Apple’s updated iPad mini may be a niche device because of its size, but it’s got enough power to suit most people’s needs. We gave the small tablet a score of 89 when it came out last year, and now you can pick it up at a discounted price. Amazon has the pink, purple and space gray 64GB models for $459, which is $40 off and a record low.
You probably already know if the iPad mini will fill a hole in your life. The e-reader-sized tablet will be best for those who will use it precisely for things like reading and taking notes, as well as anyone who just wants a more compact tablet to take with them on the go. With the 2021 version, Apple finally gave the iPad mini the facelift many had been hoping for, changing its design to look more like a smaller iPad Air with a nearly edge-to-edge, 8.3-inch 2,266 x 1,488 resolution Liquid Retina screen, flat sides and a TouchID-capable power button. It also works with the second-generation Apple Pencil, and that accessory magnetically attaches to the side of the tablet when you’re not using it.
The A15 Bionic chip inside the iPad mini helped it handle everything we threw at it, including light gaming, web browsing, note-taking and more. Plus, FaceTime calls are even better on this tablet since the front-facing camera supports Center Stage, which will keep you in frame while you’re chatting with friends and family. We also appreciate that the iPad mini lasted about 12 hours in our testing before it needed to be recharged, so it can be your main tablet all day long if you’d like it to be.
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Google has released the second Developer Preview for Android 13, and it includes a big change in how the platform delivers alerts. Apps built for Android 13 will need to ask for permission before they can send notifications. Apps made for Android 12 or lower won’t face this obligation, but this could still be very helpful if you’re tired of having to disable notifications for apps that enable them by default.
Developers, meanwhile, can establish “downgradeable” permissions that scale back once they’re no longer required. An app that needed access to your location before might switch it off if a relevant feature was disabled, or if the permission is no longer necessary in Android 13.
After that, Developer Preview 2’s biggest upgrades mostly apply to audio. You’ll find Bluetooth LE Audio support that promises “high fidelity” sound without a big hit to battery life. Musicians will find MIDI 2.0 compatibility that lets you use higher-resolution and more expressive USB instruments. The newer Android 13 build is also better at handling non-Latin languages like Japanese and Tamil.
You’ll need a Pixel 4, Pixel 4a or newer Google phone to load the Android 13 DP2 system image outside of an emulator. As with past previews, you won’t want to install this on your main phone — there are likely to be plenty of remaining glitches and compatibility headaches. Google is still targeting platform stability between June and July, and the polished release isn’t due until sometime after that. If you can afford to experiment, though, it should be clear the new OS is quickly taking shape.
Almost a year after Samsung revealed the Galaxy A52 (and the rest of the 2021 Galaxy A family), the company is back with even more phones. While the foldables and the Galaxy S22 line might grab the headlines and raise the bar for specs, the Galaxy A ph…
It’s new-phone season again, between all the announcements at Mobile World Congress last month and the inevitable release of new iPhones and Pixels looming in the fall. Which means you’ll be faced with a hard choice: upgrade or stick it out another year with your current device. The annual cycle of new flagship handset releases can be a little tough on your wallet, though, which is why you might want to offset the cost by putting your old device up for sale. But which trade-in service will yield you the biggest bang for your buck? And how much of a pain will it be? We’ve rounded up some of the leading contenders for offloading your old electronics. Not just phones, either — perhaps you have an old laptop that isn’t quite cutting it anymore, or maybe you’ve got some other stuff sitting in the closet collecting dust.
Trade-in sites
If you’re looking for the littlest hassle and want your money as soon as possible, there are plenty of sites that will automate the trade-in process. You’ll select your device from a list, get a quote within a minute and send the device back for cash in a matter of days.
Decluttr
Decluttr definitely lives up to its name. Not only can you sell phones from a number of manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung and HTC, but the site also takes lots of physical media, including CDs, DVDs, video games and books. For devices, you’ll be asked for a general assessment of its condition, and given a quote immediately. Once you complete your order the site will send you a free shipping label. Decluttr also reaches back pretty far like with sales of the iPhone 6, though it’ll offer you only $5 for an 16GB model in good condition.
uSell
uSell operates as a broker, searching other sites for their best offers on a given device and taking care of the rest. Like most buyback sites, it’s big on iPhones, but you can still sell off other manufacturers’ devices; it really depends on who’s buying them at that point. The selection is a bit of a grab bag — newer phones like the Galaxy S21 aren’t listed, though you can get a quote for the iPhone 11 ($305 for an unlocked, “flawless” 64GB model). Once you complete your order the site will send you a free shipping kit to send out your phone, and you can get paid for the item via PayPal or an old fashioned check.
ecoATM
If you don’t want to have to worry about packaging up your old device and mailing it off, or would like to receive your payout right away, there’s always ecoATM. It’s literally there in the name: an automated machine that you place your device into and it examines the handset and pays you on the spot. It accepts the biggest brands (i.e., Apple and Samsung), along with devices from a wide variety of manufacturers, including LG, Motorola and ZTE. If the machine determines that your device isn’t worth anything at all, you can still use ecoATM to responsibly recycle your old gadget. You’ll find ecoATM kiosks in Walmart stores and malls across the country.
Amazon
While browsing Amazon listings, it’s likely you’ve come across products marked as “refurbished.” Well, if you’ve ever wondered where those come from, a lot of them likely hail from Amazon’s trade-in program. The company will put its own products, like Kindle readers and Fire tablets front and center, but you can also send in phones and gaming products in for an Amazon gift card as well. It’s not great if you want cash, but if you’re looking to upgrade an Amazon device this option is your best bet, as trading in an older device also nets you a 20 percent discount in addition to the store credit.
Apple
This is a good option if you’re looking to upgrade to a newer Apple device. You can trade in iPhones, iPads, Macs and even Apple Watches. That’s notable as wearables are a device category you don’t often see on trade-in sites. Apple will even take your old Android phone if you were thinking of making the switch. The trade-in values are on par with other sites, and you can get your payout in the form of a gift card instead if you’d rather wait before making a new purchase, put it toward media purchases or even just use it in an Apple Store. Which, by the way, also accepts trade-ins in case you’re not comfortable shipping your old but still expensive device.
It’sWorthMore
The nice thing about It’sWorthMore is that its on-site forms handle a larger variety of gadgets than other sites, incorporating companies such as Microsoft, Sonos and even GoPro in addition to standards like Apple, Samsung and Google. You’ll answer a few standard questions about your device’s condition and whether you still have the original box — obviously, the more you’ve kept from the original packaging, the better. You’ll then get a ballpark estimate of its worth and a prepaid shipping label to print out. Once your device is received you’ll generally receive the assessment and payment via check, PayPal or Zelle within two to three business days.
BuyBackWorld
The appeal of BuyBackWorld is that device assessment is a streamlined process: Instead of having to answer a barrage of detailed questions for your device you can just give it a general assessment and let the site handle the rest. Just like with It’sWorthMore, BuyBackWorld will provide a printable shipping label in your confirmation email but, if you don’t have a printer or boxes to pack your device up, you can always have the site send you a free shipping kit, which can handle every gadget the site takes except desktop computers.
GadgetGone
If you’ve read through the other site descriptions, GadgetGone’s modus operandi should be familiar: To sell a product, you’ll have to answer a few questions about what type of device you have and what condition it’s in, after which the site will generate a prepaid shipping label. At least here you can find brands like OnePlus included among the options, and you can also sell MacBooks and Mac Minis here. The site’s biggest gimmick is that you can also send in photos of your pets; you won’t get any additional money but your fur baby (or scaled or feathered friend) may be featured on social media.
Store trade-ins
Sometimes you need your money right now, or just don’t want to trust your device to the vagaries of various shipping companies. There are a few nationwide retailers that accept trade-ins for cash or store credit. Additionally, wireless carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint will all give you credit toward a new phone.
Best Buy
Best Buy also offers trade-ins both by mail and in-store — with more than 1,000 locations, this might be extremely convenient for you. You fill out the form online and bring that to customer service. It’s easy, but there’s one big downside: You can get your payout only via a Best Buy gift card. This is great if you spend a lot of money with them anyway, but less good if you really need cash.
GameStop
GameStop is infamous for buying games back at ridiculously low prices and flipping them at near retail, but don’t let that stop you from making some quick cash when you need to quickly clear your closet of old electronics and games. And yes, I said cash: GameStop offers store credit, a Visa prepaid card or actual money if you want to take your bounty elsewhere. For example, you can trade in Animal Crossing for the Switch and get $21 in store credit or $17 cash, which isn’t bad when new copies are going for $50 on Amazon. GameStop also accepts phones and connected home devices, though the prices aren’t going to match what you’d get from an online trade-in site.
Consumer to consumer
Sometimes you prefer to cut out the middleman and get a bit more personal — a transaction where you’re selling your device directly to another person instead of letting a faceless site flip it for you as a “refurbished” unit. In those cases, you want a site that’s more user-to-user, though a few will still automate certain bits to make your sale as smooth as possible.
Swappa
Swappa is a marketplace site, which means sellers can set their own price. So if you’re getting rid of a newer phone, this is probably the best way to go — the iPhone 13 fetches around $729, for example. That’s a huge improvement over what you’d get selling through a site like Decluttr, which is offering only $506 for a 128GB unit.
Amazon
When shopping on Amazon, you’ve probably been tempted by some of those marketplace deals in the past and, chances are, if you list an item on there, someone will give your old device a look. Since almost everyone on earth seems to have an Amazon account, your potential customer base is huge, and it costs only $0.99, plus a percentage based on category, to sell an item through the site. The downsides are that Amazon isn’t really optimized for individual sales; you’ll be competing with wholesale companies and even bots that will tweak the price of a product automatically in response to the competition.
eBay
eBay is sort of the Wild West of sales sites, but the biggest advantage is that you can sell anything there and hopefully find a buyer, regardless of how old a product is. Even so, the site has come a long way in the past decade or so, adding structured categories that can help lead customers to your product — for phones, you can search by network, color or storage capacity, and even filter for features like 4K video or fingerprint sensors.
In the end, it still works as it always did: You list a product and set an end date for the listing with a minimum price, or just set a “Buy It Now” price if you don’t want to wait to see how an auction turns out. Chances are you already have an eBay account with a feedback score, so there’s no extra setup required on your part. Your first 50 listings are free every month, and you’ll pay 10 percent of the purchase price only if an item sells. The biggest downside is that you’re competing with a lot more sellers, and chances are there’s always someone willing to undercut you on price.
Cash-back comparison
Ultimately, the site you go with should be whatever’s most useful and convenient, but if you just care about how much money you’ll end up with, we’ve priced out a few recent flagship handsets just to give you an idea of what each site offers. We’ve also thrown in the Xbox One X, because it might be time to sell yours off and finally upgrade to an Xbox Series X.
All phone prices are for the lowest storage capacity, either 64GB or 128GB. The prices are for the unlocked models when available, or the carrier where it’s being traded. These are only estimates, and were valid the day this post was written. Prices will fluctuate daily or, in the case of sites like Amazon and eBay, hourly.
Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G
Google Pixel 5
Xbox One X (1TB)
Decluttr
$446
$292
$287
$190
uSell
$480
N/A
N/A
$120
ecoATM
$265
$140
$90
N/A
Sprint
$330
$225
$205
N/A
Verizon
$338
$288
$195
N/A
T-Mobile
$360
$225
$190
N/A
AT&T
$330
$290
$200
N/A
Best Buy
$380
$275
$250
$200
GameStop
$369 cash / $461 credit
$252 cash / $315 credit
N/A
$188 cash / $237 credit
Swappa
$594
$540
$280
$245
Amazon
$536
$537
$309
$430
eBay
$445
$525
$300
$150
BuyBackWorld
$450
$300
$175
$125
It’sWorthMore
$463
$303
$203
$180
GadgetGone
$465
$335
$290
$160
If you were looking to sell some games, we’ve also got a shorter list, because not every site accepts game trade-ins. GameStop will offer you more money than what’s listed below if you’re a member of its Elite or Elite Pro programs.
Battlefield 2042 (Xbox Series X/S)
Horizon Forbidden West (PS5)
Pokémon Legends Arceus (Switch)
Decluttr
$7.62
$28
$28
GameStop
$1.76 cash / $2 credit
N/A
$26 cash / $33 credit
Amazon
$50
$68
$51
eBay
$10
$46
$53
Once you’ve picked a site and listed your item, there are a few important things to remember before you ship off your device. The most important, when disposing of a phone or laptop or any other device containing personal data, is to do a full factory reset of your device. That also means turning off “Find My iPhone” and the activation lock on iOS devices. See if you can unlock the phone, too; you’ll actually get more money selling a carrier-free device. And finally, make sure you’ve backed up any important data you may have, like contact info, game save data and, of course, photos. Cash is great, but it won’t save your memories.
Images: Mike Blake / Reuters (ecoATM); Alamy (Gamestop); Getty Images for eBay (eBay)
Just a few days before Apple announced the 2022 iPad Air, rumors started swirling that it wouldn’t be powered by the expected A15 Bionic processor that’s in the iPad mini and iPhone 13 lineup. No, it would get an M1, the same chip found in a host of Macs and the iPad Pro, devices that cost a lot more than the iPad Air. At the time, I didn’t put much stock into this rumor; the iPad Air and 11-inch iPad Pro were already extremely similar devices. This would make the gap between them even smaller.
I’ll have to eat crow on this one, as Apple went ahead and put the M1 in the new iPad Air. There are a handful of other little changes here, including a much-improved front-facing camera and 5G connectivity, but the M1 is the real upgrade of note. And while the basic experience of using the Air is mostly the same as it was when we last tested one, having the power of an M1 means this is one of the most future-proof iPads you can buy.
What’s the same?
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
The 2020 Air was a total redesign; not so this time. From the outside, the only way anyone will know you’re using the 2022 model is if you have one of the new color options introduced this year. (Apple loaned me a device in a lovely new shade of blue.) Otherwise, it’s exactly the same size and effectively the same weight; Apple’s specs page says it is two hundredths of a pound heavier than the old model, not something anyone would notice. Touch ID is still built into the top button, and it works just fine although I definitely prefer Face ID.
The display is also the same as the last-gen edition, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s a 10.9-inch “liquid Retina” LCD display with Apple’s True Tone feature for optimizing the screen’s color temperature based on ambient light. It’s just perceptibly smaller than the 11-inch screen on my iPad Pro, and the bezel looks a bit chunky, but it doesn’t change the way I use the tablet. It’s clearly not as nice as the mini-LED display on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but it’s a far better screen than the one on the basic iPad. The main difference between this display and the one on the 11-inch Pro is the latter has the ability to refresh at up to 120Hz, while the iPad Air is stuck at 60Hz. Although I definitely enjoy using Apple’s “ProMotion” screens, I can’t say I noticed much of a difference once I sat down and started using the Air.
Other things that remain unchanged include the price and storage options. $599 gets you 64GB, and you’ll have to pay another $150 to quadruple that storage to 256GB. I wish that the base model came with 128GB, but Apple has to differentiate the iPad Pro somehow. Sixty-four gigs is enough for most people, but if you want to store a lot of videos and games or plan on doing a lot of creative work with it, you’re probably better off just getting 256GB from the jump. As usual, Apple provided us with a top-of-the-line model, with 256GB of storage and built-in 5G.
The back camera, too, is identical to the one from the 2020 Air. It’s a 12-megapixel shooter with a wide-angle lens and no flash. It produces perfectly fine images, but as usual the camera on your phone is probably better in almost any circumstance. Back cameras on tablets have pretty niche use cases, like scanning documents and trying things in AR, and the Air’s camera is just fine for that, but I wouldn’t let it influence your purchase decision.
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
Finally, the new Air uses the same accessories as the old model. That means the two first-party keyboard cases Apple offered for the 2020 Air work fine here. Unsurprisingly, the second-generation Apple Pencil that magnetically snaps to the top of the iPad is supported here, too. Meanwhile, the $299 Magic Keyboard remains jaw-droppingly expensive, but it provides a high-quality typing experience for such a compact keyboard. I’ve been happily using it to draft this review and have used it to write plenty of other things in the past. In fact, with the comfortable keyboard and trackpad this accessory offers, I was able to do just about all of my job using the Air. If you’re someone who makes a living writing, it’s a must-have accessory.
The $129 Apple Pencil is an excellent stylus, but I think you really need to know what you’re going to do with it for it to be worthwhile. It’s comfortable to use and extremely responsive, but unless you really want to take handwritten notes with your iPad or have serious visual arts chops, it’s inessential. But there are loads of wonderful drawing and note-taking apps available for the iPad, so if you are an artist, it’s an excellent tool.
The M1 comes to the Air
Enough about what’s old, though. Let’s get into what’s new here: Apple had the audacity to throw the M1 into the humble iPad Air, a year after putting it in the iPad Pro. This chip also powers machines like the MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini and 13-inch MacBook Pro. So on the one hand, Apple probably has the manufacturing process down such that getting the chip into the iPad Air wasn’t a major stretch.
On the other hand, this is the kind of flex Apple likes to make with the iPad from time to time. The iPad has very little real competition, and yet Apple just significantly increased the Air’s processing power to an even more impressive level, particularly for this price range.
To drive it home: I ran Geekbench 5 on my iPad Pro, a model that was released about two years ago. It has an A12Z Bionic chip, one that’s only slightly different from the A12X chip used in the 2018 iPad Pro. The M1 in the new Air is significantly faster at both single- and multi-core tasks. The new iPad Air scored 1,706 on the single-core test and 6,966 on the multi-core test. My iPad Pro, meanwhile, only scored 1,113 and 4,149, respectively. This is a testament to how fast Apple has been improving its own chips, because even the A14 in the 2020 Air was a little faster than the chip in my iPad Pro.
What does this mean in practice? The answer depends on what you plan to do with the device. Personally, I use my iPad for writing, web browsing, email and to-do lists, chatting in apps like Messages and Slack, modest photo editing in Adobe Lightroom, playing music and video, and a bit of gaming. None of this taxed the M1 chip in the least — but while the Air beats my iPad Pro in benchmarks, the actual experience of using it isn’t really that different.
That’s more a reflection of my workflow than the power of the iPad Air. The M1 is an incredibly powerful chip for a $599 tablet, and it means that the Air should remain responsive and run whatever apps you want to throw at it for years to come. Or, if you’re the kind of person who plans to do more advanced tasks like editing and exporting video or making music, the Air should more than stand up to your ambitions.
Even with my moderately intense workflow, using an iPad with the M1 chip was a great experience. The Air made short work of any app I tried, including recent Apple Arcade games like NBA 2K22 and Shadow Blade+. I edited a host of RAW photos in Lightroom, and changes were applied almost instantly. I also noticed speedy improvements in more basic tasks where I didn’t necessarily expect it. The Apple Mail app was much faster at deleting all the junk email I get than it is on my iPad Pro, and Safari was quicker to render sites and switch between tabs. Loading different apps into multitasking views like Split View and Slide Over was similarly speedy.
Battery life on the Air is just as good with the M1 chip as it was before. Apple typically always claims any iPad will last about 10 hours, and in this case I think the company undersold the Air’s longevity. In my normal routine, I got close to 12 hours of use before needing to charge the Air, though your mileage will vary depending on what you’re doing. Games took a bigger toll on the battery, but the Air lasted a long time while watching movies. I looped a downloaded movie in the Apple TV app for four hours and the battery only dropped to 75 percent.
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
What else is new?
While the M1 chip is the major update here, there are a few other new things to consider. Unsurprisingly, the iPad Air’s front camera has been upgraded to match the one found in the rest of the iPad lineup. It’s a 12-megapixel ultra wide angle camera that isn’t really designed to be used at its full resolution. Instead, it enables Apple’s “Center Stage” feature, which lets the camera zoom in around the subject and continuously move to keep that person (or people) in the middle of the screen. I feel like most people don’t move around a ton when they’re on video calls, but it’s a handy feature nonetheless.
While the camera is definitely better than on the prior iPad Air, it’s still on the left side of the screen when you use the iPad in landscape mode. Having it up top is fine when you’re holding the iPad in portrait orientation, but it’s definitely awkward if you are doing a video call with the tablet attached to the keyboard.
Optional 5G is another unsurprising addition, given that last fall’s iPad mini and the iPad Pro all have it as well. (The entry-level iPad remains stuck with LTE.) This is a logical update that doesn’t change the experience of using the iPad very much. Most people will probably opt to save the $150 and simply get a WiFi-only iPad Air.
Those who get the upgrade, will surely appreciate having 5G as time goes by. Depending on what network you choose and where you live, 5G coverage can still be pretty hit or miss. And I ran a few different speed tests on the iPad Air while running it on Verizon’s network and actually got faster speeds from LTE than 5G. It’s also worth noting that the Air doesn’t support the mmWave 5G networks, like Verizon’s Ultra Wideband network. Those faster networks are only supported on the iPad Pro.
Those caveats aside, there’s no doubt that wireless carriers will increase the availability of 5G networks, so having it on board here is another good piece of future-proofing, much like the M1 chip. That said, it’s not a reason to upgrade your iPad now.
Finally, the iPad Air has USB-C connectivity that Apple says is twice as fast as its predecessor, with data transfer speeds up to 10Gbps supported. The old USB-C connector was already fast, but faster is always better, right? I didn’t do any precision testing, but the iPad Air pulled RAW photos off my SD card extremely quickly.
Should you buy it?
By now, you probably have the gist of this review: The new iPad Air is a modest upgrade over the previous generation. That’s true, but it’s also damning the Air with faint praise. To be clear, it’s an excellent tablet. It’s extremely fast, has a lovely screen, runs a massive ecosystem of quality apps and will be a capable device for years to come. If I sound unenthusiastic, it’s because this was always true.
It was definitely time for Apple to update the iPad Air, but the company got so much right with the 2020 edition that this new device is a logical improvement to a formula that was already working. As such, anyone who bought the 2020 Air or one of the last few iPad Pros won’t find a ton new or different here. But compared to the 2019 Air, or any base-level iPad from the last few years, the new model is a massive upgrade.
Overall, I think the iPad Air is the best iPad for most people: It’s significantly better than the basic $329 iPad and is nearly identical to the 11-inch iPad Pro that costs $200 more than the Air. If you want a bigger or smaller screen, the iPad mini and 12.9-inch iPad Pro are still great options. But for anyone who wants a premium tablet that’s about as future proof as it gets, the iPad Air is the way to go.
No modern smartphone is completely carbon neutral. Even the most eco-conscious phones are only partially made out of recyclable materials. But you can help cut back on plastic usage by at least purchasing an eco-friendly case to protect your phone from dings and scratches. There are plenty of them, from those that are completely compostable to ones made from ocean-based plastic. Best of all, eco-friendly cases are often just stylish and durable as their mainstream counterparts. Here are our favorites.
Pela
Nicole Lee / Engadget
Without a doubt, our favorite eco-friendly phone cases are those made by Pela. We absolutely love their colors and designs, plus the fact that the entire line is 100 percent plant-based and compostable. The case material is called “Flaxstic,” which the company says is made from flax straw and compostable bioplastic elastomer. Importantly, it’s also free of BPA, phthalates, cadmium and lead. If you ever decide to get rid of it, you can indeed just chuck in a compost bin and it’ll be completely biodegradable.
What’s more, Pela cases are available for a wide array of handsets. They can accommodate iPhones (from iPhone 5 onwards), Samsung Galaxies (Galaxy S8 and newer), Google Pixels (from the Pixel 3a on), the Huawei P50 and P50 Pro and the OnePlus 9.
For iPhone users, we should note that Pela cases are not MagSafe-compatible by default. Strangely, too, you can only purchase an additional $6 MagSafe module for the iPhone 13, and not the iPhone 12. Applying it to my phone was pretty straightforward, so that’s not a big concern, but it’s something to keep in mind. And, obviously, the MagSafe module with all its magnets is not compostable; you’ll have to take it off and dispose of it separately.
LifeProof is a phone case brand that specializes in recycled materials. Each of its products is at least partially made out of recycled materials. But the most eco-friendly option is the LifeProof Wake, which is made from 85 percent ocean-based recycled plastic. According to the company, a lot of that comes from discarded fishing gear, which would otherwise be a fatal hazard for marine life like sharks and turtles.
In addition, we’re big fans of the Wake’s design. It comes in four different colors, and features an attractive sculpted wave pattern. It feels sturdy and durable, and LifeProof says it’s drop proof from two meters (roughly six and half feet). Plus, it’s MagSafe-compatible by default. The LifeProof Wake is available for iPhones (iPhone 11 onward), Samsung Galaxies (Galaxy S20 and newer) and Google Pixels (Pixel 4a and up).
LifeProof’s other cases aren’t too bad either. If you want a clear see-through case instead, LifeProof’s SEE series is a good option (those cases are made out of 50 percent recycled plastic), as is the NEXT series (they’re made out of 55 percent plastic and blocks out dirt, dust and snow). The FRE series (50 percent recycled plastic) doesn’t have a clear case option, but it’s also the sturdiest of the bunch: It’s the only one that’s waterproof from two meters for an hour.
Casetify is mostly known for making durable yet stylish phone cases, but it has several eco-friendly options, too. The latest is its new Compostable line, which is made with a 100 percent compostable and plant-based material called “Ecotify.” Basically, it’s a blend of bamboo, biopolymers and starch.
The regular Compostable line has a drop-protection of around four feet, while the Ultra Compostable line, with its extra corner bumpers, has a drop-protection of about 6.6 feet. My recommendation would be to go with the more durable Ultra Compostable option, even if it does cost about $5 more.
Unfortunately, Casetify’s Compostable line is only available for iPhones the (iPhone 7 and up). Casetify does make other kinds of sustainable cases for both the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy handsets (Galaxy S20 and newer), but they’re not compostable. Instead, they’re made from 65 percent recycled materials. Plus, Casetify offers the option to return your old case, which they’ll then reuse or up-cycle to create a new one, thus reducing waste.
The biggest perk of Casetify’s cases is that they’re very customizable. Not only can you pick out your favorite bumper colors and designs (Casetify regularly partners with brands and illustrators to come up with unique styles), but you can actually add engravings to them too. You can also choose to add even more protection with thicker bumpers (Casetify says the “Bounce Case” offers a 13-foot drop protection).
