Does anyone use a phone without a protective case?

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨an_onanist@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

The only time I ever see caseless phones is in the movies. Everyone I know protects their phone like it costs $1k to replace it. So I’m curious, is my circle unusual or the norm?

source

Comments

Sort:hotnew top

dmention7@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I refuse to use a case on principle. The idea that you need a case to protect a phone from everyday use is so ass-backwards it hurts my brain. (and was not always the situation!)

It would be so much more space, weight, and cost efficient to simply engineer in the durability provided by a case through the use of proper materials and construction. But apparently marketing thinks nobody would buy a phone that looks and feels out of the box the way a phone with a case feels. So we end up with these thin, elegant, glass and polished aluminum devices… that most of the population has to immediately hide inside a bulky plastic/rubber case to have a chance of surviving 6 months.

Imagine if a carmaker sold a premium vehicle with a polished metal and glass exterior that you had to protect under a vinyl wrap to keep it from rusting and chipping under normal use… they’d be a laughing stock!

source
- rekabis@lemmy.ca ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  Imagine if a carmaker sold a premium vehicle with a polished metal and glass exterior that you had to protect under a vinyl wrap to keep it from rusting and chipping under normal use… they’d be a laughing stock!
  
  tesla cybertruck wanders into chat, spots comment, slinks quietly back out with a red face
  
  source
- Robust_Mirror@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  A phone doesn’t break under normal use. It breaks under rough use. If you treat a car rough it will get dents and scratches and rust etc.
  
  source
- HatchetHaro@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  even better yet, make that durable phone shell user-replacable! you can even have those shells in different styles and colours so users can accessorize their devices any way they like! this would also give birth to a thriving industry of aftermarket shells for your phone cases, where small makers can even 3D-print their own shells for sale.
  
  source
  - Acters@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I am thinking of the nothing CMF phone 2 rn
    
    source
- MiddleKnight@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  In my experience iPhones (12 and 14 specifically, are the ones I have had) are plenty durable that you can use them without a case.
  
  I do and only have some slight scratches in the screen. Nothing noticeable during normal usage.
  
  source
- Acters@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Wait doesn’t the cyber truck had an issue where it was possible for it to rust? Not to mention the unreasonably large glass windshield that would be expensive to replace?
  
  source
rekabis@lemmy.ca ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I would likely go case-less if it wasn’t for my dry hands, and the occasional need to have my phone sit on my leg (while I am sitting) so I can go hands-free with it.

My problem is that any phone without a case (and about 99.999% of cases out there) has the phone being as slippery as an enraged hagfish. It literally leaps out of my hands with most operations, which is why I need a case – to grip it effectively.

And now with my iPhone 15 pro max, I have been in a desperate search for any case which is sticky enough. As in: with the phone in the case, place it face-up on your open palm without gripping it and tilt your palm 30-45°. If it slides off, the case is too slippery. I’ve had sticky cases before, but it seems that everyone suddenly stopped making them some time after the iPhone X.

source
BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Made the mistake of buying an iPhone 15, it’s so thin and boxy that it’s uncomfortable to hold without a case and the stupid camera array sticks out so much it does not lie flat on a surface when put down, even with a case

source
Chadus_Maximus@lemm.ee ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
My phone is cheap and old as hell. I absolutely do not care of I drop it and it stops working. Actually it already did that, but unfortunately the disassembly and repair only took about an hour so it’s gonna remain usable for a while.

Redmi 9T.

source
Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Most people I see in public don’t have a case on their phone. But I also see a lot of people with fucked up phones and cracked screens, so maybe they should.

source
- XeroxCool@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  I swear, most fucked up screens I see are actually temperate glass screen protectors. The cracked protector is proof to them the protector works. I take it as proof a thin piece of glass barely adhered to a flexible chassis is way more prone to failure than the actual screen. I had film protectors until I my pixel 3a. Surprise, screen glass is hard as… Glass.
  
  I cannot fathom why my coworker continually replaces the soft protector on his Samsung flip due to failure at the hinge. . The folding phone. The one that only ever goes in his phone folded.
  
  source
  - Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    
    Surprise, screen glass is hard as… Glass.
    
    In some cases, even harder! Gorilla Glass has a variety of material strengths over glass in hardness, but at the cost of being (slightly) less scratch resistant.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
  - dustyData@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    The flip and the fold come with a screen protector from the factory. It’s integral to the phone as the screen is flexible and soft, without it the screen would get opaque and dull. People forget that the point of cases and screen protectors is to be like rubber tires. They’re there to take weather (not damage) instead of the phone, and to be easily replaced on the regular. Samsung offers a replacement service for the flip that changes protectors regularly with the phone protection program.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
treadful@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
The only reason I started using cases is because they made the latest Pixels so low friction that they refuse to stay put on most surfaces.

source
- And009@lemmynsfw.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Pixels can move?
  
  source
  - treadful@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    With the help of gravity!
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
paequ2@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I don’t use a phone case. I already think phones are too big. Adding a case makes the phone even bigger and even bulkier. I’m usually pretty good at not dropping my phone.

Yes, usually, because I actually did drop it recently. 😅 Although, the screen is fine. It just has a little love tap on the corner. It’s got character now. It’s got the “worn” look.

source
Croquette@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I tried to use my phone without a cover, but it’s so thin that I don’t like the feeling. So I went back to my cover only for the added thickness.

source
UrPartnerInCrime@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I paid for the titanium phone, I’m gunna look at the titanium phone.

source
- fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  I actually don’t like the look or feel of my 15 vs my older 13.
  
  I keep my 15 in a case, and fondle my 13.
  
  source
  - TheBenCommandments@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I wasn’t enthralled by the finish on the iPhone 15 Pro, coming from the 13 Pro, but the one on the 16 Pro is WAY better since they didn’t brush the titanium. It’s perfectly matte without picking up all the fingerprints.
    
    source
- JayGray91@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  That's my thinking as well. So at least u use a clear case that lets me see the titanium. At home I'll take it off because I want to feel the titanium as well
  
  source
Strobelt@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I used to use a case and protective screen, but never broke a phone from dropping or anything. So one day I just got tired of my phone feeling all huge and janky and stripped it down. Never went back.

source
smiletolerantly@awful.systems ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Yes. No case. Why would I? I specifically got the phone because it’s quite small, and feels nice in the hand. A case would ruin that.

I also have not dropped any of my phones once in the past ~10 years.

source
- Tedesche@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I use a case and I have (very rarely) dropped my phones, but I’ve never broken one (or even significantly damaged one) by doing so. I suspect that might be because the lip of most cases protects the screen from direct impact with flat surfaces. Or maybe I’ve just been lucky.
  
  And I do agree with you that a case bulks up the phone a bit and you lose that satisfying thinness. However, to me, there’s a positive trade-off: if you get the right case (like a silicone one), you can significantly increase the tackiness of its surfaces, giving you a much better grip on it. This, to me, is the chief benefit of having a case—not to protect it should you drop it, but to make it so you’re much less likely to drop it in the first place.
  
  source
- janus2@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  
  I also have not dropped any of my phones once in the past ~10 years.
  
  I am in fear and awe. I put in incredible mental and physical effort not to drop my devices yet have managed to drop and break about half of them (while they were in cases, too).
  
  On the upside it forced me to learn basic electronics repair lol
  
  source
remon@ani.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Yes. Never had one, never needed one, never cracked my screen.

Just makes the phone unnecessarily bigger and uncomfortable to put in your pocket.

source
- aceshigh@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  It makes it uncomfortable to hold.
  
  source
  - weew@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    A good case makes phones much more comfortable to hold. Modern phones seem to be aiming for slipperiness and sharper corners because it looks “premium”
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Not using one with my fairphone, it’s bulky enough already, the entire back is replaceable for cheap and the frame looks solid. I dropped it quite a lot, including on some hard surfaces, and it’s only made a few superficial marks, like it scraped the frame’s shiny coating in that spot, but that’s about it.

source
- Azzu@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Exactly the same, just that I don’t use a screen protector either.
  
  This thing has been dropped so much that I think it’s just undestroyable, the new Nokia 3310
  
  source
  - Lazhward@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Same, I’ve yeeted mine across the road and it’s still fine.
    
    source
- splendoruranium@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I wish there were aftermarket components available for that thing.
  
  source
swelter_spark@reddthat.com ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I use a case and usually a screen protector. They get broken pretty frequently anyway.

source
etchinghillside@reddthat.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I was initially in the minimalist camp of just getting coverage for it and going naked.

Then someone stepped on it and I had to go through the whole ordeal of scheduling and getting it fixed.

After that I started applying screen protectors and using a case.

source
- NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Do you still store it on the floor?
  
  source
  - etchinghillside@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Well yeah - now it’s got a case and a screen protector - so I can be as reckless as I want to with it.
    
    Until so learn my next lesson - whatever that might be.
    
    source
noisypine@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Never use a case. Had one on my blackberry back in the day, but never since. I’m pretty careful with my phone. When I am holding it, I recognize that it’s a $500 device and needs to be treated with care. That being said, I am a strong supporter of being present in the moment and my phone usually only comes out if I need to call/text or look up some information. Unless im sitting in a vehicle or waiting room, I just don’t really use my phone much.

source
- Habahnow@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  if you don’t use your phone very much, why even spend 500 USD on it? you can probably get a 200 usd phone to serve the same function. Honest question.
  
  source
  - noisypine@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I bought an unlocked pixel 4a while back so I could install LineageOS and extend my phones life. Still getting updates and on the latest android version.
    
    source
  - undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I’m on the same level as the person you responded to, but I do use a phone a lot at home. Maybe they were talking about “not at home” usage.
    
    source
Wispy2891@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
When phones were made of plastic, yes

Like the Google Nexus 5X (with a vinyl on the back because they chose the shittiest rubbery coating that get sticky with permanent fingerprints)

source
- Scrollone@feddit.it ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  God, I miss that phone.
  
  source
Son_of_Macha@lemmy.cafe ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I always use a case and I never spend £1k on a phone. More like £300

source
- Technoworcester@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  1k on a phone feels like someone has money to burn.
  
  source
PurplebeanZ@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Yep, I hate cases. Naked phone all the way 🤘

source
Mod@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I haven’t ever broken a phone when I’ve dropped it, so no case or cover. It goes in my pocket with keys sometimes but has no notable scratches after 2 years

source
CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I don’t use them. Or screen protectors . I take good care of my devices, and my phone gets its own pocket always, so no scratches. I’ve only broken 1 phone in my life and it was only the back glass on an iPhone 4, which slipped off my motorcycle seat because that fucking phone was frictionless.

source
aceshigh@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I had a case for a little while. I don’t remember the phone/model, but I hated how it felt. Anyway, haven’t had a phone case in like 15+ years.

source
isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
case and glass screen protector

i once removed the case to clean it, and the slippery phone fell and cracked the back glass

also, in the period that i didnt have the screen protector, it got all rigged up by the house keys, and eventually cracked from a 50cm fall.

never again.

source
TheRealKuni@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I 3D printed my phone case. I had considered going without a case, but the Snap 4 Luxe, which I absolutely love, adheres better to cases than the bare phone. That could be my fault, maybe I didn’t clean the phone or adhesive properly, but if I have the phone on a magnet sometimes the Snap stays behind.

So I found a case design someone else made, brought it into Blender (because I don’t know CAD), thickened the back to the same distance as the Snap, then made a hole for the Snap and made sure to include a lip to cover over its curved bezel. I printed the first few layers in a tough 68D TPU, then switched to a 95A TPU for the rest. The tough layers and the lip keep the Snap held to the phone even when the adhesive fails, and the softer TPU makes the case easy to put on and remove.

(This is like, my seventh iteration of this case, and it sure seems flawless for the past few weeks.)

This lets me use the Snap with as little wireless charging distance as possible. I found that some cases added to the inherent 2.5mm of the Snap are just too much distance to reliably charge using weaker qi chargers. With this setup I can wirelessly charge much more reliably! And since I thickened the back of the case, the magnets on the Snap now sit flush with the rest of the back, making qi2-based external batteries more manageable.

source
- Acters@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Get the loctite glass glue and place a few dots around to help with adhesion but nott too much that it is permanent when you want to remove it.
  
  I personally sprung for the ESR magsafe hololock ring because I wanted it to be as flush as possible on my Samsung S25 Ultra. Being slim but still help with attaching to magsafe products is nice, especially since I live in a place that gets hot, I bout a qi2 car charger that has a peltier cooling unit in it. Phone is ice cold when I slide it off the charger
  
  Side note:
  popping it perpendicular to the surface has shown me that without the loctite glass glue, the ESR magnet ring will stay on the charger. So I just make sure to slide it off horizontally.
  
  source
  - TheRealKuni@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I did the perpendicular thing for a while, but two of the magnets I use with the phone (one a charger, one just a mount) are strong enough that removing the phone perpendicularly is difficult.
    
    If I ever decide I don’t want my printer case, I’ll try the loctite solution! Thanks!
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
Showroom7561@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I use a case. And every phone I’ve owned over the last 15+ years has looked like new years after buying them.

Not only do they keep their value (if sold), but if given as a hand-me-down, they are “like new”.

Worth it, IMO.

source
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I don’t use cases. Don’t like how they feel in my hand. I also don’t drop my phone, because I don’t do multiple things at a time.

source
jagged_circle@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Typically buy a phone for $100 and immediately put it in a cheap $5 TPU case with a $5/tempered glass screen cover.

The case usually outlasts the phone. The screen cover gets replaced every few years.

source
whoisearth@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Work phone is not in a case because IDGAF. Personal phone, always Spigen or go home.

source
guiguinofake@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I’ve got a pixel 8 and it’s honestly way too thin and slippery without the case.

source
Aggravationstation@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Hell no. Case and screen protector always. The glass screen protector is also a privacy screen, I’ve cracked one so far in like 5 years. My case also holds my card.

source

-> View More Comments