For this guide we only tested non-charging mounts. If you want a mount that charges your phone, visit our guide to wireless charging phone mounts.
We dismissed the ProClip and Ram Mounts brands because most people don’t need an expensive bespoke mount. However, if you spend the majority of your time on the road and you want something made to the exact specifications of your vehicle, these brands may have good options for you. Similarly, many people use and love the Peak Design brand for its proprietary system of mounts, but we dismissed them for being significantly more expensive than other choices.
Magnetic dashboard mounts
The Scosche Dashboard MagicMount has no telescoping arm, which limits its adjustability. Its magnet is also not MagSafe-shaped, so all phones need the included magnetic adapter. This adapter must be placed near the bottom of the phone to avoid interfering with Qi charging, which results in instability in larger, heavier phones.
The Kaistyle Dashboard Mount comes with the parts for a dashboard mount and an air vent mount, but the dashboard configuration has no telescoping arm and the air vent configuration wouldn’t tighten onto the vent sufficiently. The ball joint head also drooped under the weight of heavier phones and wouldn’t tighten enough to keep them steady.
The iOttie iTap 3 Magnetic Flush Mount has the same strong magnets as the rest of the iTap 3 line, but like most flush mounts, it lacks a telescoping arm, works best on flat surfaces, and can only be applied once.
Magnetic air vent mounts
We didn’t like the ESR MagSafe HaloLock Air Vent Mount as much as we liked our ESR dashboard top pick. The mount’s supporting structure made it difficult to fit onto the vents we tested with. It also has the same strong magnets we admired in the dashboard version, but we’re concerned that pulling on the vent hard enough to release a phone could damage the slats.
The Scosche Freeflow Vent MagicMount Pro is designed not to block the vent’s airflow. Unfortunately, this mount has the same issue as all the other air vent mounts we tested: it doesn’t allow for vent adjustment. It also requires a special adapter because its magnet is not MagSafe, and the mount looks and feels cheap overall.
The Kenu Airframe Magnetic has a strong magnet, but its clamp doesn’t stay secure once mounted, which can cause your phone to shake while driving.
Scosche’s MagicMount Pro2 4-in-1 Phone Mount has a strong magnet and is easy to install, but it didn’t hold our phone steady while driving.
The Scosche MagicMount Pro is compact, but it didn’t prevent a tester iPhone from tilting face down when driving over bumps or uneven pavement.
Tension arm dashboard mounts
iOttie’s Easy One Touch 6 Dashboard Mount was simple to assemble, but the telescoping arm would not slide out in our testing. It’s a fastener-less design, with no need to tighten or loosen any wingnuts, but it took a few minutes of pulling at full strength to get it to extend at all. This seems like a design inconsistency, because we also saw Amazon reviews saying that the arm was too loose for some people, and would collapse all the way in every time they put their phone in the cradle.
The iOttie Easy One Touch 5 Dashboard Mount has manual knobs for arm depth adjustment and a very sensitive plate in the cradle that triggers the arms to close. I found that the release tabs on the sides were wide and difficult to use with one hand, and I had to hold the phone by the top when mounting to avoid pinching my fingers when the arms closed. Phones also fell back onto the trigger plate during the release process, irritatingly causing the arms to close again while I was trying to remove the phone.
The Scosche Dashboard Mount also has no telescoping arm. The foam lining the arms did not hold phones securely, and the ball joint was loose even with the fastener tightened as far as we could get it.
Miracase’s 3-in-1 Mount had a very strong, unpleasant plastic smell upon opening the box. The air vent configuration also vibrated mercilessly while driving.
The Qifutan Dashboard Mount rattled audibly while driving and got louder when there was no phone mounted in it.
Vanmass’s best-selling dashboard mount was fine, but its air vent configuration had no hook to secure itself and visibly bent the slats of the air vent during installation.
Tension arm air vent mounts
The iOttie Easy One Touch 6 Air Vent Mount had the same issues as its dashboard mounting twin — the release tabs were difficult to use one-handed, and I had to hold the phone at the top when putting it in the cradle to avoid pinching fingers when the arms snapped shut. It also had no hook to support its grip on the vent.
We dismissed the following car phone mounts because they didn’t meet our criteria: the Andery Dashboard Mount, Belkin MagSafe Vent Mount Pro, Belkin Universal Car Mount, CarMount Clutch-X, Lisen Dashboard Mount, OhSnap Car Mount, Speck MagSafe Air Vent Mount, and the WixGear Air Vent Mount.
This article was edited by Kimber Streams and Caitlin McGarry.
