My Favorite is a deep-dive into the absolute best versions of things you use every day, from headphones to keychains to doggy poop bags
The first PopSocket I ever noticed was my wife’s – a blue and white paisley design, adhered to the back of her (now-petite) iPhone 6. She was in love with the gizmo immediately. “Wow,” I remember thinking. “That looks dumb.”
I’ve always been a bit of a purist with my gadgets – especially those I carry every day. That means no bulky, tank-like iPhone cases for me. I carried my first iPhone for years, case-less, and only capitulated with my massive iPhone 7+ when I found the perfect slim-yet-durable case. So naturally, sticking a large, clumsy-looking device to the back of my impossibly svelte phone seemed like sacrilege at the time.
Until the Fat Lip Episode.
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The Thing I Didn’t Know I Needed
I enjoy looking at my phone in bed before sleep, like 98% of all other adult Americans. On this particular night, however, I pushed it. I started to doze off, and my behemoth of a phone slipped out of my hands and landed smack on my upper lip. I didn’t think much of it until the next morning, when I awoke with a shining, red, fat lip. “That wouldn’t happen if you had a PopSocket on there,” said my wife. And I couldn’t argue. She was right. I got one that day and begrudgingly attached it to the back of my phone.
What began as a reluctant capitulation quickly turned into enthusiastic acceptance: I very quickly learned to love my PopSocket.
The PopSocket – What Is It?
It’s a distinctly simple-yet-brilliant little gizmo that sticks to the back of your phone. The flexible stem of the PopSocket telescopes in and out with satisfying, soft little ‘clicks’, providing at once a handle for your phone, and an easy means of propping up your device for viewing on a desktop. It’s probably made from about $0.08 worth of plastic, and sells for exponentially more. And you know what? It’s worth it.
Features I Fell For
Here are a few more things to love about the PopSocket:
- Incredibly durable construction
- Safer phone-reading-in-bed
- Great handle for jogging
- Strangely satisfying to fidget with
What I truly appreciate about the PopSocket – what makes it such a simple, yet valuable addition to my daily life – is just how much easier it makes the phone to use. Any large-phone user (or small-handed user) knows how unwieldy these devices can be. But with a PopSocket, there’s more struggling to scroll while losing your grip on the phone. No more two-hand-browsing to keep the phone from slipping. Just an easy, innocuous, not-necessarily-attractive solution to a host of niggling problems, all for the price of a few cups of coffee.
You’ve Got Choices
PopSockets are available in what appears to be thousands of designs, with interchangeable models displacing the stick-with-what-you’ve-bought generation. There’s a host of accessories as well (the PopWallet is particularly awesome), including aftermarket stick-anywhere mounts that turn your PopSocket into an extremely convenient phone mount.
