Do cell phone holders damage phones?

[Wes Turner]

I use one of the map apps to guide me when I am driving somewhere for the first time. I have found it incredibly helpful. Most of these apps have options for walking and biking in addition to driving. I'd like to use it for biking to someplace for the first time. I was looking at some mobile phone holders, but several comments claimed that the vibrations damage the phones.

It this true? Are there phone holders that reduce vibration and are safe for the phones?

 

[DiggyGun]

Look at QuadLock

Quad Lock UK® - Official Store

EVERY DAY. EVERY ADVENTURE.™ - Smartphone Mounting for An Active Lifestyle. Fast, Free Shipping. The very best in iPhone, Galaxy, Pixel and Huawei smartphone mounting for Bicycle, Motorcycle, Car and life in general.

www.quadlockcase.co.uk

DG…

 

[Stefan Mikes]

several comments claimed that the vibrations damage the phones.

It is not the vibration. It is the crash impact that damages the phone, including a parked e-bike tipping over, or the phone sent flying off the bars when the phone holder fails.

DG is right: a Quadlock with a dedicated Quadlock phone case is one of the best smartphone holders. Which cannot be said about the Quadlock with the Universal Mount (a piece of 3M tape glued to any case): it does not work very well, especially in rough terrain.

Carrying an expensive phone on the bars is not the best of ideas. Some people use an inexpensive smartphone for the purpose. As for me, I went through too many damaged phones to do it again. My answer is a GPS bike computer on the bars:

• Great battery life
• Invulnerable to crashes
• Can be used in any weather
• Does workout monitoring, GPS navigation (with climb information), and workout registering.

Garmin, Wahoo or Karoo2 integrate with Specialized and Giant e-bikes. I carry my smartphone safely tucked in the back pocket of my jersey.

 

[Wes Turner]

Look at QuadLock

Quad Lock UK® - Official Store

EVERY DAY. EVERY ADVENTURE.™ - Smartphone Mounting for An Active Lifestyle. Fast, Free Shipping. The very best in iPhone, Galaxy, Pixel and Huawei smartphone mounting for Bicycle, Motorcycle, Car and life in general.

www.quadlockcase.co.uk

It looks like I have to also buy a Quad Lock adapter that I glue to the back of my phone. Is that correct? I don't think I want to do that.

How is the Quad Lock better than something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BP26C9GB/

 

[DiggyGun]

It looks like I have to also buy a Quad Lock adapter that I glue to the back of my phone. Is that correct? I don't think I want to do that.

How is the Quad Lock better than something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BP26C9GB/

Can’t open the Amazon link, so can’t comment.

QuadLock do a huge range of cases for a variety of phones. Search their site for your phone model.

DG…

 

[DiggyGun]

It looks like I have to also buy a Quad Lock adapter that I glue to the back of my phone. Is that correct? I don't think I want to do that.

How is the Quad Lock better than something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BP26C9GB/

Managed to open the link and, boy is that one fugly looking phone holder

However, this does not meet the parameters of your initial post, regarding vibration. Or have you changed your mind.

With regard to your future questions, why not give full details, for example;
- model of bike
- model of phone
- budget range
- etc.

That way, those who reply may be able to give you a more targeted response, rather than trying to guess what you are after with your rather seemingly random questions.

DG…

 

[Wes Turner]

It is not the vibration. It is the crash impact that damages the phone, including a parked e-bike tipping over, or the phone sent flying off the bars when the phone holder fails.

I wouldn't leave my phone in the holder when parked. I read the reviews of several of the phone holders. There were very few cIaims of the holder failing.

My answer is a GPS bike computer on the bars:

• Great battery life
• Invulnerable to crashes
• Can be used in any weather
• Does workout monitoring, GPS navigation (with climb information), and workout registering.

Garmin, Wahoo or Karoo2 integrate with Specialized and Giant e-bikes. I carry my smartphone safely tucked in the back pocket of my jersey.

I looked at several of these. They look pretty good. But wouldn't a smartphone app work even better? Of course, assuming that I am willing to risk my phone being mounted on the handle bars.

And I can use my Shokz bone connection headphones to just listen to the app's instructions and keep my phone safely tucked away in a pocket.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I wouldn't leave my phone in the holder when parked.

Assume this: You stop the e-bike, dismount, then do what? Open the kickstand. Only after that you could remove the phone from the mount. Perhaps you are taking a view around before. A wind blow, your e-bike falls. Or, it falls because one of your panniers is heavier than another one? I just wanted to say I lost as many as several smartphones under very different scenarios (the bike tipping over was only one of them).

But wouldn't a smartphone app work even better? Of course, assuming that I am willing to risk my phone being mounted on the handle bars.

A smartphone is the ultimate display for many good e-bikes. Only:

• The phone battery goes flat after some five hours spent with the e-bike outdoors (it is the gross ride time, not the net moving time). (You could carry a powerbank with you, of course).
• The phone touchscreen is vulnerable to precipitation. You seem to live in NorCal, and it happens to be raining there?
• It is very difficult to operate a touchscreen in gloves (special gloves for smartphones do exist)
• It occupies a lot of precious handlebars space
• Can be broken under different scenarios if located on handlebars.

It looks like I have to also buy a Quad Lock adapter that I glue to the back of my phone. Is that correct? I don't think I want to do that.

You should avoid the Quadlock Universal Mount (the one glued with the 3M tape) at any cost. (It can separate from your phone case because of low temperature, raining, or vibration). As @DiggyGun said, there are many Quadlock dedicated smartphone cases available. A dedicated QL case has the adapter being an integral part of the case, so it snugly fits the mount and cannot separate from the case.

 

[6zfshdb]

As you've seen, there are many phone mount options available, some better than others. Your bike, your riding style and the type of riding you do all affect the type of mount that will work best. Most smartphones are well designed and able to take moderate vibration. As others have stated, there are many other things to consider.

Several fellow riders I know, including myself, have given up mounting smartphones on their bikes and switched to a standalone GPS or bike computer. Potential damage is one reason, as is possible theft. Data usage, battery life and cell phone coverage are other considerations. Personally, I prefer to keep my phone in my pocket in case I'm thrown off in an accident and unable to get to the bike to call for help.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Buy a dedicated GPS bike computer. All of the decent ones will talk to whatever route planning app you are using and provide decent turn-by-turn navigation (although all of them have quirks, some of them quite annoying). Any bike computer will have far greater effective battery life in that situation than your smartphone, and any bike computer will stand up to the rigors of being on your handlebars far better than any smartphone.

 

[peterh_nz]

Has anyone actually damaged their mobile phone by mounting it on the handlebar?

If you prefer to mount a mobile on the handlebar, options may be to use your old/previous one or use a cheap one for that purpose, and keep your current/expensive mobile in your pocket.

 

[PDoz]

Has anyone actually damaged their mobile phone by mounting it on the handlebar?

If you prefer to mount a mobile on the handlebar, options may be to use your old/previous one or use a cheap one for that purpose, and keep your current/expensive mobile in your pocket.

Yes, but I was perfectly happy with the service it'd given me. Sonny waterproof thingy about 4 phones ago, first the charging port became unreliable from vibration, then the screen lost a battle with a rock. This phone had survived 4 years at work before being retired to the bike, so I'm NOT complaining !

Wes, if you want to stick with a smart phone, there are people who have been using them in environments much worse than any ebike is going to experience - they just choose a tough phone and REALY good brackets ( probably overkill for urban use)

This thread is related to the Australian market and extreme environment motorbike use - people who have been using tough phones on motorbikes when the toughest gps units weren't good enough! Bouncing down rocky trails in the rain - so when a phone can cope with that, it's not going to have any trouble with a bike falling off a sidestand ! Jump to the later posts, the earlier stuff is years out of date. https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/rugged-phones-to-use-for-gps-on-bikes.1462417/page-22

I can understand your preference for a smart phone - enough mapping ability for average use +/- the capacity to use destination specific maps when a gps doesn't cut it. There's nothing quite like travelling to a fresh destination and having the informal trail network on a screen. I'll confess to becoming jaded with gps units - I still like my original garmin etrex that runs on AA batteries , gives me lat / long and has proven robust / waterproof. The magellan explorist xl was pretty cool - loaded with maps that showed me just how lost I was but didn't try to make the situation worse....but my fancy new zumo (from last century) , well, it fells like I'm in a cartoon horror movie. Sure, it still works after decades of bouncing around on my motorbike , but I'm quietly dissapointed each time it fires up. Same with the gps in our cars - I'd rather mirror my phone on the screen.

 

[peterh_nz]

first the charging port became unreliable

I can imagine that being a potential problem. Probably much less so with USB C hardware compared to the old Micro AB plug/socket hardware.

 

[Roamers]

We use this one and has been adopted by all our kids also.

Phones are in Otterbox and holder does a great job.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08THKJJ4W?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Took 3 returned holders before we found this one

 

[PDoz]

I can imagine that being a potential problem. Probably much less so with USB C hardware compared to the old Micro AB plug/socket hardware.

Tell that to my current ( sorry) samsung . Barely 4 years old and the charge port is wearing out.

Did I mention that I hate spending $ on phones? Too many years of being woken up at 2 am whilst on call . So I might get a perverse sense of enjoyment when I kill one.

 

[keithj69]

The vibration they were talking about is more so on motorcycles.

 

[peterh_nz]

Tell that to my current ( sorry) samsung . Barely 4 years old and the charge port is wearing out.

No such problems with my last three Samsung mobiles over the last ten plus years.

The connection can become flaky if pocket dust/fluff accumulates in the usb socket. When that happens I gently clean the socket with a suitably "flat" sharpened bamboo kebab skewer.

 

[sc00ter]

FortNine on YouTube just reviewed phone mounts. If it works and holds a phone on a motorcycle it'll work on a bike.

 

[Sparky731]

I have a strap mount for my phone that works great. Never a problem

However, when I picked up my bike with a Bosch COBI Smartphone Hub Controller mount, the first and only advice the Trek bike builder told me was to never put my phone in the bike clasp. He said the phone would fall out and break — as their shop has dealt with many upset customer experiences.

Agreed, my phone would not sit comfortably in the holder unless I removed the slimline case and strapped it in. And even then, the clamshell clasp would mess with the buttons and turn off sounds.

Since then I replaced the Smartphone Hub with a Bosch Kiox Ver. 2.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Has anyone actually damaged their mobile phone by mounting it on the handlebar?

I have lost a count. Could be three of them. My last expensive smartphone was bought back in 2021 and it still works flawlessly because I have never put it on the handlebars (Meanhile, the cheaper phone stopped working as it had been carried on the bars).