If you have been wanting to make the plunge to MagSafe, but you’ve been holding off because you didn’t want to replace your iPhone case, here’s something to know. There’s nothing incredibly magical about MagSafe technology. In fact, you can turn almost any iPhone case into one that’s MagSafe-compatible easily and inexpensively.
All It Takes Is a Metallic Ring
The metallic ring you see on MagSafe cases isn’t really anything special. It usually isn’t magnetic in and of itself. All it does is provide additional material with magnetic properties to guide your MagSafe charger or power bank into place.
So, if you could attach your own metallic ring to your case, wouldn’t that make it a MagSafe-compatible one? In most cases, the answer is yes.
Turning Your Existing iPhone Case Into a MagSafe Case
If you search on Amazon for “MagSafe case converter,” you’ll find quite a few options. Even popular battery pack maker mophie offers a ring to add to your non-MagSafe smartphone to give it the magnetic grip.
For your non-MagSafe iPhone case, though, there are plenty of choices. The best of these metallic rings feature 3M adhesive tape on one side, allowing a strong attachment to your case. Some come with an attachment template for placing your sticker.
Others just advise you to place the metallic side on your MagSafe charger, remove the cover from the adhesive, and allow the MagSafe charger to do the placement for you.
A couple of the ones I found are magnetic, making compatibility even better. For most purposes, if your case is thin enough, you probably don’t need that. The metallic coating on the rings offers enough conductivity to make MagSafe work.
Which Cases Should These Rings Work With?
Generally speaking, you’ll want your case to be less than 4mm thick for this conversion to work best. It’s also important that the 3M adhesive be able to stick to your case. So, most of the manufacturers say to use the rings with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) or polycarbonate (PC) cases.
It’s also important to note that any sort of fingerprint-resistant coating will prevent the adhesive from sticking. So, while you can’t turn absolutely any iPhone case into a MagSafe-compatible one, most should convert to the magnetic charging technology just fine.