No one ever teaches you how to hold a phone, yet we’ve all adopted the same awkward grip. There are little tricks that can make it easier to reach things on the screen, but that doesn’t address the comfort of holding the phone. A very simple accessory can fix that.
Phone makers are well aware that these devices are too big for most hands. The iPhone, Galaxy phones, and Google Pixel phones all have gestures to shrink the screen down into a “one-handed mode.” But as I mentioned, that’s not a solution for actually holding the phone itself. Phone grips are the answer.
The “Smartphone Pinky”
If you’ve ever noticed a literal dent in your pinky finger or felt a sharp, tingling sensation after a long session of scrolling, you may be entitled to compensation—just kidding. Many of us have spent years using our smallest finger as a load-bearing beam for heavy phones. This is just the natural way most people hold phones.
The thing is, holding your phone with a five-finger grip makes it difficult to use your thumb for tapping and scrolling. Propping the phone up with your pinky frees up your thumb and puts more distance between it and the screen. Logically, it makes perfect sense—there’s a reason why we all do it—but there are problems.
This phenomenon, which has been nicknamed “smartphone pinky,” can actually have long-term effects. It can lead to frequent numbness, tendon inflammation, joint misalignment, and grip weakness. As anyone older can testify, repetitive motions that put our bodies in awkward positions almost always come back to haunt us. It might not hurt now, but it could in the future.
The humble phone grip
Credit: Kabir Jain / How-To Geek
The solution to the pinky problem is pretty simple, and it’s an accessory we’ve all seen before: phone grips. PopSocket is the brand that popularized phone grips, but if you haven’t looked into them recently, you may be surprised by how interesting they’ve gotten. Phone grips do more than just “pop” now.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The reason why phone grips are so useful is that they accomplish the same thing you’re trying to do with the “smartphone pinky,” but without putting all of that pressure on your finger. It frees up your thumb from holding the phone and improves reachability by changing the distance between it and the screen.
However, phone grips have one ability that your pinky doesn’t. They also act as a kickstand, perfect for propping up your phone for watching videos, reading recipes, and taking video calls. If you’ve never had a kickstand on your phone, you’ll quickly wonder how you ever lived without it.
Phone grips have evolved
Credit: Ohsnap
Now, back to phone grips that do more than “pop.” Accessory makers have gotten inventive in recent years. They’re thinner, stronger, and more satisfying than ever. And if your phone is compatible with MagSafe, they’re easier than ever to use, too.
Take the Syncwire Magnetic AirGrip, for example. You don’t have to take it off to snap your phone to magnetic mounts or any metal surface. The finger ring swivels out to 90 degrees and spins 360 degrees with an extremely satisfying clicking sound from gears and spring plates. All of this for $15.
Anker makes another popular magnetic phone grip, but it’s not as cool as the Syncwire grip. The finger ring is smaller, and it doesn’t rotate at all. You have to manually reposition the grip to move the ring placement. A smaller ring means a shallower angle when propped up, too. It’s also around $15.
Of course, you don’t need a magnetic phone grip. Spigen makes a ring-style grip with an adhesive backing for $15. And of course, there’s the classic stick-on PopSocket for only $10. These are great options if you don’t care about wireless charging.
- Brand
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PopSockets
- Material
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Polycarbonate
- Magnetic
-
No
The beauty of these options is that they’re cheap. You don’t have to spend much to make your phone instantly more comfortable to use. However, if you’re willing to pay a bit more, the Ohsnap Snap Grip 5 is the one to get. It’s only 3mm thick, but it pops out nearly as far as a ring-style grip. However, it’s more than double most at $40.
There you have it. An extremely simple accessory that can immediately improve your iPhone or Android phone. In a world that’s increasingly more expensive, it’s nice to find affordable products that actually work.