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Comment by OutOfHere | Hacker News Reader

I strongly advise buying and always using a "phone lanyard" to tether your phone to your belt loop. A well-working example is ASIN B07ZSDFY85. With it, your phone won't get lost or get left behind. Even if the risk of losing the phone is just once in ten years, it still is worth it. If it drops with the tether, you can just lift the tether cable to get it back. If you're tall, you may need two, or something longer. Note that the tether works only with a compatible phone case to hold it in place.

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I would lose 5 phones before I wore that embarrassing thing

Why is it embarrassing? That's entirely in your mind. It is objectively quite neutral. It's not about the cost of the phone... it's about the massive effort that goes into setting up a new phone, literally multiple weeks of effort. Also, life can be disrupted a fair bit without a phone. There is also some data loss of apps that haven't fully been backed up. If your phone use is light and ordinary, you don't need it.

I would find a lanyard attached to my belt or around my neck awkward I think. I do use a wrist lanyard through--not som much for this purpose but because I worry that I'll be taking a photo from a bridge and someone will jostle me or I'll otherwise drop the phone in some particularly inconvenient location.

I keep it just as I keep my keychain, hooked in a belt loop. I guess you will understand only after you have forgotten your phone somewhere. When you do, I hope you get it back.

why don't we throw in a belt pouch as well??

Bluetooth from a smartwatch or BLE locator beacon in your keys/wallet/bag works almost as well and is way more convenient.

I have a smartwatch, but it won't help at all when leaving your phone in an Uber/Lyft which takes off. You will then be left with the awareness of having just left your phone rather than actually your phone.

From Apple Support — https://support.apple.com/en-us/101593

>With your Apple Watch, in the Find My app, or on the web at iCloud.com/find, you can play a sound to help find your device if it's nearby or find it on a map.

It can be tracked but that is entirely different from not losing it in the first place, which is what a lanyard does. Imagine leaving it on a public bus... good luck ever getting that back.

When I left my wallet on Boston’s subway, I was able to retrieve it the next day with its contents intact. I was pleasantly shocked.

Lanyard to your *belt*?

I hike, a phone falling is a realistic issue. I use a lanyard around my neck, though, not to my belt. A lanyard long enough to reach from your belt to use is likely to let it hit the ground. I've had it slip out a few times and be caught by the lanyard--without hitting the ground.

I recommend a good pocket protector to accompany the phone lanyard. Here’s a nice leather option. B08S6KMCGM

Well I thought your reply was both amusing and technically relevant...

I'd never be caught dead with that lanyard haha so it's amusing to see it recommended, though I don't blame others for using one!

I've not considered it, but with the rise of phones and e-ink and so on, I assume pocket protectors are even less common than they were prior?

You don't have to use the exact same lanyard if you don't like it. You can use a gold chain or other classy metal chain for old times sake, although it won't be condensable.

Here's my countervailing advice for keeping your phone safe: don't use a case or any protection at all. This trains you to take care of it.

That doesn’t work for current gen iPhones, whose screens you can scratch seemingly with pocket mint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZzZatxb9KQ

One thing I do appreciate about Apple is their new ceramic shield material on the 6.1-inch screen. It actually does appear to be more scratch-resistant than other smartphones. Working our way up through the Mohs scale of hardness, usually I can feel the level-6 pick grab the glass and start scratching, but with this latest generation of ceramic shield, it still feels pretty smooth—even with that sharp level-6 pick. The marks are still appearing, but they're so faint and subtle that I almost can't say "scratches at a level-6, with deeper grooves at a level-7" anymore. Almost.

You can get more scratch-resistant screen protectors, but as far as the builtin glass I don't think Apple is falling behind anywhere.

I carry a work iPhone 15 Pro and a personal 16 Pro, actually my second, I had a warranty replacement when faceid stopped working. It scratches easily, especially on the edges. The glass is too hard.

The 15 is pristine. And I treat it worse! I typically carry iPhones naked and the only mishap was I dropped two iPhone 6 because that thing was like a stick of butter.

> The glass is too hard.

Being too hard should make it easier to shatter but harder to scratch, shouldn't it?

That's a surprising difference in durability between the 15 Pro and your 16 Pros! Interesting about the edges scratching so easily

I use this method and have only broken one phone in ten years because of it...

I don't use this method and have broken zero phones in ten years because of it.

Each phone gets a 9h glass screen protector and thin TPU case, each about $10 on Amazon. I crack the screen protector maybe once every 8 months and there is usually three screen protectors in the pack I bought, so I just replace the cheap screen protector.

When I drop the phone, I try to soften the impact with my shoe.

This little experiment lasted for about 6 weeks for me before I broke front and back glass and cracked the camera lens in one go on a cement floor. I’ll take the $6 rubber case now and save me some grief.

I think this is akin to the "wearing a seatbelt makes me drive more dangerously" argument. (I also don't use a case, but mainly because I don't like the extra bulk and don't mind dinging my phone up a bit, not because I think I'll take better care of it).

Do you also have a safety spike [1] installed in your car?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Tullock#Tullock's_spike

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