Installing a car phone mount in your vehicle is the best way to make sure that you have easy access to your smartphone when behind the wheel. While you shouldn’t be using your phone while driving, having it mounted on your windshield, dashboard, vent, or anywhere else will let you take a quick glance when you’re using a navigation app, or to change your playlist when you stop for a traffic light, for example. Instead of having to pick up your device, it will be easier and faster to get these done while it’s on a car phone mount for less time of having your eyes off the road.
There are so many options for car phone holders on the market though, so it may be tough to decide which one to buy. To help you out, we’ve collected our picks for the best car phone mounts right here, with recommendations according to the different preferences of drivers and various purposes for mounting your smartphone in the car.
The best car phone holders
- Buy the if you want a car phone mount that will work for most drivers.
- Buy the if you want a car phone mount that attaches to your windshield.
- Buy the if you want a car phone mount that attaches to a vent.
- Buy the if you want a car phone mount that doesn’t have to attach to anything.
- Buy the if you want a car phone mount with an easily adjustable arm.
- Buy the if you want a car phone mount with MagSafe charging for your iPhone.
iOttie Easy One Touch 6 Universal Car Mount
Best car phone mount for most vehicles
| Pros | Cons |
| Attaches to dashboard or windshield | Won’t attach to leather and curved dashboards |
| One-touch mechanism | |
| Cord organizer |
For most drivers and vehicles, the iOttie Easy One Touch 6 Universal Car Mount is an excellent choice because of its versatility and wide compatibility. it comes with a strong suction base that you can attach to your dashboard and windshield, and it comes with a one-touch mechanism that will allow you to easily place and remove your smartphone in its locking side arms. The car phone mount’s cradle will work with smartphones of any size, and there’s no need to make any adjustments when you switch from one device to another.
For less clutter in your vehicle, the iOttie Easy One Touch 6 Universal Car Mount comes with a cord organizer that holds your phone’s charging cable, and to make sure that you have the proper viewing angle, its telescopic arm extends up to 8 inches and pivots up to 260 degrees. There’s also a locking lever that keeps the car phone mount in place once you’ve figured out the best possible position for you.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Mounting Location | Dashboard, Windshield |
| Material | Polycarbonate, Polyurethane, Acrylic |
| Weight | 6.3 ounces |
1Zero Long Arm Car Phone Mount
Best car phone mount for windshield attachment
| Pros | Cons |
| 14-inch aluminum pipe | Doesn’t attach to vents |
| Quick-release button | |
| Position it any way you want |
For those who prefer to attach their car phone mount to their windshield instead of on their dashboard or vents, then you should check out the 1Zero Long Arm Car Phone Mount. It has a 14-inch durable aluminum pipe with an anti-shake stabilizer, so even if you’ll be using it in a truck or SUV, you can get your phone very close to you and within your line of sight while you’re driving. The car phone mount comes with a quick-release button at the back of the clamp, and you can do more than just rotate or tilt it because it can be bent and shaped to any angle that you want for optimum viewing in landscape more or portrait mode.
The clamp of the 1Zero Long Arm Car Phone Mount can open up to 4 inches, which is enough to accommodate all of the smartphones of the popular brands. In fact, you can even use it outside your vehicle — attach it to your window, desk, or wherever you need to use your smartphone hands-free.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Mounting Location | Windshield |
| Material | Aluminum, Plastic |
| Weight | 7.4 ounces |
Belkin Car Vent Mount
Best car phone mount for vent attachment
| Pros | Cons |
| Works with most vents | Slightly blocks air conditioning |
| Cable holder for charging cord | |
| Keeps your windshield unobstructed |
If you think it will be neater to attach your car phone mount to one of your vehicle’s vents, the Belkin Car Vent Mount could be the best possible choice for you. It comes with low-profile mount clips that easily attach to most types of vents, so it can be used in any type of vehicle, and adjustable brackets that can expand to hold smartphones with larger screens without having to take off their cases. It even comes with a cable holder at the back to hold your phone’s charging cord, and you can adjust it to view your phone in landscape or portrait mode.
The Belkin Car Vent Mount is great for drivers who don’t like having any obstructions on the windshield while they drive. It may slightly block the flow from your air conditioning, but not enough to make your vehicle uncomfortable.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Mounting Location | Vent |
| Material | Aluminum, Rubber, Alloy Steel |
| Weight | 1.28 ounces |
TopGo Cup Holder Phone Mount
Best car phone mount to avoid sticking anything on your windshield and vent
| Pros | Cons |
| No obstructions on windshield or vent | Takes up a cup holder slot |
| Stable installation | |
| Adjustable gooseneck |
Do you prefer not having to stick anything to your windshield, dashboard, or vent, but you want a car phone mount in your vehicle? If you have a cup holder in your center console, then the TopGo Cup Holder Phone Mount would be the perfect alternative. It’s easy to install as it’s adjustable to fit in cup holders of different sizes, and once you’re done, it will be very stable because of its thick anti-slip rubber pads.
Like other car phone holders that attach to other places in your vehicle, the TopGo Cup Holder Phone Mount will let you place your smartphone in the perfect position so that you can easily see its screen when you take a quick glance. Its adjustable gooseneck is made of aluminum alloy for durability, you can adjust its height, and you can rotate the clamp to place your device in vertical or horizontal orientation.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Mounting Location | Cup Holder |
| Material | Silicone |
| Weight | 9 ounces |
Scosche MagicMount Pro 2
Best car phone mount for easy adjustments
| Pros | Cons |
| Swinging arm for adjustments | Doesn’t attach to windshield |
| Works with Apple’s MagSafe | |
| Sturdy hold |
Working with goosenecks may be a hassle for some, so if you want a car phone mount with easier adjustments, check out the Scosche MagicMount Pro 2. It offers four mounting options: regular vent, FreeFlow vent that allows air to flow freely, regular dashboard, and Swing-Arm dashboard or vent. If you go with the Swing-Arm dashboard or vent, you can easily position your smartphone anywhere you want, until you find the perfect viewing angle that will let you look at your phone’s screen whenever you need to.
The MagicMount of the Scosche MagicMount Pro 2 works with Apple’s MagSafe for a firm and secure hold on your iPhone, but it will also work with smartphones made by other manufacturers with the included metal plates. Once your device is mounted, it will stay there until you choose to remove it.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Mounting Location | Dashboard, Vent |
| Material | Rubber |
| Weight | 6.7 ounces |
Anker 613 Magnetic Wireless Charger
Best car phone mount for owners of iPhones with MagSafe technology
| Pros | Cons |
| Uses iPhone’s MagSafe | Expensive |
| Wireless charging | |
| Always-on glow |
If you’ll only use your car phone mount with an iPhone featuring MagSafe technology, you should buy the Anker 613 Magnetic Wireless Charger. You only need a single hand to place your iPhone on this car phone mount, which will hold your device steadily with ultra-strong magnets. This car phone mount attaches to your dashboard, and once it’s there, you can enjoy a maximum adjustment of 134 degrees until you find the best position for you.
The Anker 613 Magnetic Wireless Charger has an always-on glow, so you’ll be able to see it in the dark to place your iPhone for mounting and charging, since it comes with a USB car charger. If you have a case on your iPhone, make sure it’s a MagSafe case so that you won’t have to remove it when placing your device on this car phone mount.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Mounting Location | Dashboard |
| Material | Plastic |
| Weight | 5.3 ounces |
How we chose these car phone holders
Our picks for the best car phone holders weren’t selected on a whim — we followed a set of criteria that allowed us to narrow down our choices. However, the most important thing that we considered is that a car phone mount should meet your needs, as every other factor will be wasted if the accessory won’t function the way that you intended it to. Determining the purpose of the car phone mount that you want to buy will greatly help you in choosing which one to purchase, and we can guarantee that you’ll end up with a high-quality one if you pick one from our recommendations above.
Wide compatibility
We didn’t go for car phone holders that were only compatible with a limited number of smartphones or only worked with certain vehicle configurations. We chose car phone mounts with wider compatibility so that you can use it with different smartphones and different vehicles, which will be extremely helpful for those with more than one device and multiple cars. Even if you only have one of each of them, it would be better to have a car phone mount that will still work when you get an upgrade for either of the two.
Durable construction
Your car phone mount will hold a device that’s worth hundreds of dollars — and maybe even thousands if you spend on a premium smartphone. The last thing that you want is to have your phone damaged because the car phone mount wasn’t strong enough to keep a tight grip on it. A well-built car phone mount will also prevent your vehicle from getting damaged by a falling smartphone. Such an incident may cause you to lose focus and potentially get you into an accident, so durability is an important consideration when we chose these car phone mounts.
A durable car phone mount becomes even more important if your daily driving route goes through bumpy roads, or if you reach maximum speed on highways. These situations will cause wear and tear to accelerate on your car phone mount, so if you want it to last, you need to buy one with durable construction. We made sure that the car phone holders on our list all pass this criteria.
Reasonable price
Our final consideration, but perhaps most important of all, is that a car phone mount should come with a reasonable price. A basic car phone mount should reflect that in its price, while a premium car phone mount shouldn’t cost an insane amount. Either way, you should be getting fantastic value for money on what you decide to purchase. You may even be able to buy multiple car phone mounts for different purposes, depending on what you need for a certain drive and on the smartphone that you decide to bring with you. The car phone holders that we selected all come with reasonable prices, so you won’t have to look for cheaper alternatives.
This article is managed and created separately from the Digital Trends Editorial team.
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