In Review: The IMStick

For phones, and specifically accessories for them, I tend to think very narrowly. I mean, I consider cases, screen protectors, and how I charge them. Past that, I don’t deal with much. However, folks seem to like those socket things that attach onto the back of a phone, and all manner of dashboard mounts. That’s where the IMStick comes in, as it covers a good variety of those scenarios.

At it’s surface, the IMStick is pretty straight-forward. You’ve got two metal plates that have an adhesive side so you can attach them to your phone. Or, if you like, onto a part of your car dashboard, whatever. Why would you do that? Well, there’s also a puck that’s got neodymium magnets in it, that then grips those steel plates. And then, finally, you’ve got two flexible (and coated) wires that thread through the puck, and then allow you to position your phone just about however you want.

Before we get into how to use the IMStick, I do want to make a note about those metal plates. If you’re a fan of wireless charging – and you’re not relying on the MagSafe stuff in the iPhone 12 – then the position of that plate can and will interfere with the wireless charging. That’s just how that works, not bad design on the part of the IMStick, just the fact that the steel can block that flow of electrons to your phone. If you’ve got an older phone, or simply only use wired charging, you’re good to go.

So, given that, I wasn’t sticking these onto my phone. What I did do, however, is put it onto one of our old phones that our kids use in the house on WiFi. And actually, I found that the Smartish cases we use are a tight enough fit that I was able to place the steel plate in without relying on the adhesive, and it all held in place quite nicely. As it turned out, putting it onto the older device was a bit of serendipity.

You see, for me, the phone is either in my pocket, or just sitting on my desk so I can see alerts pop up out of the corner of my eye. Being able to stick a phone up on, say, a fridge, or hang it from a shelf or around an upright, that’s not something I really have need of. The kids, however, they do like all of those options. Particularly my oldest, as she’s going around the house working on whatever, she can have her audiobook going and set it down, and still see the screen. Or say they’re messaging or Facetiming with friends or family – you can set it down and don’t have to hold it.

And, obviously, if you’re not feeling the need to prop the phone up, you just pull the IMStick off and you’re back to your normally sleek look. The flexible wires really means you can hook this onto just about anything you want, or even wrap it around a tree branch or whatever. If you want something a bit more stable, the center of the magnetic puck is threaded to take a standard tripod mount, so you can transform your tripod into a stable platform for shooting your next video on your phone.

All in all, the IMStick gives you a lot of options for how to use the device, and how it interacts with your day-to-day. While it wasn’t something necessarily for me, my kids really appreciated having it on the older devices we’ve got in the house for them to use. So, think about your use cases. If you’ve got the need to easily stick your phone up and out of the way, or prop it up to see the screen, then something like the IMStick could be what you’re looking for. Pricing starts at $17.49 and goes up slightly from there, depending on what colors or patterns you choose. Check out the full range (and some gifs showing the IMStick in action) over at thestick.company