Pop Sockets are the trendy new item for your devices that allow you to have a secure grip for texting or taking photos with one hand. It also works as a prop for your phone when you use it on a surface. I bought my Pop Socket on Amazon for $9.99 after one night where I held my phone for so long that the weight of my phone started hurting my pinky that it was resting on!
For reference throughout this post: I’m using an iPhone 6S and have what you would call, small to average sized, girl hands. Read on to see our review of the trendy Pop Socket!
Unpacking the Pop Socket
First of all, the Pop Socket arrived in simple packaging, with the Pop Socket in it’s flattened state, which allows you to essentially “plug and go.” Just pull your Pop Socket off the package, remove the thin plastic film on the back where the sticky adhesive part is, place the Pop Socket on your phone, and go. Except for me, it wasn’t that simple.
I struggled with peeling the clear film off. Initially I wasn’t even sure that there was a film there to peel because no matter where I tried to lift or peel, nothing was coming up. I finally got it to lift and got about 1/3 of the film up off the adhesive, but since it required an amount of pulling and strength, my hand slipped off the film which of course made it go right back down and stick back to the adhesive. I had to repeat the above process all over again. On my second attempt, I got the film off by pulling slowly and adjusting my grip on the film as it lifted off the adhesive.
Placing The Pop Socket On My Phone
Given how difficult it was for me to remove the film, the adhesive feels strong right off the bat. I was pretty skeptical at how easy it would be to move the Pop Socket to adjust it’s positioning on my phone — from the Pop Socket promo video, it seemed like it would be no big deal.
There are no instructions on where to place the Pop Socket though, so I just flipped my phone around and stuck it right in the center-center back of the phone. I pressed down on the flattened Pop Socket to get it to stick as much as possible. That was a bad idea. When I expanded the Pop Socket to use it to hold my phone, I realized that I placed it in a non-optimal position: It wasn’t where I would normally hold my phone at all, and it was uncomfortable on my wrist and fingers.
Knowing I needed to reposition it, I started to peel it off my phone. A side note here, I have an old Sonix phone case with gold foil and flowers on it. It’s been cracking and peeling already, but the Pop Socket ripped off a small piece of the gold foil on the design of my case and it seems like the gold piece will be forever stuck in the adhesive part.
I tried to take the gold piece off the adhesive, but I didn’t want to risk peeling a piece of the adhesive out just to get the gold piece out that nobody would see, so I left it.
However, I do advise you to NOT press down and apply pressure to your Pop Socket until you have figured out where you’d like for it to be positioned. You can stick it on lightly and test a few different positions pretty easily, but once it’s pressed down then it becomes significantly more difficult to peel it off. Honestly, the first time I tried to take it off I thought I was going to break my nail.
The Best Way To Stick Your Pop Socket On
I found the best way to find the best position for my Pop Socket was to expand put the Pop Socket and place it between my fingers (as I would hold it if it were on my phone), then to get my phone and place it in that same hand as I would hold my phone normally with the Pop Socket on it. By doing this, it kind of naturally places the Pop Socket on your phone where you would be holding it anyways. See how I placed mine on here: Placing Your Pop Socket.
Using The Pop Socket
I’ve been using my Pop Socket on my phone all day today. I find myself not flattening it out when I put it on the table next to me. I just keep it expanded for easy pick up of my phone when I get a notification or text. It does feel a lot safer to carry than when I hold it with one hand. Another side note, I took my phone case off because I was afraid the Pop Socket would peel more of design off, so I’ve been carrying it around using the Pop Socket case-less. As someone who understands the pain of having to replace a phone screen, I don’t really recommend this. If you can, definitely use a Pop Socket in addition to a phone case. Better safe than sorry!
With the Pop Socket and my phone in one hand, I’ve found that I can reach to almost every area of my phone screen without adjusting my grip IF I’m holding the Pop Socket between my middle and ring finger. The only thing I can barely reach is the upper opposite corner of whichever hand I’m holding my phone in. When I have the Pop Socket between my pointing finger and my middle finger, then I can only reach around the middle to the bottom area of the phone, and I can’t reach the opposite edge or the top 1/4 of the phone screen at all. It’s kind of strange, because the way I am intuitively picking up my phone with the Pop Socket is the latter version.
It doesn’t work as a stand if you’re trying to use your phone in portrait mode (vertically), but it does if you use it in landscape (sideways). I can see this being helpful if I watched movies or video clips on my phone while at my desk, but I don’t (I don’t even use my phone in landscape view ever), so I personally don’t see myself using the Pop Socket as a stand too much in my future.
I have a phone mount in my car as well, the Pop Socket flattened does still fit with my phone mount. I can’t speak to other phone mounts though. The Pop Socket even flattened will definitely not fit a phone case over it if anyone was thinking of sticking it to your phone and removing the case when using the Pop Socket.
Overall
Overall, I can see the appeal of having a phone accessory that makes it easier to hold your phone and prevent you from dropping it. But, it does add a significant amount of bulk in an awkward circle on your phone. I know Pop Socket says you can remove it and move it easily, but I would love to see a Pop Socket where I could place and remove the Pop Socket with a lot less effort than it requires now to place and remove, so that I can use it only when I need to. For now, I would need to carry the plastic film piece with me to place back on the adhesive if I ever removed the Pop Socket from my phone, and I don’t want to do that.
Ultimately, I will personally keep using my Pop Socket on my phone, but don’t be surprised if I remove it within the month and completely forget about it.
Do you have a Pop Socket? What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments!
Wait, so do you like the ungrip or the popsocket more for your tiny girly fingers? (I also have tiny girly fingers.)
Both are great options for small hands. Rosiee has tiny hands and she is able to use the PopSocket comfortably. I personally think that PopSockets look better than the Ungrip. You also have the additional functionality of using it as a phone stand, which you can’t do with the Ungrip.