Tech for Luddites

I am TERRIBLE at taking selfies. I just don’t have the coordination to hold the phone at the right angle, get a decent expression on my face, AND press the shutter button all at the same time. And even though I don’t actually take a lot of selfies, I do occasionally, so last year when I read about how PopSockets can make taking them a lot easier, I decided to get one and try it out.

What the Heck is a PopSocket?

A PopSocket is a rubber grip you attach to the back of your phone. You can expand it and hold the grip between two fingers, freeing up your thumb to hit the camera shutter. They have lots of designs available, including solid colors; I got this cute stylized giraffe’s head:

How Do They Work?

The PopSocket comes with a plastic film on the back of it. You peel that off and stick it on your phone or tablet. The adhesive is very strong; I’ve never had mine come off accidentally and I use it multiple times a day.

In addition to helping you take selfies, you can use it as a kickstand for your mobile device by popping it out twice. The makers even suggest you can use one or two of them to wrap your earbud cords around, although I’ve never tried that.

My Two Cents

I love my PopSocket. It really does make taking selfies sooo much easier. But even without that, I often keep the PopSocket expanded just to give me a better grip on my phone, especially if I’m walking around with it. I don’t use it as a kickstand a lot, but I’ve considered getting another one for my tablet (it would be really handy for propping one up on a airplane seat’s table tray).

As I mentioned earlier, the adhesive keeps it solidly attached to my phone. At the same time, I can still remove it if I want to move it to another spot or if for some reason I needed to not have that extra little thickness it adds to the device. Just make sure if you’re going to remove it, don’t pull it by the grip. Instead, slowly pry it up from where it’s attached or you can pull a piece of dental floss between the grip and the phone to separate it. And if you’re not going to reattach it to something else right away, you should cover it with plastic so air doesn’t dry the adhesive out.

Finally, it makes it really easy to pick your phone out of a crowd!

As with anything, there are a few cons to go with all the pros:

• I haven’t been able to find any way to use it as a kickstand with my phone in a vertical position. If I move the PopSocket to the top of my phone and bend the angle, I can sort of do it, but it’s not that stable. Fortunately, this isn’t something I really need to do a lot.
• I have mine pretty much in the center of my phone, which makes it a problem for the mount I have in my car. It’s too thick to fit perfectly, although it’s usable. Not really the PopSocket’s fault, though.
• Whenever I say PopSockets in my head, it comes out like the tune for Hot Pockets. 🙂

You can also get a plastic clip mount for the PopSocket so you can attach your phone to your car dashboard, wall, mirror, etc. I bought one at the same time as I got the PopSocket, but to be honest I’ve never used it yet. One reviewer on Amazon said they have a magnetic car mount, so she just attached that mount’s magnet to the PopSocket clip and that works great.

Learn more and browse designs on the Amazon PopSockets page. >>

Tip: All the options are not available on that page, but if you click through to an individual PopSocket, you’ll see more variations. Also, you can search on PopSockets plus another term (e.g. animals) to see if there are any related ones available.