If you use a Syncthing app on android, you're technically running a server (Syncthing) in the background.
That's pretty much the only server I run though.
this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2026
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No, I was fortunate enough to pick up a bunch of decommissioned Celeron mini PCs from work. I run a NAS with media server on one, pi-hole on another, and a test server on a third. I meant to make things accessible from outside with VPN, but was too lazy.
Try tailscale, it is free and makes the whole process super easy.
I've never done it but I have heard of people using their old phones as a NAS (network attached storage). The closest I've ever done was to connect two of my android devices together via Bluetooth and use that to transfer files between the two devices. It's slow but it works fine.
I don't see why you couldn't use a phone as a server as long as the battery doesn't cause problems.
Back when rooting was all the rage I tinkered with hosting various services. It just didn't make much sense for such an underpowered device, amongst other reasons (battery swelling).
I did use an old phone to "host" a game automation. One of those "idle clicker" / RPG games since I'm so lazy. After about 2 months the battery swelled and popped the back cover off. That was the end to that idea..
This may be due to consistently 100% capacity, high voltage, and high temperature.
==============================
STATUS August 18, 2026 12:39 AM
==============================
[off] battlimit
[off] sshd
[off] caddy
[off] cloudflared
[off] boot automation
[off] sleep lock
------ battery ------
level : 56%
status : Discharging
limit : 0
current : -355,000 uA
temperature : 340 (tenths of a degree)
I set this up using Termux. When "battlimit" is enabled, it caps the battery charge at 60% and the device runs solely on USB power. I also had the chance to configure Caddy, Cloudflare, and others. With Termux, I can easily turn these on and off via a widget. They start up without any issues every time I reboot.
I wouldn't trust an old battery, nope
(I rather use free tiers of paas providers or rent a vps that anyway is as cheap as electricity. The issue there is going to be storage, then you need a homelab or nas and setup tunnels for apps like nextcloud. That's what I am doing.)
Could you do something similar as this for your battery?
Newer phones don't open as easy.
Yes. Works fine. PostmarketOS, though, not Lineage. It runs an offsite monitoring system for the rest of my selfhosted stuff - Prometheus, Grafana, stuff.