6 Best Car Phone Holders of 2023

Apr 14, 2024

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Bumpy roads are no match for these phone mounts.

Everyone knows the inconvenience — not to mention the danger — of whipping your phone out of your pocket while driving to check for directions, change the song or answer a phone call. Nevertheless, we find ourselves in need of our handy gadgets to keep us on course to destinations and fill our drives with music and podcasts. A simple car phone holder can help mitigate some of these risks by keeping your device in sight while you keep your eyes on the road.

The Good Housekeeping Institute has put several car phone holders to the test both in the Lab and in testers' real-life cars. We evaluate phone holders for stability, the ability to angle the phone to the driver’s preference and the ease of mounting and dismounting different phone models, as well as any bonus features like charging capabilities. We also scoured the internet for the most innovative, top-selling, and best-reviewed products to choose additional picks.

Keep reading beyond our list of top picks for a more in-depth look at how we test car phone holders, plus more information about how to determine which type might be best for your car and driving style.

When it comes to stability, this Belkin car phone holder seriously outperformed the competition. The suction cup for windshield application features a locking mechanism that allowed this phone holder to handle more force before coming off the window than any of the other suction cup mounts we tried. For states where mounting your phone on the windshield is illegal, this phone holder also comes with a base for mounting it directly to your dashboard. Although we love the stability of the base, it's bulkier design may be hard to place on cluttered or tight dashboards.

The arm rotates 360 degrees and the grip can tilt 90 degrees, allowing for easy repositioning of your phone. The pinching mechanism that holds the phone in place was also stable, passing our shake tests with both an iPhone 11 and 14.

iOttie's Easy One Touch 5 offers more functionality than some of its competitors at a slightly lower price. The phone holder can be applied to the windshield or dashboard and features a telescopic arm with a pivoting ball-and-socket joint, allowing for a wide array of customization in terms of viewing angle.

While we weren't able to test this model ourselves, we were impressed with the one-touch system that allows you to insert and remove your phone with a single hand. More than 75,000 five-star Amazon reviewers rave about this phone mount with many reviewers pointing out that the powerful suction keeps the phone holder in place even on bumpy rides. Some, however, point out that the dashboard mounting disc that comes with only works on perfectly flat surfaces, so if your dashboard has any kind of curve it's best to look elsewhere.

For those wanting a quick, fuss-free car phone holder experience that blends seamlessly with the rest of the car, the Airframe Pro offers pure simplicity. It clips directly into car vents and the clip can rotate 90 degrees so you can use your phone in both portrait and landscape mode.

We found the grip of this product kept our test phones in place even when shaken vigorously, and we liked its cross-compatibility with different phone models, accommodating screen widths of 6.8 to 10.5 cm. Although this phone holder features a ball and socket joint for angling the phone, it has limited mobility, so there may be fewer locations in your car where you can place it and still see the screen clearly.

If aren't sure about where you'd like to mount your phone, Andobil's Car Phone Mount is your safest bet. The holder can be fixed to the windshield via a suction cup, the dashboard via the included dash mount or the vents via the included vent clip. It also has a ball and socket joint and telescopic arm, to provide the most versatile selection of viewing angles and placements.

We liked the overall compatibility of this phone holder too. It fits phones from 7.6 to 11.6 cm in width, and we found the locking mechanism was well-padded and held our test phones securely. The telescopic arm also extended further than any of the others we tested. The arm was stable when weighted and was easy to adjust for viewing. Although some reviewers on Amazon have reported difficulty with getting the suction cup to stick, it passed our tests with flying colors — just make sure to stick it to a flat surface and thoroughly clean that surface prior to application.

This model by Belkin stands out for its ability to charge your phone via Apple's MagSafe technology while it rests on the holder. The Good Housekeeping Institute's Chief Technologist Rachel Rothman tested this model in her car and said that this vent-clip holder held the phone securely in both landscape and portrait orientation. She was also impressed with its speedy charging capabilities. We also love the sleek, minimalistic design of this holder which virtually disappears when a phone is fixed to it, and the novelty and convenience of fixing the phone to it via magnetic force.

Though we appreciate the innovative nature of this phone holder, it comes at the cost of universality. It's only compatible with iPhones 12, 13, and 14, so owners of other phone makes and models will need to look elsewhere for their car charging and phone holding needs.

If windshield mounting is illegal in your state and your car has limited space on the dashboard and vents, a cup holder-mounted phone holder might be the perfect solution. This one features a bendable neck so you can find your perfect viewing angle. It also features the same locking mechanism in the phone grip as the other Andobil holder in this roundup that we loved.

While we didn't test this model in the Lab, we were impressed with the design's ability to fit many different cup holders thanks to its expandable base. It also has over 4,000 five-star Amazon reviews with many attesting to this product's sturdiness in spite of its highly adjustable neck. Some noted that the neck isn't the most durable and can become loose, but some reviews pointed out that customer service was able to quickly help them fix their holders/send replacement parts quickly.

We tested car phone holders both in the Good Housekeeping Institute Lab and in our own cars. In the Lab, we measured the grip size of the holders and compared them to manufacturer claims about compatible phone widths. We tested the gripping strength using an iPhone 11 and iPhone 14 Pro by inserting the phone models and vigorously shaking them to see how well they would keep the phone in place in bumpy driving conditions. Windshield-attaching phone holders were mounted to a large window in direct sunlight for six hours to assess the stability of the suction cup under the stress of heat. We then applied force to the arm of the holder and qualitatively noted how much force was necessary to detach each one. Finally, we asked test panelists to install phone holders in their cars and test any additional functionality like charging capabilities. We used feedback from real use case scenarios to help determine our picks for this article.

The placement of a car phone holder is a matter of legality, convenience and personal preference. While a windshield-mounted option is appealing in terms of clear visibility while driving, many states have laws forbidding drivers from this placement, so be sure to check your local legislation. Dashboard mounting provides a similar effect, just in a lower position in the field of view. Vent clips work similarly but tend to offer less mobility in terms of angling the phone toward the driver. Finally, cup holder mounts are a great option for those with a busy dashboard or limited vent space.

Nikolas Greenwald has spent several months testing and researching different car accessories since joining the Good Housekeeping Institute. For this story, he spent over 10 hours researching, testing and comparing car phone holders and supplemented this research with real-use case consumer testing. As an engineer, he evaluates product design based on utility, intended use and fringe testing to find the most intuitive, effective picks.

As the lab assistant at the Good Housekeeping Institute, Nik (he/him) works with all of our Labs to develop testing protocols and manage data collection and analysis. Before joining Good Housekeeping in 2022, Nik worked in the labs of MIT and Regeneron, working on projects ranging from chemical inventory and reporting to the development of bioassays. He holds a degree in chemical engineering from Northeastern University.

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