Phyllite does not have any important industrial uses. It is not strong enough to serve well as a crushed stone. However, slabs of phyllite are occasionally trimmed and used as landscape, paving or sidewalk stone.

Phyllite can provide valuable information about the geologic conditions that a geographic area or a rock mass was subjected to in the past. It is a low-grade metamorphic rock that reveals the upper limit of heat and pressure to which the rocks were exposed.