Oh, the Moft wallet. Surely you’ve seen a review or two about this little MagSafe wallet for the iPhone 12 lineup. Reviewers have raved that it’s “better than Apple’s MagSafe wallet.” But is it? Initially, I ordered the Moft wallet based on these rave reviews, but, after a long shipping delay, I surrendered and bought an Apple MagSafe Wallet. Now I’m able to compare the two.
I don’t want to give everything away, but in most situations, the Apple Wallet is, by far, the superior product. However, there are a few places where the Moft MagSafe Wallet comes out on top.
Mostly in the fact that it’s also a MagSafe stand. Kind of, anyway.
In This Article:
Specs
- Width Without Cards: 70.17mm (Note: this is about 6mm wider than the iPhone 12 mini)
- Width With 3 Cards: 63.63mm
- Height Without Cards: 98.38mm
- Height With 3 Cards: 98.07mm (virtually the same here)
- Depth Without Cards: 4.99mm
- Depth With 3 Cards: 7.51mm (Just over 1mm thicker than the Apple Wallet).
- Weight (Empty): 40g, 7g heavier than Apple’s option
Yes, the width and depth change depending on how many cards you have in. One slim card or no cards? It’ll feel too wide for your iPhone 12 mini. 3 or even 4 cards? It’ll be far more narrow. This is due to the grip on your cards coming from stretching out the material. That’s it. This is a card pocket, really, and one that fits quite poorly on an iPhone 12 mini without cards, and is a bit too tall then even with them.
Appearance
Note just how much larger the Moft Wallet is.
The Moft MagSafe Wallet is certainly unique. The outside has an hourglass-like shape over top of the wallet itself. It’s also more squared-off on the edges than Apple’s wallet case. I’d say it’s a more mechanical look. You can see this wallet isn’t simply a wallet. It doesn’t hide that it is unique and has features that other wallet cases do not have. Do you want that? If you want to show off that your wallet is different, then it’s the right appearance for you.
It wasn’t right for me.
Notice the softer texture of the Apple Wallet and the smaller stitches
The Moft Wallet is also larger than my Apple MagSafe Wallet. In every direction, the Moft wallet is larger, and doesn’t fit as well on the iPhone. It actually pulls away from the wallet back when cards are loaded into it.
In my opinion, this looks sloppier than the Apple wallet or other more simple wallets.
That being said, Moft did at least pay attention to their branding and the stitching. The stitching, while seemingly of a rough thread and a little long, is at least in a nice row, and adds a bit to the look.
However, over time, the Moft Wallet shows why it’s so much less expensive than Apple’s wallet. Unlike leather, faux leather doesn’t age well. It’s a plastic-derived coating that often has a matte texture, made to look like leather. This can come off easily from abrasion, like the kind you’d see from putting your iPhone in your pocket. After just a few weeks of using this wallet, it began to fall apart on me. Don’t expect this to look great a year after using it.
MagSafe Strength
Note how much it pulls away from the case and how tall it sits.
Interestingly, the Moft Wallet seems to have a slightly stronger magnet than the Apple MagSafe Wallet. However, because it’s heavier than Apple’s wallet, it’s more likely to fall off when you drop your iPhone, as MobileReviewsEh pointed out (I did not test this scientifically, because I own but one iPhone 12 mini). It can hold my iPhone 12 mini to my fridge after I placed a relatively strong magnet on my fridge, but that’s not very difficult.
The fact that the case has flat, squared-off sides means that it catches on things more frequently. It’ll come off as you’re putting your phone in or out of your wallet, a problem the Apple Wallet doesn’t have.
Finally, when the Moft wallet does come off your iPhone, you’ll get no indication. Apple’s products will vibrate to warn you they came off. Moft can’t take advantage of this deep iOS integration. Is it fair? Probably not. But for you, the consumer, it’s something to consider.
Ergonomics
Note the paper-like texture of the wallet
My iPhone is less comfortable to hold with the Moft wallet. Period. It just is. Apple’s wallet may fit the curvature of your hand better, adding only a little bulk, but the Moft feels like an intruder on your iPhone. It’s thicker, heavier, and has sharper sides. Besides, it’s actually too wide for the iPhone 12 mini without a case if you don’t have any cards in it.
Getting Cards
The inside cloth does allow cards to come out easily enough.
But surely getting cards out is easier than the Apple wallet, right? After all, more of the top of the cards gets exposed, right?
Wrong.
You just can’t get the right leverage on these. I tested, it’s easier to push out and fan out your cards on the Apple wallet. You have to almost pull all of your cards out with the Moft wallet because it doesn’t have a thumb hole on the back to slide cards up. Theoretically you can pull cards out while it’s still on your iPhone, but in practice, this isn’t going to be easy. It’s easier to take the wallet off.
Good thing it comes off so easily?
Card Safety
You can’t use the Moft Wallet with Moment Lenses.
So far, my magnetic strips seem to be working. I tested this for about three weeks, including using a magnet on the outside of the case. This didn’t even erase my flimsy Metro card, which I’ve had erased and damaged over time just sitting in my pocket. The shielding likely isn’t perfect, but in the weeks I was testing this, it worked well enough. No one can guarantee they’ll be perfectly shielded forever, but I can say all of my cards have survived weeks of testing (and months including the Apple Wallet).
Sustainability
The Moft wallet is essentially plastic, and it falls apart. Nothing on it is easily or potentially recyclable, and the outside will flake apart, so you won’t even use it for very long before you’re looking to replace it. The packaging also had plastic on it, instead of using simple cardboard with an image on the outside. Consider this an unsustainable design, even worse than Apple’s leather case.
Other Features
It is, however, a kind of okay stand. Make no mistake, you’d be better off using a dedicated smartphone stand or a MagSafe stand, but, yeah, you can use it as a stand. It even has three orientations, though one doesn’t work well on the iPhone 12 mini.
First, there’s the standard portrait orientation. Just open up the wallet like you normally would and you can use it this way. Poking the device will make it fall over, but if you’re binging TikTok videos or Instagram Reels, you could potentially just sit back and watch. The same goes for the “floating” landscape orientation, when you simply rotate your iPhone on the stand. This would work well for watching movies, but you can’t really interact with the screen. Also, as for all of these orientations, there’s only one viewing angle. So, if that’s not perfect, tough. Finally, there’s the landscape orientation. This doesn’t work well on the iPhone 12 mini, because the wallet goes right up to the edge of your device. It’s passable, if you have something offsetting the weight of your device, like wired headphones.
Moft will also tell you that it can function like a phone loop or Pop Socket. However, it’s not comfortable in any orientation. It actually takes more effort to hold your iPhone with the stand out than it does without it. I wouldn’t consider this a feature.
Overall
I didn’t really rate the Apple Wallet, but lets say I did. Let’s say it’s something like a 9/10, almost perfect. This would be a 4/10. It’s just not what you should buy if you want a wallet on the back of your iPhone. It wears quickly, it comes off easily due to its oversized shape, since it doesn’t use an internal mechanism for holding cards, it’s reliant on the fabric not getting loose over time, which it will, and it’s basically a thin plastic wallet (faux leather) that will fall apart over use. It’s not durable, sustainable, or even the best way to store your cards. Its greatest quality is that it’s a kick stand and, thanks to MagSafe, you likely have stands that have chargers built in already, if that’s what you want.
With cards in it, the Moft wallet is thicker than the Apple Wallet. It’s harder to get at the cards. It makes a better fidget toy and iPhone stand than the Apple Wallet, but the Apple MagSafe Wallet isn’t trying to be either of those things. I’d say get it only if you really want a non-charging MagSafe stand to be attached to the back of your device or you want a magnetic attachment point on the back of your wallet that isn’t MagSafe, rather than just taking the wallet off and using your iPhone’s own MagSafe.
I guess what I’m saying is, I really don’t recommend the Moft Snap-On (MagSafe compatible) Wallet. As for all of those other reviews? Might be worth it to find out if they got the Moft Wallet for free and if they just wanted something to drive traffic to their site as an “Apple Killer,” or see if they’re using affiliate links. Because, really, I can’t think of any other reason someone might prefer the Moft Wallet to the slim, sleek, more durable, easier to use, iOS-integrated, and better looking Apple MagSafe Wallet. It is a somewhat passable stand though, I guess.