Best iPhone 11 cases | Macworld

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Colors: Black, mint

Highlights: It’s easy to find plenty of “grippy” protective cases out there, but few are as impressive as this one. It’s got a similar grippy feel as what you’ll find in Smartish’s bare-bones (and super affordable) Kung Fu Grip case, but this one also has three grooves for your fingers subtly dented into the edges. Smartish also textured the rough but rubbery exterior for additional grip, and the case maintains a fairly slim profile even with all the grooves and the corner air pockets for additional bounciness.

Smartish says “Gravity doesn’t stand a chance,” but unfortunately the case doesn’t have a visible drop rating. Still, if you’re going for “everyday tough,” this is the case to reaching for.

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Colors: Black, white, pink

Highlights: Gamers, you’ll want to check this one out, especially now that Apple Arcade is here. Razer’s Arctech Pro boasts not only the well-known gaming peripheral company’s signature black and neon-green stylings, but it also has a “Thermapene” layer that—along with some vents—can dissipate heat from your phone if you’re intensively playing Sayonara Wild Hearts.

Beyond that, this tough little case can survive drops of up to 10 feet, and the soft, rubbery exterior material keeps your hands from slipping away. The Slim model is similar, but it doesn’t have the same degree of drop protection.

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Colors: Black, clear, sunflower, rose, rusty, pumpkin, sapphire, stone, silver flake, granite, clear/blue, “Wish Way Now”

Highlights: OtterBox is known for tough but ridiculously bulky cases that transform even the slimmest iPhone into something that looks more like a 1989 Game Boy when viewed from the side. Thankfully, with its Symmetry line, OtterBox shows it can offer similar protection in slimmer forms. You’ll find a rubbery material around the display and along the sides for better grip and bounciness in the case of falls, while the back is made from rigid polycarbonate that recalls the stout Defender line. It’s still thick, but you can comfortably slip this case into your jeans. If you’re still worried your case could get run over by a truck or make accidental contact with hammers while on the job, you probably still want a Defender. But for everything else? The Symmetry should do nicely.

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Colors: Black, blue, grey, pink

Highlights: The design of Speck’s Presidio Grip cases seldom changes from one iPhone release to the next—and for good reason, too: It’s tough, the rear ridges reduce the chances your phone will tumble from your hands, and there’s a nice “lip” around the edges for protecting the display from face-down drops.

Specks says the inside of a Presidio case is “designed for impact” and it will survive drops of up to 13 feet. Having used one for months with another iPhone model, there’s some truth to this, though the grooves will wear down over time with frequent use, but not by a lot. If you want a more “fun” variety of similar cases, be sure to check out Speck’s CandyShell line.

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Colors: Black, carbon fiber, crimson

Highlights: Plenty of cases on this page are tough. But if you also want your case to look tough, then you’d do well to check out the Monarch Series from Urban Armor Gear. UAG’s marketing plays up how the Monarch handily meets a well-known military drop test (which isn’t as difficult to meet as you might think), and it’s hard not to admire the metal and leather used for the back place and the outsized rubber bumpers used for the corners. The rubbery edges deliver excellent grippiness, and the oversized buttons and full covering for the speakers and Lightning port represent improvements over many of the cases listed here.

Still, at $60, you might feel like you need to be a monarch to buy one. If you like the design but don’t want to spend quite this much cash, you should check out UAG’s Pathfinder series instead. You’ll miss out on those gnarly leather and metal elements, but you’ll get much the same protection for “only” $40.

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Colors: Black, green, gray, beige

Highlights: Normally you have to sacrifice quality if you want an eco-friendly iPhone case: Maybe it’s too hard to press the buttons, or maybe it simply won’t stay in place.

But Incipio’s Organicore case sets a new standard. It feels a lot like Apple’s grippy silicone case, but it’s made entirely from plants and is 100 percent compostable. Even better, Incipio says it can also protect your phone from six-foot drops—and that’s accurate, judging from a mishap I had. It even comes in Midnight Green. If you want a quality iPhone case that’s also friendly to the environment, this is the best you can get.

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Colors: Clear

Highlights: Spigen makes my favorite clear case for the new iPhones. It looks a lot like Apple’s own clear case, but it also comes with “air-cushion” technology in the corners for extra bounce when you drop it.

It’s smooth but grippy, and the plastic doesn’t pick up fingerprint smudges too easily. It’s not super thin like a case from Totallee—but it does have a good “lip” that’ll help keep your display protected during a face-down drop. It’s also ridiculously inexpensive.

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Colors: Clear, charcoal, pink, blue, yellow

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If you want a clear case with a dash of color, then you should check out Gear4’s Crystal Palace series. Gear4 makes these cases with D3O—a polycarbonate material used for bulletproof glass, among other things—and as you might expect with that kind of claim, Crystal Palace cases are reportedly able to withstand drops of around 13 feet. As a bonus, they’re also crazily resistant to fingerprint smudges.

You can get a clear version, but I’m especially fond of these cases because Gear4 makes lightly tinted models. With the neon blue case I used, for instance, my midnight green iPhone 11 Pro took on an attractive blue-green hue that reminds me of the Mediterranean Sea. Additional features include smooth edges and an attractive tapered edge surrounding the camera.

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Colors: Transparent, red, frosted black, frosted clear, black, navy blue

Highlights: Totallee’s case is so rubbery and fits the iPhone so well that it feel as though you’re pulling off a old shell from an insect when removing it. This transparent case doesn’t sit quite as ridiculously tightly against the phone as some of Totallee’s other varieties of ultra-slim cases do, but this certainly one of the best quality thin and clear cases available.

For extra protection, you’ll find a short “lip” surrounding the camera, although strangely there isn’t really one around the front display. Be careful if you drop your phone while it’s in this case, as Totallee merely says it’s “durable” and offers “impact protection.” On the bright side, the rubbery material is so grippy that you usually won’t have to worry about it dropping anyway. And unlike Apple’s own clear case, it’s remarkably resistant to fingerprints.

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Colors: Clear

Highlights: Apple’s clear case is…interesting. On one hand, it’s sturdy but flexible (and so falls in a “middle range” on the hardness scale); on the other, it’s ridiculously prone to fingerprint stains. You can see how quickly this happens in our unboxing video. That’s a shame, as even Spigen’s case doesn’t do so well at gracefully smoothing out the transition from the back to the sides of the case. Also, as we’ve come to expect from Apple, it’s pricey.

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• iPhone 11: $28
• iPhone 11 Pro: $28
• iPhone 11 Pro Max: $29

Colors: Black, gray

Highlights: If Batman has a case on his iPhone, I imagine it looks a lot like the Sheath. It’s thin—not so thin as Caudabe’s 0.35mm-thick Veil case, but at 90mm, it’s so thin I barely feel as though I’m using a case at all. The extra “bulk” comes from “ShockLite” material used for the shell, which is both grippy and apparently shock-absorbent enough to help the phone survive falls of up to 6.6 feet. For me, at least, the Sheath checks all the boxes: It’s thin, it’s tough enough, and it looks fantastic. At the moment, it’s my favorite case.

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Colors: Teal, black, coral, blue, mauve, rust, yellow

Highlights: Compared to many of the cases on this list, the Tech21 StudioColour is ridiculously simple—but for all that, it’s one of my favorites. It’s so thin that it barely feel like you’re using the case, were it not for the slightly rough material on the outside for a better grip. That material also has antimicrobial protection, which helps keep stains from forming because of the bacteria on your hands. And get this: Even though it’s so simple, thin, and light, Tech21’s case supposedly can survive up to eight-foot drops.

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Colors: Saddle brown, black, red, forest green, lemon, midnight blue,

Highlights: Apple itself makes one of the thinnest leather cases around, and unlike many other cases in this category, this case has plastic tactile buttons grooved into the sides so you’re always certain that you’re making contact with the side or volume buttons. Other cases are typically made from one slab of leather, so you often have to feel your way around in order to find the buttons. As a bonus, Apple’s cases come in a wide variety of colors. Apple’s leather case is so thin and smooth that it hardly looks like leather—at least at first. If you get the saddle brown model in particular, it’ll develop an attractive patina within a few months.

As with most leather cases, though, there’s a substantial gap in the leather along the bottom (where you’ll find the speakers and Lightning port)—although the corners remain protected. If you drop your phone just right, all the protection around the rest of the phone will end up meaning little at all. Unfortunately, Apple does not make leather cases for the regular iPhone 11.

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Colors: Cognac, black, green

Highlights: Apple’s case is so smooth that it doesn’t really look like leather at first. If you want a great leather case that’s unmistakably leather and also works as a minor conversation piece, then check out Woolnut’s cases. They’re made from vegetable-tanned full-grain leather from Scandinavia, they have a microfiber lining inside, and each case has a grippy texture. And unlike Apple’s case, you can even get it for the regular iPhone 11.

As a slight downside, this is one of those cases that only has subtly raised grooves for the side buttons, and it’s also a tad thicker than Apple’s leather case. It also doesn’t offer much protection for the bottom of the iPhone, but as we said above, that’s to be expected with iPhone cases. Still, I slightly prefer it over Apple’s case. Unfortunately, as these cases ship from Europe, you’ll also have to pay approximately $8 minimum for shipping.

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Colors: Black, blue, tan, alpine green

Highlights: Mujjo’s case is a lot like Apple’s own leather case. It’s thin, light, and it comes in a variety of colors. It also fits tightly—and for that matter, it feels much like Apple’s own case. It’s even a bit grippier.

The main difference is that, while the buttons are raised on the sides, they’re still made from the same leather as the rest of the case. As you may have read above, Apple includes separate tactile buttons on the sides of its leather cases. Mujjo’s buttons are prominent enough that they feel as though they’re separate from the rest of the case, but they definitely require some extra effort to press. This resistance may soften over time as the leather gets more supple, but it will take some getting used to.

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Colors: Brown, black

Highlights: The exterior of Nomad’s Rugged Case is mostly leather, although it has a black rubber TPE band that surrounds the exterior for some extra damage protection if you drop it. The polycarbonate body is tough enough to survive six-foot drops (and feels like it).

My favorite thing about this case, though, is the Horween leather Nomad uses, which will develop a patina over several months that will especially give your case some rugged good looks. If you’d like to keep your phone hooked up to a lanyard on a hiking trip, Nomad left subtle slots on either side of the speakers for attaching one.

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Colors: Black, espresso

Highlights: If you want a minimalist wallet case with a degree of the same protection you get from OtterBox’s tanky normal cases, check out the Strada Folio. Your phone sits in a case with a polycarbonate back and rubber edges, and the leather flap stays closed with the help of a magnet that meets with a metal tab on the right side of the main case.

Inside, you’ll find two card slots, including a “window” for sliding out your ID card with your thumb. And that’s about it. You’ll find no pocket for cash, and the slots are so tight that you’ll only get around two cards in there. This is a good case, but don’t expect to stuff it.

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Colors: Black, blush pink, red

Highlights: Mophie is one of the best-known names in charging devices, and its Juice Pack Access is an affordable alternative to Apple’s own Smart Battery Case. It looks very similar, in fact, and I found it delivered a bit more battery life than Apple’s case (although it still won’t reach a full charge). You can choose when to turn on the backup battery with this case, which is an option Apple’s case doesn’t allow. For other differences, you’ll have to look at LED lights on the case’s rear in order to see how much juice you can still access, and you have to split the case in two before you can put it on your phone. (Apple’s case is in one piece.) There’s also no protection along the bottom of the case, and if you don’t charge the Juice Pack Access wirelessly, you’ll need to charge it with a separate USB-C cable. Considering that it’s around $50 cheaper than Apple’s case, though, it’s easy to live with these limitations.