I have an Android phone with a broken screen, but the rest of the device still works. It has nearly 256 GB of free storage, and I'd like to load my music onto it and stream the files wirelessly to my newer phone, which only has 128 GB of storage. The older phone could stay in my backpack and act as a portable music server. I can still control it through scrcpy on my laptop, so setup shouldn't be impossible. Is there an app or another setup that would work for this?
3 Answers
Emby could handle this. Install the server on the old Android phone, add your music folder to the library, and use the Emby app on your newer phone to browse and play the files over Wi-Fi. It’s free for the basic setup and would let the old phone function as a small portable media server.
You could also look into a lightweight DLNA, SMB, or HTTP file server app for Android. Connect both phones to the same Wi-Fi network, or have the old phone create a hotspot, then use a music player on the new phone that can access the shared library. It may take more configuration than a media-server app, but it makes good use of the storage you already have.
This is definitely practical if you’re doing it as a project rather than looking for the simplest solution. Just keep in mind that the old phone will need reliable power, and Android may stop the server in the background unless you disable battery optimization for it. A media server such as Emby would probably be the easiest place to start.
That’s exactly the kind of setup I had in mind. I’m fine with a little tinkering, and using the existing phone sounds better than buying another storage device.