Best PopSockets and phone grips 2024

Large phones often have the best specs but aren't built for smaller hands. Popsockets and other similar phone grips help you keep a firm grip on your flagship. As smartphones have gotten bigger and selfies more crucial, phone grips and PopSockets have become a must-have. Now you can stabilize your phone without getting that dreaded cramp in your pinky finger.

The PopSockets Swappable PopGrips have so many fun designs and are sure to last you through many years of wear and tear. But if you're in the market for something a little less round, here are some of the best PopSockets and other branded phone grips.

At a glance

Best overall

PopSockets are some of the most popular and widely-used phone grips on the market for a reason: they last a long time, really help reduce the stress on your hands, and come in more styles than you can possibly imagine. PopSockets are also impressively affordable, but PopGrips with premium materials and franchised designs can get a little pricey for such a small plastic accessory.

One of the more addictive aspects of PopSockets is its trademarked accordion design, which pops in and out in a satisfying fashion. The biggest issue with the older PopSocket design was the thickness that interfered with wireless charging. You also had to either pry the whole darn thing off your phone or disassemble the tops in order to swap them. PopSockets decided to fix both of these issues with the Swappable PopGrips and PopSockets for MagSafe.

By allowing you to twist off PopTops from the PopGrip base, you can remove the bulk while using wireless charging, great news as wireless charging expands to more and more phones. You can also swap PopGrip designs to match your outfit, mood, or even Poptivism PopGrips that support a wide variety of charities like The Trevor Project, March for Our Lives, and Charity: Water. Just be mindful that once you start a PopGrip collection, they can get slightly addictive.

Best ring grip

While PopSockets are more prevalent, popular, and diversely designed, some folks simply prefer the traditional ring-style design. The Spigen Style Ring 360 is more functional than PopSockets, which makes it a better grip for a lot of users that can see beyond PopSockets' cutesy designs.

Ring grips are awesome because you only need one finger to use them, as opposed to at least two with the PopSockets. The Style Ring 360 also allows you to flip it over and hang your phone off the back of your hand when you need both hands to carry something like a food tray or grocery bags.

The Style Ring 360 can allow your phone to sit flat on a tabletop, and a magnetic plate is hidden in that flat back so that you can use it with magnetic car mounts, too. Of course, that plate inhibits wireless charging, but metal grips almost always interfere with that anyway. Thanks to the 360-degree rotation of the base and the 180-degree hinge on the ring itself, you can use it as a kickstand in landscape or portrait mode on most phones so long as you don't stick it to your case too close to the bottom.

Plastic grips like PopSockets can potentially last a lot longer than metal grips like the Style Ring 360, whose bearings and hinge will inevitably wear out over the course of several months. It depends on how heavily you use it and how heavy your phone is.

Most versatile grip

As noted, I have been using HANDL New York's flexible brace for many years and it has become one of my favorite phone accessories. The flexible brace, designed by a painter who got his inspiration from how he held his palette in his hand, the grip stretches out to wrap around your fingers. Hold it like that while taking a selfie or recording video, even twisting the phone whichever way you need (great for lefties like me!)

When you're down, let go and it falls right back into place. Stretch to click the top into the bottom and voila! You have a handy kickstand as well. You get so used to clicking, flexing, and holding that it becomes second nature. I even find it useful to simply hold your phone at your side while you walk using the brace: it won't fall out!

With tons of colors and designs from which to choose, keep in mind that it does protrude slightly from the back of the phone which means it won't sit flat on a table or other surface. Depending on how much you use it, the brace will also wear over time, though it took several years for this to happen to mine.

Best unique grip

This snappy silver/black grip can serve as a kickstand, a phone grip, and either a standalone car mount or a mounting plate for a magnetic mount thanks to the bi-stable metal spring inside. That spring is insanely durable, which means that unlike a Spigen Style Ring 360 or Speck GrabTab, the Scooch Wingback Universal will definitely last you years and years.

While the actual in-hand grip with the Scooch isn't quite as natural for smaller fingers, it's easy to get the hang of and its kickstand is far superior thanks to that springy metal back. It may wobble in portrait mode from time to time, but it won't slowly sink and flatten the way portrait kickstands on most phone grips will.

The Scooch Wingback Universal produces an angle that's high enough to easily reference notes on your phone while typing on your computer. You can easily snap this grip flat or push it out with one hand. It may not be the cheapest grip on this list, but it's certainly the most well-made one.

Best MagSafe grip

Popsockets makes a second entry on this list for its phone grip that's compatible with MagSafe, allowing you to use it with virtually any case, turning it into a wireless charging compatible one. Available in a range of colors, it magnetically attaches to a case using the included magnetic adapter ring, and then can be used like any other Popsocket.

The advantage here is that it's simple to remove as well as put on without the need for adhesives. Just keep in mind that while it works with most cell phone cases, this grip is best on cases that aren't made of silicone, that aren't textured, and that don't have an anti-fingerprint coating.

Once you want to recharge your phone, slide the grip off, charge, and then pop it back on like magic. While this one is slightly more expensive than others, the ability to transform a cheap old case into a high-tech one, and wirelessly charge your phone is worth it.

Best kickstand grip

While in-hand use is the most important part of phone grip usage, the CLCKR Phone Grip and Expanding Stand can do so much more than that. It doubles as a sturdy portrait and landscape kickstand, giving you two phone accessories in one compact package. While most phone grips can be landscape kickstands in a pinch, they can't hack it vertically, but CLCKR is one of the few that actually makes for a darn good vertical kickstand.

You can snap the CLCKR's strap between flat and a kickstand, and you can leave it loose as a hand strap when holding the phone as you walk around. Unlike the Speck GrabTab, the strap doesn't bow up or flop around when not in use; it snaps back into place to stay flat and out of the way. Unlike the Scooch, the kickstand won't bounce around since it locks into place properly. It also comes in a half-dozen materials and finishes and several colors of each.

The only real problem with the CLCKR is that you can't use it on smaller phones or phones with a rear fingerprint sensor. You might find it dominating the rear of your petite Android phone like the Galaxy S24 or Pixel 8. Also, while 4.2mm isn't very thick for a phone grip, it's still too thick to allow for wireless charging.

Best ergonomic grip

Plastic and metal grips can last a long time, but they can also be hard to grip for hours and hours on end if you're a power user. That's where fabric grips like the LoveHandle come in. This adorable little bow can help you avoid wearing out your fingers pinching a PopSocket or slinging a Style Ring 360, and since it's an elastic fabric strap, it's available in so many cute and adorable styles.

Of course, fabric can have its own pitfalls: elastic wears out over time, especially if you have a habit of yo-yo-ing your phone on your finger when you're bored. Fabric can also pick up stains and smells from spilled coffee and greasy, sweaty fingers, so you'll want to take care to keep your hands and your LoveHandle clean.

The LoveHandle Universal Grip is also one of the few phone grips on the market to not have any kickstand ability at all. However, that just means it's doing one thing well instead of trying to do two things poorly like many phone grips. You won't find any comfort or wireless charging incompatibility issues here.

Best wallet grip

Phone grips tend to monopolize the back of your phone, and if you're used to keeping a stick-on card slot back there for your work ID or credit card, good news! You can get stick-on wallets with phone grips attached. Sinjimoru makes a wide array of these card pouches, including a couple of models with elastic phone grips on the back, but the Sinji Pouch B-Flap is the best of the bunch.

Despite the rather bland name, this grip comes in one of five warm colors including ruby red and autumn gold. The Sinjimoru Sinji Pouch B-Flap has room for up to five cards or cash, and the elastic strap can be used with one to four fingers slipped through it, whatever is the most comfortable for you.

Like the LoveHandle, the elastic here can wear out over time, but some users have also reported seams busting after a few months as well. If you tend to be hard on your tech, you might want to opt for a metal or plastic grip instead.

Best sustainable grip

Looking for something sustainable that doesn't hurt the trees? The Pela Grip is easily the best environmentally-friendly phone accessory in this category. It looks like any other phone grip, with a collapsible loop and strong 3M adhesive on the back. There are a couple of interesting colorways to choose from as well.

But Pela's unique selling point isn't in the features of its basic phone grip. What's most attractive about this product is that it is 100% biodegradable. Once your Pela Grip reaches the end of its life, you can recycle it by composting it. This prevents more plastic waste from piling up in a landfill somewhere, contaminating the world we live in.

Pela uses interesting materials to create such sustainable goodies, giving the Pela Grip a unique texture and finish.

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Why PopSockets are the best phone grips

While there are about as many phone grip styles as there are case styles out there, PopSockets remain the most popular because they work well, last a long time, and with the newer Swappable PopGrips style, they're both easier to upgrade to a new style and use with Qi wireless charging.

PopSockets come in hundreds upon hundreds of styles, including Poptivism styles that benefit specific charities of just about every type you could imagine. Whether you want to swap out for PopTops that highlight your Disney fangirling or support your team on game day, there's probably a PopSocket for that. Another useful quirk of PopSockets is that they can double as fidget toys to help keep me from spacing out during staff meetings. These all help PopSockets be part toy, part tool, making them perfect for kids, too.

If you prefer a phone grip you can hook a finger through rather than having to pinch the PopSockets' plastic accordion, the Spigen Style Ring 360 is a great ring grip that works well as a kickstand, too. And if you want more flexibility (literally), I urge you to consider the HANDLstick as well.

Without a PopSocket or another grip, holding a large phone isn't just inconvenient; it can actually develop into a repetitive stress injury, especially if you spend a lot of time on a keyboard. That's why you should invest in one of these picks and give your hands and wrists a break.