An iPhone car mount is an iPhone accessory that allows you to mount or hold your iPhone in your car for easy access while driving.
One of the most important factors of an iPhone car mount is where to locate it in your car. It is the worst thing to have a car mount that distracts you while driving.
Therefore, the closer this
car mount
to the eye site view, the better. You shouldn't look down in order to see something on your
iPhone screen
.
Of course you shouldn't be navigating, browsing your iPhone, or texting while driving to begin with.
A
car mount
is really designed to hold the iPhone while you are listening to music, making an iPhone hands free phone call, or running a GPS application for turn by turn voice notification.
Moreover, with iPhone GPS, it is best to have this mount with clear opening above the iPhone. This will improve GPS reception.
You shouldn't have the
iPhone car mount
somewhere where you have to look down and move your eye from the road. This could be very dangerous and must be avoided in all situations. You want the car mount to be in front of you within your road view.
Some iPhone car kits come with many features packaged in one single
car mount unit. An
iPhone car kit
allow you to mount or hold your iPhone while charging it. It also allow you to transmit your audio to your car speakers with a built in
FM transmitter
or a direct AUX line out.
Most new cars have AUX nowadays. This option gives optimal sound quality and control over your audio while driving. An
iPhone car kit
can even have
bluetooth hands free
capability.
Types of iPhone car mount:
There are several types of
car mounts for iPhone. Some are mounted to the windshield, while others mounts to the dash board. Suppliers of those
iPhone accessories
try to be creative to be compatible with as many cars as possible.
Making a car mount easy to install and fit every car could be a tough task, and is one of the most important selling point of any iPhone accessory. You shouldn't need to use glue or drill holes in your car dashboard specially if you have a new car.
Therefore, you will find some
iPhone car kits
that use the car cigarette lighter port as a holder. Others use the car air vents as a hook to mount the iPhone in the car. Moreover, some
car mounts
use weight and friction to just set on the dashboard.
You should always look for a car mount that is adjustable in width. In other words, if you have an iPhone case on your iPhone, you shouldn't remove the case in order to fit the car mount.
This type of car mounts for iPhone use the windshield to hold the iPhone. It uses suction cups to stick to the windshield. Simply clean the windshield area and then press the suction cup to empty the air and create vacuum.
Most of those car mounts have some kind of suction button or pump to create vacuum.
When you press the button, you suck the air and create vacuum that keeps the
car mounts
stuck to the windshield.
You can place this type of iPhone accessory anywhere on the windshield. However, you should consider the following questions:
Are you blocking your view?
Is your windshield far away from you, so you need a long extension to reach your iPhone?
If you need to
charge your iPhone
while it is in the car mount, can the charger cable reach?
Does it look tacky? are you planning to keep it in the car permanently, or use it only occasionally?
Those are some questions you should answer before looking for a windshield iPhone car mount.
Car mounts that use the car dash to hold the iPhone can be tricky. They might require some gluing or even drilling to the dashboard.
I would avoid any drilling to my dashboards no matter what. If your car mount needs drilling or gluing, it means this is going to be permanent.
You have to think about the location very carefully as you can't change it. Here are some questions to answer before gluing or drilling in your dashboard:
Did you look at other options available in this page? if not then continue reading.
Is it OK to have the car mount holes when you sell your car?
Can the glue be removed? would it stain?
Does
car mount
interfere with other car accessories and functions such as the windshield wiper control, turn signals, or radio buttons?
Does it look ok? This type of iPhone car mount is permanent, so appearance is important.
Some clever
car mounts
for iPhone use friction and gravity to hold the iPhone on the dashboard.
Those iPhone car mounts are good if your dashboard has a nice flat surface.
You simply set the car mount by its weight on the flat dashboard and you are done. It is the simplest
iPhone car mount
to install.
This type of iPhone car mounts should be studied very carefully as different cars have different location and angle of their
cigarette lighter.
It is very common to buy an iPhone car mount the attach to the cigarette lighter. Then, find that it interferes with your gear shift for example, or it is very difficult or impossible to install.
Therefore, look for a
cigarette lighter car mount
that is flexible and can be rotated in different angles and directions.
Since you are using a battery source to hold the iPhone, this type of car mount has the option to
charge your iPhone
while on the mount.
However, it might be impossible install this type of
iPhone car mount
in your car if the cigarette lighter port is located in a bad location by car design. It could also block your radio buttons, cd player tray or other car accessories.
This is my favorite type of
car mount for iPhone. It is simple and cheap, and easy to adjust given that it fits your car air vent.
This type come with 2 hooks usually, and it only works on flat air vents. The hooks have a little spring that can be pushed to adjust the width of the vent, and then released to hold.
The air vent must be horizontal, because the
car mount
uses gravity to set and support the iPhone weight. Vertical or angled car vents will not work.
If the air vent is not flat, then the hook can't find a horizontal surface to hook to, and the third support can't find a spot to set on. If you have an angled air vent, then you should consider another option.
If you are lucky and your car has a nice horizontal air vent, then this option it is the cheapest and best car mount for the iPhone from all the other options.
It is cheap and can be removed it at any time. Many of those
air vent car mounts
are adjustable in the up and down position.
Some of them can even rotate. So they are very adjustable and flexible.
