At this point I’m sure that you have seen the ads for Apple MagSafe. You probably thought it could be really useful. You are probably wondering how to use Magsafe accessories with an Android phone? Or how do you use MagSafe with an older iPhone? Well… there is a way and it is pretty inexpensive and very easy to add to your phone.
What exactly is MagSafe?
MagSafe is a name for a line of accessories for your cell phone that have the ability to snap onto the back of your Apple devices. There are chargers, wallets, pop sockets, basically anything that you can think of that are MagSafe compatible. Basically MagSafe, or what makes your device MagSafe compatible, is just a ring of magnets, with a small tail section, that surrounds your phones wireless charging coil. MagSafe compatible accessories have their own magnets. They’re made the same size as this ring and that is how they snap onto the back of the device.
How can you make MagSafe work with your Android or older Apple Device?
So this is the question that you probably have if you have an Android or older Apple phone. Luckily I have a very simple answer. Universal MagSafe Rings. These rings are accessories that have the same size and shape of the magnets that are in the new Apple devices but instead of being built-in they get attached with adhesive to your case or phone itself.
How do you install a MagSafe Universal Ring?
There really isn’t much to installing a universal MagSafe ring. Most, if not all, come equipped with peel and stick adhesive on them. All that you have to do is peel off the paper adhesive cover and press the ring on to your device, case, etc. There is one thing that you do need to pay attention to though and that is the placement of the ring. If you just want to hold a wallet or something and you don’t wirelessly charge your device you can put the ring wherever you want.
If you do want to use wireless charging then you need to place the universal ring around your devices charging coil so accessories can attach but nothing blocks the charging coil. This is easy to accomplish. Some rings come with guides or templates for certain devices, you can look up tear down pictures of your device online or you can use a MagSafe compatible charger and slowly drag it over your device and mark where it is when your device starts charging. It is actually very simple.
What universal ring should you buy?
Obviously I haven’t tested every ring available. There are some general things that you should look for though.
- The stronger the magnets in the ring the better the hold will be. This is important as there are a lot of accessories that can hold your phone while driving or in different orientations and a stronger hold makes this a way safer idea.
- Look for a ring with a tail instead of one that is just a circle. This is mostly for accessories that require a certain orientation. The tail gets used to stop your accessories from being able to spin around on your device.
- Strong adhesive. Look for rings that have a strong adhesive preferably from a well known manufacturer like 3M. If your ring holds to the accessories but it falls off of your device it isn’t going to do you much good.
- Aesthetics. Look for a ring that you don’t mind the look of. Rings come in different colours and thicknesses. Since we are talking about add-on rings you are going to see it on the outside of your device or case so get one that you like the look of.
What universal ring do I recommend?
Like I said I haven’t tested anywhere near all of the rings that available. I have tested two though. The Spigen OneTap Magnetic Ring and the ESR HaloLock Universal Ring 360. Truthfully both work great. They have really strong adhesive, hold accessories very well and are everything that I was looking for in a universal ring. There some differences though.
- Installation. Both the Spigen and the ESR come with templates to install the ring on a lot of Apple and Samsung devices. The Spigen also has some templates for Pixel devices. I like the design of the Spigen template much more though and it can kind of be used as a guide for any phone because of the markings that help you line up the ring with the edges of your device.
- Thickness. First off both rings are very thin so they won’t be a big annoyance in your pocket or purse. The Spigen ring is a little bit wider and thicker than the ESR though. If being as thin as possible is what you want the ESR is the better choice. The Spigen does have chamferred edges though. So it’s very smooth on the raised edges and doesn’t catch on anything even though it is thicker.
- Aesthetics. The Spigen is the clear winner here. The chamfered edges are really nice and it also has a carbon fiber look to it. It is a really nice looking ring. The ESR looks good too but it is more plain. Since it is so thin though is also looks pretty good. Not as good as the Spigen ring though, in my opinion.
- Price. Here the clear winner is the ESR. The Spigen and ESR were both right around the same price. About $18 CAD when I bought them. The difference though is that you get two rings with ESR. So per ring it is half the price. If you have multiple devices to install a ring on then the ESR is much cheaper. If you only have one device it will cost you the same now but you will have another ring for a different case or device in the future. So eventually it will save you some money.
Now which would I recommend… both. I know it is a bit of a cop out way of answering, but like I said they’re both good rings. I put the more aesthetically pleasing Spigen ring on my phone. My case is black with carbon fiber accents so that was a no brainier as they match perfectly. The ring works great and I really like the chamfered edges since I usually don’t have any accessories attached. I put the two ESR rings on my kids phones. They look good with their cases. My son’s case is black and my daughter almost always has an accessory attached so you usually can’t even see the ring. It does look good on her case too though.
Conclusion
If you want to add MagSafe capability to your Android or older Apple device all that it takes is a few dollars and a few minutes. Grab yourself a universal ring, stick it on in the right location and start browsing Amazon for some accessories. I am sure that you will be happy with your purchase.
Click the pics on the left to see an unboxing/video review of the Spigen OneTap Magnetic Ring and the ESR HaloLock Universal Ring 360 on YouTube! While you are there check out the other videos on my YouTube page as well. Don’t forget to subscribe if you want to know when a new video is posted.
If you are interested in the Spigen OneTap Magnetic Ring you can click here to go straight to Amazon to take a look at it (click here to go to Amazon Canada).
If you are interested in the ESR Universal Ring 360 you can click here to go straight to Amazon to take a look at it (click here to go to Amazon Canada).
Also if you want to check out some great MagSafe compatible accessories you can read my reviews of the INIU 3 in 1 Wireless Charger here or the INIU Powerbank B1-B43 here
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