Key takeaways:
- Several products enable watching or reading a phone on a plane hands-free.
- Some flirt with FAA no-plane modification rules, others could be overkill.
- Advocates prioritize convenience over nerdiness claims.
My sister wanted to show me yet another clever trick she learned on TikTok.
“See—you just take a baseball cap and hang it on the back of an airplane seat and prop up your phone in there so you don’t have to hold it.”
Was she serious? Forget the fact that I’ve never seen her wear a baseball cap.
But she’s a frequent flier. She’s been on planes. And yet she somehow missed a neat little device that now I couldn’t wait to give her and my niece as a bon voyage for an upcoming trip to Europe.
However, my online search descending into a sea of black plastic and engineering soon made me start to second-guess the instinct.
Here’s what put me off: The first holders I found were folding contraptions that rely on a bracket for you to wedge your phone into. And then, in order to watch head-on, you’d have to clamp it to the seat in front of you.
On the first count, I thought my relatives would reject the holder as being too nerdy for them to even bother with.
Hard pass on the second count for fear of their grabbing the seat and provoking a seat neighbor ahead of a long trip.
As an alternative I saw some photos of the holder being attached to the sides of airplane trays. How would that work—you’d watch at a 90 degree angle?
Pressing on, I then found holders with magnets so strong they seem to have developed quite a fan base.
Not all available holders are black, I should clarify.
At one point in the research I came across a redditor who reported that attaching anything to airplane equipment could invite admonishment from the airlines. The FAA is believed to consider that a modification, and flight attendants are trained to insist they be removed.
Oh the horror! I couldn’t send these law-fearing ladies off knowing the non-zero risk of a reprimand.
Try #1: Too much for the job
A little more searching yielded a holder that could clamp to an airplane tray but can also stand on its own little tripod. It extends to eye level and it can be rotated vertically or horizontally.
And there was more. The manufacturer leans into the claim that it can double as a magnetic selfie stick by including a Bluetooth remote control. And there’s a lanyard. Sold!
However…
Despite its many attractive points, when the JOYROOM Airplane Phone Holder arrived, I had my doubts. It’s more involved than just swinging a phone in a ball cap and I wondered if it might be overengineered for the purpose.
My sister liked it–but immediately she said she could see using it at home, might be too involved for the plane ride.
Then however, we attempted to attach the phone and it just couldn’t be done. The magnet couldn’t grip the iPhone with its cover. And that $2.99 favorite cover wasn’t going anywhere, my sister made clear.
So, I went to the drawing board, limiting the search this time to a less-abled and lighter solution.
Try #2: The winner
On the second try I selected the $20 Perilogics mount. While it can be mounted somewhere, it can also sit quietly on its own on an airplane tray.
It relies on a clamp design, not a magnet, so there’s no risk of slippage. It’s 4 inches long, and it folds flat. Most important: my sister liked it and used it on the trip. She said compared the unfolding to a Rubik’s cube at first. But I’ve chocked that up to fatigue related to preparing for the trip.
Postscript: I’m keeping the original phone holder. There are lots of things to do with it stateside.