Apple doesn’t make a MagSafe car charger – here are your options

Getting a MagSafe car charger for your iPhone seems like a straightforward process, but the current landscape is one of the tradeoffs: there is no all-in-one solution that will maintain and charge your phone wirelessly. and are MagSafe certified to provide up to 15W of power. However, manufacturers have found workarounds.

First up, there’s the Belkin Car Vent Mount Pro, which is the only MagSafe certified car mount, and it sells for $ 39.99. Being certified does not mean that it provides energy. You’ll need to plug in your phone with a Lightning cable (which you’ll need to do anyway for wired CarPlay compatibility). This technically allows you to charge your phone faster than normal wireless charging, but it leaves you messing around with a cable.

Then there’s the Scosche MagicMount, which provides a 20W car adapter but nothing to plug in. You must provide your own MagSafe Washer, which adds $ 39 to the MagicMount’s $ 29.99 to $ 39.99 price (which varies by model). While this technically allows you to mount and load the MagSafe certification, that’s only because you’re using Apple’s own washer.

Just providing the plastic to put around the Apple charger is a common approach. Amazon is full of BYOP (bring your own washer) car mounts, and we’ve seen it with Apple Watch charger accessories as well. It’s a quick and easy way to give users a fully certified experience without having to wait for certification (and without the cost of Apple’s Made For iPhone program). The downside is that users have to buy two different things.

Finally, there’s the ESR HaloLock, which seems to have it all. It’s one-piece, magnetically holds your iPhone, and allows wireless charging. The only thing missing is MagSafe certification, which means Apple will only let your phone charge at 7.5W. You will again see a lot of similar products on Amazon, where the manufacturer has copied the magnets from MagSafe. but used a standard Qi charger for power. Like washer carriers, you’ll get most of the functionality without having to be certified, and the product will be suitable for people who don’t mind fast charging.

That’s not to say that fully certified third-party MagSafe Car Holders won’t show up at some point, but it might take a little while. And since the other routes get you closer to the real deal, you can expect to see a lot in the meantime.