities including the British Heart Foundation run phone and tablet donation schemes: you send the device in, they verify the data has been erased, then resell it to fund their work. We don't run a donation scheme ourselves, but if a phone genuinely has no resale or repair value left, that is a decent honest option alongside recycling it or selling it to us for parts.
Sell your old phone to us
Any make, any model, working or faulty. Tell us what you have and you get a real number rather than a range, locked while you think it over, and the phone is securely wiped the moment it reaches us.
iPhone 14
up to £234
Galaxy S23
up to £171
Pixel 9
up to £221
Live from our buyback price list today, in excellent condition. Your own price depends on the model, its storage and its condition, and a fault does not rule it out.
Think it is worth fixing instead? An iPhone 13 battery is £86 and a screen £129, so it is worth comparing before you decide. Get a repair quote.