I searched for a compostable case with MagSafe since the iPhone 12 first came out. Nothing. No case manufacturer was making a compostable case with MagSafe. It would be so easy! Just use some reusable adhesive and make a MagSafe sticker so people can buy them separately and compost to their heart’s content. Alas, they chose not to make MagSafe cases that were also compostable. Casetify, at least, has now released extraordinarily expensive ($70!) recycled MagSafe cases, but it’s not the same. Compostable is zero waste, recycled may not even be recyclable.
I finally decided to do something about it. I got myself Casetify’s Ultra Compostable iPhone 13 mini case. At the time, it was the only compostable iPhone 13 mini case they offered, though they now have a version without the additional corner protection. If they had, I would have picked that. Modern iPhones don’t need as much protection as we throw at them. I used it for a little while. Frankly, I didn’t like it much. It was bulkier and heavier than even my wood and resin case from Carved. Plus, no MagSafe. I switched back to my Carved case until I could get all the parts I needed to put my plan into motion.
MagSafe stickers? Check. Dremel tool? Check. I got to work.
Don’t do this at home… or anywhere. Just don’t do this at all.
I carefully cut out a hole for the MagSafe sticker in the case. I was mostly careful not to go all the way through, but a few accidents happened. By getting as close to the back of the case as I could, I made room for the magnets as well as brought them closer to any MagSafe accessories. Then it was just a matter of taping my magnets in place.
I made my own compostable MagSafe case.
So, this is a review of Casetify’s case, for sure. But I’ll also throw in some notes about my own custom case. It’s a shame no one has made a compostable MagSafe case yet. Maybe I’m the first?
In This Article:
Specs
- Width without bumpers: 69.78mm
- Width with bumpers: 72.7mm
- Height without bumpers: 137.1mm
- Height with bumpers: 139.89mm
- Depth: 11.92mm
- Weight: 41g
- Weight after my mods: 45g
Protection 9/10
I reviewed a Casetify compostable case before. I gave it, at the time, a 2.5/5, or, what would be a 5/10 on the current scale. That was mostly because it was rather thin and didn’t quite stay on the case well. Plus, as I’ll discuss in the durability section, it wasn’t incredibly tough. It got scuffed from a few short falls, and a few more could have damaged its integrity.
The Casetify Ultra Compostable case is far more protective. Not only is it quite thick on the edges, over 2mm thick on each side, but it also has bumpers that add another 2-3mm of material. That absorbs shocks and also gives you more to wear down. It’s still a compostable case, it’s supposed to break down over time, but the important thing is that it’ll last you the life of your phone. Unless you’re exceptionally clumsy in some dangerous areas, it should. I’m confident in this drop protection. There’s even a decent sized lip to protect the screen of your phone. However, it still will wear with everyday use and drops, so I had to take a bit off the score.
Looks 8/10
This is a highly customizable case with a wide variety of designs. If you don’t like the look of the case, that’s on you for picking it. The bumpers don’t look fantastic, but you can choose to get a version of the case without them now. The real reason I decided to take a few points off here was the wear and tear. This case will quickly get marks and scuffs, due to the softer material of the case. It won’t look as good as a result. I definitely beat up my case a little more as a result of my MagSafe modification, but the external damage is a good reflection of normal use over a few months.
This is a rare case. Not because I customized it, I simply picked one of the designs from Casetify. It’s rare because compostable cases are often so boring. At most they may have an engraved design or text, but nothing like this. This is a vibrant, colorful, printed design. The piece on the back feels like a different texture than the rest of the compostable case. More like hard plastic. It’s such a nice touch to have a pretty case that’s also compostable.
Ergonomics 3/10
When it comes to ergonomics, that is, grip and ease of use, this case fails in a number of ways. First, it’s thick. This is my heaviest case, and my thickest too. Yes, it was heavier than even my case made with wood and resin. This is a dense material, and, while that may be great for protecting your device from drops, it ensures you may be more likely to drop your phone.
Then there’s the buttons. Like many other cases, I did something here that you also shouldn’t do at home. I had to cut the buttons. There are already small cutouts in the buttons to make them easier to press, but they’re not enough. The material is dense and it makes those buttons hard to press. So, I took a knife and carefully cut slits around the button area, extending the cutouts. Now the buttons are almost as easy to press on this as they are on my Carved case or without a case. Still, I hate that so many case manufacturers ship out cases that will need your immediate attention with sharp instruments. Which, by the way, you shouldn’t do because knives are dangerous.
Even the back of this case was thick. I say “was” because I cut through a great deal of it to make my MagSafe mod. I was surprised it was thick enough that I could double up the MagSafe stickers I got, giving me a very strong magnetic connection. This was likely to add enough material to keep a mostly flat back with the gigantic camera bump Apple stuck on one side of their device. This just adds a lot of weight without adding meaningful protection. A better solution would have a larger lip, or a camera bump built into the case. This is a dense material, keeping it flush means adding a lot of weight.
The material is grippy, though not so grippy that it’ll stick to the insides of your jean pockets or collect lint. It really does help keep your device in your hand. There is one drawback with this material, and it’s the texture. It starts off quite soft, but it seems to absorb oils from your hands or lotion over time, giving it a texture that just feels “off.” It’s not necessarily oily, it just feels like there’s something slick about it. It’s hard to describe, but it eventually feels a little odd to hold.
Sustainability 9/10
This is a compostable case that shipped to me in a recyclable cardboard box. Perfect! Normally, this is everything required for a 10/10 on my sustainability. Once I’m done with this case I can either send it to a place to be composted, find an industrial composting collector, or just toss it in a compost bin in a restaurant. This case will break down and become nothing. The cardboard it came in will be recycled and end up in some other packaging. This is what every case should be. No single use product should ever be plastic again.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and our society is still full of single use plastics, including phone cases.
So why didn’t I give this a perfect score? Because it doesn’t have MagSafe. Even if someone’s not super into tech, they may eventually use and then inevitably want a MagSafe accessory. It’s so convenient. Whether it’s snapping on to a charger or keeping a few cards on the back of your phone so you don’t have to carry a wallet or bag, MagSafe is really cool. Once someone realizes their phone has this cool feature, they will want to use it. The fact that this can’t be your one and only case if you use MagSafe means you’ll also have to get another case. That’s double the shipping, packaging, and all to get another case. That one will likely be plastic.
Companies really need to start considering their compostable cases their flagship cases, and add MagSafe to them.
ReCasetify
Casetify also has a phone recycling program. With this, customers in the U.S., Hong Kong, and Japan can send in their old cases from any brand for a 15% discount code on a new case from Casetify. Why do they want your old cases? They’re recycling them. Many of Casetify’s cases now use recycled materials. Behind the service is TerraCycle. TerraCycle helps recycle materials that are difficult to break down, but are reusable. Phone cases, for example, are often made out of plastic and silicone or TPU together. These can be split apart and recycled into new cases and products.
Currently, Casetify does not cover shipping charges. It’s a way of dangling the 15% they’ll give you towards a new case as a sort of store credit. Personally, I’d rather them cover the shipping charges, as I’d like the choice to make my next case a Casetify case or something else.
Plastic recycling is far from perfect. In fact, for the most part, it’s a scam. That’s why I recommend using only biodegradable and compostable materials for anything that’s single use, like a cellphone case. But, as the linked video states, we need to legislate away single use plastics because options are limited. As you can see from this review, those options are still far from perfect. If you’re going to use a plastic case, consider saving them over a few years in a drawer somewhere and then shipping them to TerraCycle, Casetify, or any company that recycles and composts old cases.
Durability 2/10
A compostable case is a case that’s designed to break down under the right conditions. Unfortunately, it tends to break down a little in the wrong conditions too. I’ve kept a few of my compostable cases in a drawer. After over two years, they’re unchanged from when I put them in there. These cases certainly need the right conditions, a compost heap, to break down. Sure, some people have found many start to break down in the dirt alone, but they’re not going to start to dissolve in your pocket.
These cases are still a bit soft. Enough that I can scratch it with my fingernails. This was a bigger problem with my iPhone 11 case because I needed a phone loop to hold it and my fingers didn’t all reach across the case. Also, the old case was all the same texture, while Casetify’s new printed compostable cases have a more durable material on the back. Is that material still compostable? Casetify says yes. The rest of the case will show wear on the difficult to press buttons rather quickly. You’ll also see scuffing and even fraying from drops. While I don’t think you’ll damage your case enough to make it unusable in a year or two, you can expect it to not look so pretty after a few months.
Value 7/10
These cases aren’t overly expensive. It’s on the higher side of the case price range, at $45 for the “Ultra Compostable” case and $40 for the less protective compostable case, but that’s not too bad for a cellphone case. You also get a wide variety of options. However, the unreasonably long shipping time of 3 weeks, the lack of MagSafe, and the low durability makes me question the price tag a little.
This is a nice compostable case, likely the best on the market. If a having a case that will both protect your phone and not be a burden on the environment is important to you, the price is worth it. I just wish it wasn’t lacking features you’d find in other cases at this price range.
MagSafe Compatibility 0/6 (but 5/6 for my version)
The only MagSafe compostable case I’ve seen is the one I made.
You may have heard already, but this case doesn’t have MagSafe. It’s a shame because, it’s really not that hard to add. For a company, anyway. For me, it required a bit of effort to do what they should have done from the factory. I can’t recommend playing with power tools for, I don’t know, legal reasons? Don’t try this at home.
So I carved out the case and added MagSafe. I lined it up by snapping the magnet array to my iPhone, then using a marker to cover the plastic on the back. Then I put the case on, and when I took it back off, it had marked exactly where I had to cut out. Clever, right? Then I used a tool to cut out the shape of the MagSafe sticker. Put the magnet array in the case and finished up by covering it with electrical tape.
It’s a powerful MagSafe case. In fact, it’s my most powerful magnetic grip of my iPhone 13 cases. I can stick it to my fridge better than I could my iPhone 12 case from Apple. The end result only added 4g. Overall, it was a win. Although this wasn’t extremely difficult, I don’t think I’d do it again. It wasn’t easy. This material was very soft and would give way in chunks, making it harder to work with than I expected. It didn’t feel like filing down wood or even plastic, but more like something gummy. There was still fine powder that I had to keep clean from my workspace using air filters and a vacuum, but most came off in chunks. Not an easy project, and potentially unsafe. It’s a shame companies don’t just make them like this.
(This rating has been updated with the new ranking system. It has a fantastic 5/6 score, with some very strong MagSafe after my modifications).
Overall 4.5/10 and 6/10
My MagSafe version is, without a doubt, a better case than the original. I did take half a point off for it though, because whatever idiot cut out this MagSafe portion went through the case a few times. Joking aside, this isn’t an awful case. Straight from Casetify, it’s still protective, compostable, great looking, and will improve grip without sticking to anything else. However, it’s also lacking MagSafe, isn’t very durable, is a bit too thick, it’s too heavy, and has tough to press buttons. While those buttons are easy to fix, you want an iPhone case, not a DIY project. I also can’t believe these cases take three weeks to arrive after you order. Casetify has many styles, but the wait, especially if you don’t have a case yet and need something to protect your phone, is inexcusable. You’ll basically need a case to protect your iPhone in the weeks it takes your Casetify case to arrive. That’s not environmentally friendly!
I’ve bought Casetify’s compostable case before. Chances are, I’ll buy one again if I buy another iPhone. However, I’ll hold off until they put MagSafe in themselves. It was nice to complete a project, but no one wants an iPhone case that requires power tools and assembly.
You can find Casetify’s “Ultra Compostable” cases on their website using this filter.