A Repurposed Phone

Some of us are big techies, and love to keep up to date with the newest hardware. I know several people who trade out their phones for newer models on a yearly basis and reveling in the glamor of new tech. I am not one of those people.

If you’re like me, you might hold on to a phone for as long as possible. Maybe you can’t afford a new one every year, or maybe you just can’t be bothered by the effort. Instead, you watch your pocket companion degrade over time; texts stop coming through, voicemails stop recording, the battery drains far too quickly, and inevitably, the screen cracks.

I have been packing my ZTE Blade 10 Prime since its release in 2019. It isn’t too old of a phone, but old enough to be outdated, and degraded enough to cause me daily frustration. One evening, I slipped on a patch of ice and instinctively caught my full weight on one hand– which happened to be holding my phone! Now the screen is woefully cracked.

^{My ZTE Blade Prime 10 near the end of it’s life.}

Although the device is still mostly useable, I believe it is time to find a replacement. But a well-loved phone such as this is worth next to nothing for a trade in! If this story sounds familiar, consider breathing new life into your old friend by repurposing it into what I call an ‘Information Brick.’ Read on to learn how your old phone might one day save your life!

What is an Information Brick?

One frustrating thing about packing a survival kit, especially for backpacking, is that space and weight budgets are limited. In most cases, those budgets needs to be filled with physical objects that can help you survive– medical supplies, fire starters, tools, and the like.

But I believe one of the most important tools for survival is knowledge. Splinting material, fire starters, knives, ropes, and many other things become useless without the knowledge to use them properly. The problem I see many people face is that they simply don’t have the weight budget to pack heavy sources of knowledge such as books. Therefore, potentially life-saving information provided from say, a survival guide, is often left out of the kit.

One solution is to study these tactics and hope that you remember them when the time is needed. But let’s be real, many of us do not have the time or capacity to study so hard; and even if we do, the stress of being in a survival situation is likely to cause us to forget at least some things.

Enter: The INFORMATION BRICK. A cellphone wiped of its content and repurposed into a collection of digital survival tools. Plant identification guides, topographic maps, survival guides, entertainment, and mental health relief can all be packed into one lightweight, small device!

Below you will find a guide for creating your own information brick, complete with links to suggested content!

How to Make Your Own

Step 1: Hardware

There are three pieces of hardware you should acquire for a proper information brick:

1. An old phone. The phone does not need to be in good quality at all. It does not need to be connected to phone and internet services, but should be able to connect to wi-fi for initial downloading. It should also at least have:
   1. A screen you can stand to read
   2. The ability to retain a reasonable battery charge
   3. An accurate GPS
   4. Access to an app store
   5. A way to view downloaded files and PDFs
2. A good quality case. Your information brick needs to be able to stand whichever environment you are surviving in. This means a waterproof and dustproof case such as those sold by Lifeproof.
3. A solar charger. A dead phone is a useless phone, and depending on the temperature of your location, battery life can drain quickly while outdoors. Be sure you can access your information brick by passively charging it with solar energy– you can even strap the panel to your pack to charge on the go. I recommend getting a hardy solar charger that is also water and dust resistant, such as this power bank from Amazon. This one is decently lightweight, compact, and personally tested by myself.

^{My recommended solar charger comes with some bonus survival tools, including a power bank, a flashlight, and a compass. Photo credit: Amazon}

Step 2: Factory Reset

To improve the performance and space availability of the device, you will need to clear everything off of it. Be sure to save any photos and transfer app data to your new device before initiating a factory reset, as it will delete all content on the phone.

This process may differ depending on your phone’s model. For factory reset instructions for the ever-popular iPhone, check here. Otherwise, a quick Google search of ‘factory reset + (your model)’ should do the trick.

NOTE that a SIM card is not required for the information brick to work. Everything you need will be downloaded onto your phone’s internal storage.

Step 3: Survival Information

Comprehensive Survival Guide

First, we want to add a baseline of survival information useful in any situation. Many survival apps are available on app stores, but I have found Offline Survival Manual to be the best as a quick reference. This app includes a wide variety of guides on basic medicine, shelter-building, fire-starting, psychological health, and more. The best part is that it is free, and most importantly, viewable offline!

Unfortunately, Offline Survival Manual does not have an iOS counterpart. For iPhone users, check out the SAS Survival Guide as an alternative.

Air Force CERE Manual

CERE stands for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape. It is a methodology taught by the U.S. military and has saved countless lives in a variety of survival situations. Although less user-friendly than an offline app, this manual contains pretty much everything you need to know to survival in almost any situation.

Each branch of the military uses a slightly different guide. The Air Force CERE manual is the most comprehensive– after all, pilots are most likely to be stranded in strange places! Download a free PDF of the Air Force CERE Manual here.

Step 4: Offline Maps

Topographic and Satellite Maps

Having access to a map is often crucial to navigating your way out of a survival situation. Perhaps the best app for this purpose is actually a hunting app called OnX. The app has a robust free version which allows for offline use of topographic and satellite maps, route tracking, and distance measuring. It also comes with a compass!

^{An example OnX offline map.}

OnX offers a premium membership with advanced features, but the free version serves our purposes well enough. Download OnX for Android or iOS. Be sure to download maps for the proper regions in advanced!

Augmented Reality Maps

Augmented Reality (AR) maps provide overlays to the real world in real time, rather than displaying an overhead view. These are fantastic for navigating in a perspective most familiar to you.

PeakFinder is a free app on both Android and iOS that displays topography from ground level and provides names of visible landmarks. This is extremely useful for orienting yourself on an overhead topographic map! Like OnX, you will need to download regional maps in advanced.

^{An example PeakFinder AR map. Credit: PeakFinder}

Similar AR maps are available for navigation by the stars, which can be useful for finding and keeping direction– especially since it allows you to see the stars’ position during daylight as well! I recommend Sky Map for Android and Sky View for iOS.

^{An example of the AR SkyMap available on Android. Credit: Windows Review}

Step 5: Naturalist Guides

Edible Plant Guide

^{There are usually plenty of wild edibles around, regardless of where you are! Photo credit: Rural Sprout}

If food stores are low, it is a good idea to know what around you is edible. The U.S. Army has also recently published a guide to edibles that is filled with both photos and illustrations useful for identification. It also includes guides on how to properly test plants before consumption, proper preparation steps, and additional uses for the non-edible parts of the plant.

Download a PDF of the Official U.S. Army Illustrated Guide to Wild Edible Plants for free here.

Medicinal Plant Guide

For similar reasons, it is handy to keep a guide of medicinal plants which may fill gaps in your survival kit. Fortunately, Peterson Field Guides has published a digital version of a field guide covering the majority of medicinal plants and herbs in North America.

Download the Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs: Eastern and Central North America for free here.

Animal Tracking Guide

^{Knowing which animals around can keep you well fed… or safe! Credit: The Sun Times}

Being able to tell the difference between a a cougar print and a racoon print can mean the difference between life or death. Animal tracking is not just useful for locating potential prey, it is also invaluable for ensuring you are not accidentally camping near a predator’s hunting grounds. Large game like elk and deer also leave trails which often lead to valuable resources like water!

Unfortunately, I was not able to find a free, good quality guide to animal tracking. However, if you have the extra funds I suggest purchasing a digital copy of Tracker’s Field Guide: A Comprehensive Manual For Animal Tracking ($19.99) to store on your device. Otherwise, you can download a simplified guide of common animal tracks for free here.

Wildlife Identification Guides

If you do run into wildlife while surviving, you’d better know what it is– especially when it comes to potentially venomous snakes and insects!

For a fairly comprehensive guide to North American wildlife within an app, download Nature – North America for Android. All information on this app is available offline, and the app can also be upgraded ($5.99) to include wildlife found outside North America.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find a general digital wildlife guide for iOS, free or otherwise. Sorry iPhone users!

Step 6: Mental Health

Folks who find themselves in a survival situation often misjudge how crucial mental health can become– especially if surviving alone. Feeling lonely, desperate, scared, and tired can compound other survival issues and lead to detrimental mistakes. If stranded, it is important to stay grounded and motivated to live on.

There are a couple simple additions we can make to the information brick to make survival a little less stressful.

1. Inspiration. Add a folder of photos and videos of your family, friends, and pets to browse when you are feeling low. Rely more on photos than videos, as video takes much more space and drains battery faster.
2. Daily Journal. Especially for extended survival, make an effort to jot down a few thoughts at the end of the day. What did you learn? How are you feeling? What inspires you to keep surviving? Ideally, this might be written in a physical waterproof journal. But keep your options open by keeping an app that is usable offline, such as Microsoft OneNote (Android/iOS), Offline Diary (Android), or DayEntry (iOS).

Step 7: Entertainment

Boredom can be a killer in survival situations which require a lot of sitting around (for example, waiting for rescue). If you have space remaining on your information brick, fill it with things to keep you entertained.

^{Keep entertained, inspired, and informed with one of my favorite movies– Castaway (2000)!}

Remember that although entertainment can give us the motivation to survive, it is not strictly required. Therefore, always check that you can spare the time and battery power to engage with these items. If you are low on power and don’t have any charge left in the solar power bank, best to leave battery life for viewing survival guides or using maps.

That being said, I have a few suggestions as to what types of entertainment to download onto your device:

1. Books. Text takes the least amount of storage space, which means you should be able to fit many books on your brick. Include a couple of your favorite books, as well as some you’ve never read for extra variety. Keep the subject matter broad and the tone light; depressing books are not recommended for survival entertainment! I use Amazon Kindle (Android/iOS) to store my downloaded books.
2. Movies/TV. If you have a good amount of space left, download your favorite positive-toned movie or a series you don’t mind watching repeatedly. Save these for the lowest of times, as watching them will cause significant battery drain. As a bonus, download the classic survival epic Castaway for inspiration!
3. Games. Unless you have a specific, calm, and non-addictive offline game in mind, I recommend against downloading games onto your device. These are usually massive battery drains and may cause you to become distracted from pressing survival needs.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of an information brick! Throw that sucker in your survival kit and rest easy knowing that, should you find yourself in a survival situation, you’ll have all the information you need at your finger tips.

What other helpful things might you put on this device? Which movies or series will you download? Let me know in the comments below!