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- Popular phone accessory company PopSockets has sold tens of millions of its small, affordable phone grips worldwide.
- They stick to the back of your phone and can expand so you can hold your phone comfortably without dropping it, prop it up on a flat surface, or keep your earphones untangled.
- There are hundreds of different colors and prints available, and the company recently released a new style, the Twist collection ($15), which mimics a fidget spinner.
Loved by standing subway riders, walking phone holders, and just plain clumsy people, the PopSocket is a small round "button" that sticks to the back of your phone and can expand whenever you need a grip or a stand.
The simple yet amazingly effective PopSockets feel secure and comfortable in your fingers and have also become somewhat of a stylistic fashion choice — there are hundreds of different colors, prints, and affiliations to choose from, including college logos, funky holographic styles, and your favorite hot sauce. You can even get really creative and customize your own.
I've seen people playing and fidgeting absentmindedly with their PopSockets by popping them in and out before, which is why the launch of the company's newest product makes total sense. The Twist collection grips are cone-shaped instead of flat and let you spin your phone around. Right now, they come in three colors: Black, Space Gray, and Rose Gold.
from on Vimeo.
Before this phone grip-fidget spinner hybrid, the large offering of styles, and accessories like car mounts, there was just a guy who was annoyed with tangled earbuds and wanted a solution. Founder David Barnett, a former Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder, glued two large clothing buttons to the back of his phone, added smaller buttons as spacers, and wrapped his earphones around the two buttons.
The PopSocket today uses a more visually interesting accordian-like design to expand the button from the platform that sticks to your phone. According to the company, the grips are designed to expand and collapse 12,000 times.
Barnett charmingly calls his creations "expanding do-dads." Well, these expanding do-dads are doing a lot of business: sales went from 30,000 PopSockets in the US in its first year (2014) to more than 40 million PopSockets across 40 countries today.
Given its explosive popularity, we wouldn't be surprised to see the company continue to grow in the years to come. You can join its millions of fans across the world and shop all PopSocket styles here at its website.
Most only cost $10, while its "Diamond" and "Aluminum" styles cost $15. If you have an iPhone 8, 8+, or X and don't use a case, make sure to check the corresponding box on the product page. The anti-fingerprint coating on the back of these models affects the PopSockets' ability to stick, but the company can implement a simple fix to make sure the grip can still work.
Shop all PopSocket phone grips for $10-$15 here
Connie Chen Connie Chen is a former senior reporter on the Insider Reviews team, where she led coverage of home textiles, home entertaining, and food and drink. While at Insider, she specialized in all the things that enhance life at home, from the most comfortable bed sheets and fluffy pillows to cool online wine clubs and bartender-approved cocktail shakers. She combined rigorous testing methods, conversations with professionals, and active knowledge of the home and kitchen space to help readers get the most out of their money. When she's not changing duvet covers or washing towels twice a day for articles, she loves talking about and trying the newest snacks, drinks, and food gifts. You can see more of her testing process and other behind-the-scenes of being a product journalist on her Instagram @connayreviews. Connie joined Insider Reviews as an early member in 2017 and has also reported on products and services in the style, tech, fitness, travel, and e-learning spaces, with a particular interest and expertise in emerging startups. She has represented the team at CES and moderated panels on media business and the future of retail. Connie graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in media studies and business administration, which help inform her perspective on and coverage of industry trends, as well as the competitive e-commerce landscape at large. Read some of her work: The 4 best cocktail shakers in 2021 The 7 best women's bathrobes in 2021 The 5 best wine openers and corkscrews we tested in 2021 The 5 best bed sheets we tested in 2021 The 5 best cordless vacuums we tested in 2021 12 direct-to-consumer kitchen startups that are changing the way we shop for cookware and knives 8 tableware startups changing the way we shop for dishes Even chefs experience cooking burnout — here's how they get re-inspired in the kitchen How businesses create successful virtual experiences 50 cookbooks from famous restaurants across the US that will help you recreate their best dishes at home Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here. Learn more about how we test kitchen products. Read more Read lessYou can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here.
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