How to not drop your phone

Glass is now the go-to material for high-end phones like the iPhone X and the latest Samsung Galaxy S10. Glass screens and rear panels look beautiful and add more than a touch of class to your phone, but glass well, breaks. And when it breaks, it shatters. We all know the flinch when your shiny new phone slips out of your grasp and clatters to the ground.

With more and more features under the hood, gone are the days when you could get a broken screen replaced for a reasonable price. These days, it could cost you more to replace a broken screen than just buying a new phone altogether.

To avoid the heartache and unnecessary expense, let’s look at how you can keep your phone safely in your hands.

Enable one-handed mode (Samsung)/reachability mode (iPhone)

One of the major problems with big phones is the difficulty in reaching the top of the phone when you need to expand the notification bar or swipe a notification away. You stretch your thumb to the top of the screen, it doesn’t quite make it, annnd the phone slips out from the base of your palm.

Apple has thoughtfully included a Reachability feature on iOS that slides the screen down halfway so all your apps are within reach of your thumb. If you are on the iPhone 8 or earlier, you can activate this function by lightly tapping (don’t press the button) on the Home button twice. This function is not enabled by default on the iPhone X but you can enable it by going to General > Accessibility > Reachability. Toggle it on and swipe downwards in the gesture area at the bottom of the iPhone X screen to move your apps to the lower half of the screen.

While Android doesn’t have an equivalent feature built in, Samsung has a one-handed mode that shrinks the screen to either the bottom right or left corner. You can enable one-handed mode by going to Settings > Advanced features > One-handed mode. Toggle it on and you can choose whether to activate this feature via a gesture (swiping up diagonally from either bottom corner of the screen) or by tapping the home screen 3 times.

Phone ring holder and car phone holder

If you multitask a lot and often find your hands full, with no way to securely hold on to your phone while also balancing that coffee cup, a phone ring holder may be what you’re looking for. The ring holder attaches securely to the rear panel of your phone so you can thread your finger through it while typing. If you need both hands free, simply let go of your phone and let it dangle from your finger. The advantage of the ring holder too is that it doubles up as a stand for reading or watching movies, and allows your thumb to reach further over the screen.

If you spend a lot of time in your car, a good car phone holder is one of those inexpensive but worthwhile investments that will save you a thousand minor inconveniences you didn’t even know existed. If you’ve ever tried to prop your phone up against your dashboard or awkwardly squeeze it in the cup holder, only to have it fall sideways or on the floor while looking out for the next turn, you know what we’re talking about. A good, grippy phone holder that’s easy to use doesn’t cost much, and will make your commute that much safer and smoother.

Running belt

I hate running. Running is painful, difficult, and I have never gotten the fabled runner’s high. Not once. And yet I run, hoping I will eventually find out why so many people do it for fun. The only thing that makes every run tolerable is the podcasts that I save exclusively for my runs as a reward. If you’re like me, you probably load your music and podcasts on your phone and run with it. I used to hold on to the phone on short runs, but I quickly found that it took all my energy to maintain a decent running posture. Even without factoring in the sweaty palms, I simply didn’t have the excess energy to worry about keeping my fingers wrapped around my phone. And when you’re bouncing up and down on the pavement in a fatigued state, there is huge potential for mishaps.

For those in the same boat, or if you have an active lifestyle that has you exercising often, you may want to consider using a running belt that can hold your phone (plus keys and cash) and keep your hands free while you live your best life.