Belkin’s iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Mac Notebooks has a foul identify however is an excellent accent. It enables you to clip your iPhone onto your laptop computer so you can also make use of macOS Ventura and iOS 16’s Continuity Camera function, which turns your telephone right into a webcam that completely crushes just about something that’s constructed into MacBooks as of late. And if that was all it did, I’d nonetheless be pleased with it — however its design and options are what actually make it price contemplating, regardless that there’s already a flood of different equipment meant to do the identical job.

Utilizing the mount to show your telephone right into a webcam is easy: you magnetically snap it on, flip out just a little foot with Belkin’s brand on it, and relaxation it on high of your laptop. You then simply select your iPhone because the digicam in no matter video chat app you’re utilizing. It’s a fairly easy mechanism that works effectively, and since the mount is round, you possibly can connect your telephone in both portrait or panorama mode.

Its versatile form does, nonetheless, imply that there’s not that additional stabilizing magnet on the backside like another MagSafe equipment have. That in all probability received’t trigger a power downside; my iPhone 12 Mini by no means slid off Belkin’s mount or something, even once I examined it with out a case, and none of my colleagues who’ve used the mount with larger telephones famous any points. Nevertheless it does imply that you will have to spend a second twisting the mount a tiny bit to verify your video doesn’t find yourself barely crooked.

The place the mount actually shines is its construct high quality and bonus kickstand / grip ring (sadly, the kickstand can’t actually be used if you wish to prop your telephone’s digicam up on a desk as an alternative of your laptop; it’s simply not in the correct place). The entire thing feels very easy and strong, like a rock that’s been polished by shifting water. It’s additionally coated in a kind of grippy rubber, which feels nice and is very unobtrusive. Once I’m utilizing it with my telephone on, the low-profile dome matches just about completely into my palm, and I barely discover it’s there. In case you truly need Continuity Camera to be helpful, you need to ensure you’ve at all times received a mount with you. The Belkin is good sufficient that I need to preserve it on my telephone, which suggests I received’t overlook it once I depart the home.

With that mentioned, I don’t suppose this mount and Continuity Camera are going to revolutionize my informal FaceTimes or Discord calls with family and friends for one easy purpose: when my laptop computer is truly on my lap, placing a telephone on the high of the lid makes it very tippy, even with my mini telephone. Once I was utilizing it with my legs crossed, it my laptop computer would simply fall over and yeet my telephone throughout the room if I didn’t catch it. Even when I’ve received my arm on the palm relaxation, it solely takes the slightest bump for the burden of the telephone to tug my 13-inch MacBook Professional’s display again to its most open place, normally leading to a really unflattering angle (and maybe an uncomfortable quantity of pressure on my show?).

To be clear, this in all probability received’t be an issue on a desk until you’re utilizing the diminutive 12-inch MacBook. One among my co-workers mentioned that his MacBook Air was completely steady when sitting on a desk with an iPhone 13 hooked up to it, and the identical was true for an additional co-worker who used the mount with a Professional Max and 16-inch MacBook Professional. Nevertheless it does imply that I’ll in all probability solely use this accent for extra formal video calls the place I’ll be at a desk or counter somewhat than the much more frequent ones that I do from the sofa. That’s not Belkin’s fault; it’s simply physics, and actually, I don’t suppose my mother or sister are going to thoughts seeing me in fuzzy 720p (or, at the least, I haven’t gotten any complaints up to now few years).

Even with this limitation, I nonetheless really feel just like the Belkin mount is price its $29.95 price ticket for anybody who cares what they appear like on video, has an iPhone, and plans on upgrading to macOS Ventura when it comes out on Monday (and who doesn’t need the trouble of establishing a devoted digicam / tripod / mild).

Nonetheless, for those who principally work from a desk with a monitor, it might be price ready for the desktop model, which Belkin says will allow you to tilt your telephone to reframe the shot. That model is “coming quickly,” in keeping with Belkin’s press launch, although it doesn’t point out whether or not it’ll function some kind of energy supply that’s extra elegant than simply plugging your telephone in utilizing a Lightning cable. That kind of function wouldn’t make sense on the transportable model, but it surely’d in all probability be a pleasant add for many who are in conferences all day lengthy.