The back of your phone has become a prime piece of real estate. Once home only to cutesy case logos and ugly carrier branding, now accessory-makers of all kinds are vying for the back of your phone or phone case: stick-on card sleeves, magnetic mount plates, phone grips in every size, shape, and material conceivable. Scooch's Wingman Universal may seem like just another phone grip at first glance, but it marries an old-school mechanism with some impressive multi-purpose functionality into something that sits above the crowd.
The Good
- Stable portrait/landscape kickstand
- Snappy deployment mechanism is almost as addictive as PopSockets
- Metal spring tape won't wear out like other grips
The Bad
- Incompatible with wireless charging
- Too tall for some cases/phones
- Harder to transfer between cases/phones
Slap bracelet, meet smartphone
Scooch Wingback Universal What stands out
As a child of the 90's, I remember slap bracelets vividly. They were weird, they were cheap, and their velvet-wrapped cousins were the only way grade-school Ara got her frizzy mane into a bun. The spring tape inside these bracelets — and standard metal tape measures reaches new heights in the Scooch Wingback Universal, a large stick-on accessory in the same vein as PopSockets and my beloved Spigen Style Ring POP.
The Wingback is a combination kickstand/phone grip/car mount, and yes, the kickstand goes first because that's what Scooch's accessory does first and best. With the grip adhered to your phone case — or directly to your phone, if you're a complete madman — all it takes is a quick pinch to snap the spring tape from its straight position to curved, deploying the Wingback as an instant landscape or portrait kickstand.
Wingback may wobble when you push, but it won't fall down.
The kickstand on the Wingback isn't angle-adjustable like the Spigen Style Ring, it's easier to deploy, far more stable, and longer lasting. If you push down on your phone for a long-press or other gesture, the Wingback will flex, but then pop back into position rather than collapsing under the force as most phone grips do. The portrait angle is great for glancing at recipe instructions, referencing notes on your phone while it sits propped up next to your keyboard, or boredly scrolling through Reddit while you wait for a meeting to start.
When it's time to pack up and go, simply slide your fingers down the back of the Wingback and push the spring tap straight inside its polycarbonate slot, and the phone sits stable and flat on the table when the kickstand isn't deployed. I haven't had the wing pop out in my pocket on its own, and thanks to the beveled edges of the Wingback's frame, my phone still slides easily in and out of my pockets, purses, and holster.
Technically Scooch says the Wingback can just be slipped into the air vents or CD slot in your car for as an easy car mount, but my 2018 CR-V doesn't have a CD player in it and the air vent slots were too wide for the Wingback to get a good purchase. Never fear, though, because since the Wingback Universal is basically a long metal strip, it's compatible with most magnetic mounts, and Scooch sells its own Wingmount magnetic dash mount if you don't already have a magnetic mount sitting around. Of course, the flip side of this coin is that since it's a big magnetic metal strip, the Wingback will prevent your phone from wireless charging.
Scooch Wingback Universal What slips out of reach
While I do indeed use the Wingback's kickstand features more than I have on any other phone grip to date, part of the reason I've done so it that while the kickstand stable and secure, the phone grip performance has been a mixed bag, especially when trying to type or navigate my OnePlus 6T's 6.4-inch screen one-handed. It's better to set the phone down on on that kickstand for basic navigation than it is to hold it in your hand while sitting near a flat surface.
With the smooth silicone-covered spring curving back away from the phone, it's harder to keep the phone in one place one-handed without using either your pinky or pointer finger to prop up your phone's frame for stability. Picky-propping was the problem I initially turned to phone grips to avoid, and it's been something I've had to actively avoid, but I have petite hands and a big phone.
Not rocking a large phone? Then Scooch along for another phone grip.
It's a good thing I have such large phones as the OnePlus 6T and the Samsung Galaxy S9+ to use the Wingback on, as the grip wouldn't fit my original Google Pixel's back. If you phone has a centrally-located rear fingerprint sensor or a large vertical camera array, this mount might not physically fit on the back of your phone without compromising your access to the fingerprint sensor.
The thick bumper surrounding the Wingback helps it stay securely in place and stable when flat on a desk, but it's one of the biggest grip/kickstands I've seen, and there's a lot of phones out there this just flat-out doesn't fit, and you need to be darn sure of your placement before you try applying it to your phone. While you can maybe remove this kickstand once and re-apply it, it's gonna take a whole lot of effort and a small amount of luck, so measure twice, apply once.
Scooch Wingback Universal
If your phone can fit the Scooch Wingback Universal and you're tired of craning over your phone at all hours of the day and night, this is the most reliable, durable stick-on kickstand I've seen to date, especially for portrait use. Combine that kickstand with magnetic car mounts — and using the Wingback itself as an air vent mount in a pinch — and this package more than earns its $15 price tag.
Whether you're after better phone posture, a little more grip on the go, or that satisfying click of pushing the Wingback in and out, the Scooch can be quite the wingman for your Android experience. Having a good portrait kickstand will encourage you to elevate your phone and your head, helping you avoid neck pain today and into the future.
