School is a dangerous environment for most tools and tech, but none more so than phones. Phones are essential items always in arm's reach but often bumped, dropped, or banged in the hustle and bustle of changing classrooms or running to meet up with friends at lunch. The best phone grips for students are a lifesaver for slim and slippery fingers. And considering how affordable these ones are, they're well worth the investment.
Staff Pick
Swappable PopSockets support wireless charging when you twist off the PopTop while still allowing you a better grip, a larger range of motion, and a flash of style for your phone. These also come in a bevy of pop culture character designs, like The Child from The Mandalorian.
Speck's phone grip is the size of a credit card, comes in dozens upon dozens of styles, and is easy to keep a precise grip on. Best of all, since the grip is wide and flat, your phone won't wobble around your desk the way it might with other phone grips.
Like the original Spigen Style Ring, this grip is easy to apply, comes in great colors, and works as a kickstand in vertical or landscape. This one also lets your phone sit flat on the desk and is compatible with magnetic phone mounts.
Not all students need a full wallet, especially when they can just stick their student ID and lunch money in this handy grip-wallet combo. The elastic wears out over time but should last the school year so long as you don't yo-yo it.
A slap bracelet and a phone grip made a baby and it's wonderfully clickable with the most durable kickstand around. It's not compatible with Qi charging, but it lasts a long, long time and is easy to deploy with one hand.
This elastic phone grip is one of the more recognizable phone grips around, with a plastic bow holding the two ends of an elastic strap that comes in a bevy of patterns and colors. It doesn't double as a kickstand, but it's a great grip.
Like the wallet/grip combo but still want a built-in kickstand? This model is slightly thicker, due to the leather flap attached to the elastic that can be folded in to use as a kickstand. There's also an extra flap to help keep cards in the wallet section.
Spigen's original phone grip has been one to swear by for years. It's durable, easy to apply (and even easy to swap between cases 3-4 times before it starts losing its stick), with a flat edge that's perfect as a kickstand. If it could lay flat, it'd be perfect.
This banded grip will click in or out of the bracket at the top to swap it between a grip, a kickstand, or keep it flat when the phone is in your pocket. There's a wide variety of textures and finishes available for these, and it's a very stable vertical kickstand.
Now that come in a swappable style that allows you to easily swap between styles to match your kid's wardrobe — and can come off for wireless charging, should that be a thing your kid actually uses — the reasons not to use one are becoming few and far between. They're affordable, they're recognizable, and with the Pop Culture collection finally updated to swappable PopTops, they're cool, too.
PopSockets are also as much a toy as they are a tool, and I often pop one of my spares up and down when I get bored during staff meetings, and I'm sure there are some easily distracted kids (like me) out there who could use a fidget toy to help them avoid drifting into a daydream during a lecture.
While the best phone grips for students to provide a secure hold of the device, there's more to a phone grip than in-hand use. While most non-fabric phone grips double as landscape kickstands, like , the number of phone grips that allow you to set your phone upright next to your computer so you can scroll through Twitter or reference notes while rushing through some last-minute homework are few and far between.
Among the select group that can do both, the three I recommend the most for that feature are the , the and the . The Scooch's springy mechanism is the most resilient among phone grips outside the classic PopSocket accordion, but if you want something less bouncy, the CLCKR is a bit less of a balancing act. None of these three support wireless charging — two have metal components and the CLCKR is too thick for it — but I'm more than happy to plug in at night if it means I can use my phone as a note-stand during my work.
Pop-ular and adaptable
Swappable PopGrips by PopSockets
Staff Pick
Swappable PopSockets support wireless charging when you twist off the PopTop while still allowing you a better grip, a larger range of motion, and a flash of style for your phone. These also come in a bevy of pop culture character designs, like The Child from The Mandalorian.
Stylish slide grip
Speck GrabTab
Speck's phone grip is the size of a credit card, comes in dozens upon dozens of styles, and is easy to keep a precise grip on. Best of all, since the grip is wide and flat, your phone won't wobble around your desk the way it might with other phone grips.
Upgraded in every way
Spigen Style Ring POP
Like the original Spigen Style Ring, this grip is easy to apply, comes in great colors, and works as a kickstand in vertical or landscape. This one also lets your phone sit flat on the desk and is compatible with magnetic phone mounts.
Wallet and grip in one
Sinji Pouch Band
Not all students need a full wallet, especially when they can just stick their student ID and lunch money in this handy grip-wallet combo. The elastic wears out over time but should last the school year so long as you don't yo-yo it.
Best kickstand
Scooch Wingback
A slap bracelet and a phone grip made a baby and it's wonderfully clickable with the most durable kickstand around. It's not compatible with Qi charging, but it lasts a long, long time and is easy to deploy with one hand.
Made in America
LoveHandle
This elastic phone grip is one of the more recognizable phone grips around, with a plastic bow holding the two ends of an elastic strap that comes in a bevy of patterns and colors. It doesn't double as a kickstand, but it's a great grip.
Add a kickstand
Sinji Pouch B-Grip
Like the wallet/grip combo but still want a built-in kickstand? This model is slightly thicker, due to the leather flap attached to the elastic that can be folded in to use as a kickstand. There's also an extra flap to help keep cards in the wallet section.
The classic
Spigen Style Ring
Spigen's original phone grip has been one to swear by for years. It's durable, easy to apply (and even easy to swap between cases 3-4 times before it starts losing its stick), with a flat edge that's perfect as a kickstand. If it could lay flat, it'd be perfect.
Clickety kickstand
CLCKR Phone Grip
This banded grip will click in or out of the bracket at the top to swap it between a grip, a kickstand, or keep it flat when the phone is in your pocket. There's a wide variety of textures and finishes available for these, and it's a very stable vertical kickstand.
Why the best phone grip for students is a PopSocket
Now that come in a swappable style that allows you to easily swap between styles to match your kid's wardrobe — and can come off for wireless charging, should that be a thing your kid actually uses — the reasons not to use one are becoming few and far between. They're affordable, they're recognizable, and with the Pop Culture collection finally updated to swappable PopTops, they're cool, too.
PopSockets are also as much a toy as they are a tool, and I often pop one of my spares up and down when I get bored during staff meetings, and I'm sure there are some easily distracted kids (like me) out there who could use a fidget toy to help them avoid drifting into a daydream during a lecture.
Kickstands are cool, but you know what's really cool? Vertical kickstands
While the best phone grips for students to provide a secure hold of the device, there's more to a phone grip than in-hand use. While most non-fabric phone grips double as landscape kickstands, like , the number of phone grips that allow you to set your phone upright next to your computer so you can scroll through Twitter or reference notes while rushing through some last-minute homework are few and far between.
Among the select group that can do both, the three I recommend the most for that feature are the , the and the . The Scooch's springy mechanism is the most resilient among phone grips outside the classic PopSocket accordion, but if you want something less bouncy, the CLCKR is a bit less of a balancing act. None of these three support wireless charging — two have metal components and the CLCKR is too thick for it — but I'm more than happy to plug in at night if it means I can use my phone as a note-stand during my work.