// THE VERGE — MOBILE & WEB
How I learned to love an obnoxious phone grip
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
If you buy something from a link, The Verge may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Much like a great recipe, it started with a stick of butter.
This wasn’t real butter; it was a friend’s new phone grip, complemented by a phone case with bold stripes. Butter is in vogue now, or at least that’s what a 12-year-old told me a few months ago. This stick of butter was labeled “unsalty” and committed to the bit by including the appropriate tablespoon markings, just like the real thing. I was enamored. “Where did you get that?” I asked. It was a PopSocket-branded combo, and I found it so irresistible I ordered an equally eye-catching grip a few weeks later. After years of carrying buttoned-up, minimalist tech, I finally said, “To hell with it. I’m gonna have some fun.” I have zero regrets, and it seems I’m not alone in this journey.
Over the past few years I’ve been a vocal, occasionally regretful, member of Team No Phone Case. A case adds bulk and collects pocket lint. Why spend $800 on a piece of tech just to cover it up? If I must use a case, I want it to barely exist. This philosophy worked great with my iPhone 13 Mini, which is perfect as-is. Its size means it’s eminently grippable — no PopSocket necessary and it feels much more secure when I hold it. But phones are big now and are only getting bigger.
Since it’s just held on by a magnet, you can take it off whenever you want to present yourself as a serious grownup