Upgrade to iPhone 15 and no longer want or need your Lightning cables and other accessories that don’t work with USB-C? Read along for three options that answer the question “what should I do with my Lightning cables?”
If you don’t know what to do with old cables and other accessories, tossing them in the trash might feel easiest.
Fortunately, it’s really easy to recycle or upgrade your old cables so you can keep using them or dispose of them responsibly.
Let’s get into three easy ways to handle your old Lightning cables and accessories.
What should I do with my Lightning cables?
Keep ’em and get an adapter
Depending on your needs or what accessory it is, buying a USB-C to Lightning adapter or two may be useful or ideal to keep using what you’ve got instead of buying new USB-C cables or accessories:
- Apple’s official USB-C to Lightning adapter is $29
- Third-party USB-C to Lightning adapters go from ~$8
Share with friends or family/donate
There are plenty of folks who still have an iPhone 14 or earlier who could make use of your Lightning cables.
- Check in with friends or family
- Ask around at work
- Donate your Lightning cables to a local thrift store, non-profit, school, etc.
Locations to recycle or donate
- Apple Stores
- Apple will accept almost any electronic device from any manufacturer for free recycling but doesn’t offer any in-store credit or discounts for things like cables and adapters
- Staples
- Accepts an extensive range of devices for its free recycling program. And Staples gives $5 in-store credit for recycling
- Best Buy
- Accepts most electronics, offers in-store discounts for recycling select items
- Donate to a local thrift store or similar
More 9to5Mac tutorials:
- Improve iPhone 15 battery life: What’s behind battery drain?
- How to automatically delete iPhone 2FA code texts with iOS 17
- watchOS 10 widgets: How the new Apple Watch UI works
- How to customize and switch iPhone 15 Pro camera focal lengths
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments