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Nov 10, 2024

The Best iPhone Tripods | Tom's Guide

The best iPhone tripods will help you steady your smartphone and let you take better photos When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The best iPhone tripods will help you steady your smartphone and let you take better photos

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Wondering what are the best iPhone tripods? Don't worry, we've got you covered. While the latest iPhone 16 Pro (and indeed all of today's best phones) has awesome stabilization, there really is no substitute for a tripod in many scenarios. If you want to take photos at night using a longer shutter, your phone's stabilization can only do so much and a tripod is the only way to get properly blur-free shots.

Likewise, if you're shooting video, it can look scrappy and amateur if your footage is all shaky. If you're a content creator recording yourself on your iPhone, you might simply need some way or propping your phone up in all scenarios! For all of this, you'll need to invest in one of the best iPhone tripods.

But iPhone tripods aren't just about stability. The best ones also come with a variety of cool and helpful features, including cold shoe mounts so you can equip accessories and microphones, Bluetooth remotes so you can start shooting remotely, plus extendable arms or malleable feet to help you mount your phone absolutely anywhere. The very best iPhone tripods will do all of this without breaking the bank.

So, how do you choose? Simply read on to find out my pick of the best iPhone tripods.

Peter is the Reviews editor here at Tom's Guide, so he knows a thing or two about testing products to their fullest. He's also an avid photographer and runs Tom's Guide's cameras coverage, so he's no stranger to a tripod either. When it comes to buying an iPhone tripod, Peter says: "My favorite iPhone tripods are the GorillaPod style with the bendy legs, as you can mount these anywhere! I use them all the time in my photography and camera testing. My favorite is the Joby GripTight GorillaPod Pro 2, as it also packs a cold shoe mount for installing a microphone!"

The Joby GripTight GorillaPod Pro 2 is the best iPhone tripod if you’re serious about vlogging and already have your own accessories. A little further down this list is the Joby GorillaPod Mobile Vlogging kit, which is the best product to buy if you’re new to vlogging as it includes some awesome accessories.

However, if you already have your own mic and one of the best ring lights, you needn’t spend the extra money on a vlogging kit. The Joby GripTight GorillaPod Pro 2 features a cold shoe mount, which allows you to mount one accessory on top, but there’s also a ¼” threaded channel just below the bracket that lets you mount another two accessories with ease. This tripod is essentially your all-in-one tabletop vlogging tripod.

Additionally, the adjustable mount supports both vertical and horizontal orientation and can support extra large phones like the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The mounting bracket sides are also bevelled so that even when the mount is secured tightly, it won’t push down on any side buttons — a nice touch. The downsides? At $89 this isn’t exactly a cheap tripod, but we think its features and quality justify the price.

If you're new to vlogging and don't already have your own accessories, the Joby GorillaPod Mobile Vlogging Kit is the best buy for you, as it includes a GorillaPod tripod, an LED light and a mic! It's quite pricey, at around $200 MSRP, but you get a decent amount for that.

The tripod itself is a typically flexible GorillaPod, with limbs that you can wrap around railings and the like to shoot in unusual situations, or just stand upright on a table. The light is a 1000-lumen LED that, according to Joby, will "produce flawless skin tones." Plus, it's controllable by Bluetooth for ease-of-use. The Wavo Mobile microphone, meanwhile, is compact and well built. The package comes with a clamp for your iPhone, but that can be removed if you want to attach a camera instead, and there's even a Lightning cable and audio leads in the box.

The standard extending-leg tripod is a go-to gadget for photographers for a reason: it's damn useful. So, don't rule out a small, compact standard tripod as an accessory for your iPhone. This Ravelli model is fairly cheap, folds down into a compact package and includes the mount that holds your iPhone in place.

Unlike most of the other best iPhone tripods, the Ravelli Mini also includes a pan arm, which lets you smoothly pan and tilt the phone on the rotating ball head. That's a feature you will see on bigger, more professional tripods for a reason: it looks much better when you can pan around on a tripod and get smooth, steady video rather than turn your whole body and get jerky, bouncy footage while holding the phone in your hand.

This tripod can also hold your phone much higher than its miniature cousins can, up to 53 inches off the ground. Again, that makes for more natural-looking videos. Of course, the price you pay for this flexibility is the size. This tripod folds down to be 18 inches long. It does come with a handy carrying case, though, and weighs less than 2 pounds. So, it might be a good pick for a trip on which taking better quality videos is a priority.

The Joby HandyPod Mobile Plus is a small tripod with an ace up its sleeve — its Bluetooth shutter remote. This remote makes the tripod super useful when you need to place your iPhone further away: full-body videos, group photos or environmental selfies, for example. Simply place the tripod where you need it, step back and hit the remote button when you’re ready to shoot. The remote clips neatly into a tripod leg, which allows you to tap it with your finger while using the tripod as a mobile grip.

It’s a short tripod, with a maximum height of 7.5 inches, so if you need extra reach, look at a GorillaPod or an extended tripod like the Joby GripTight Pro TelePod and Ravelli APTL3 tripods. However, its small size makes it highly lightweight and portable, fitting easily in a large pocket.

The HandyPod Mobile Plus features grippy rubber on its legs and mount to keep your phone secure. Plus there’s a lockable ball joint and adjustable/reversible bracket to allow for flexibility when choosing your camera angles. Unfortunately, there are no accessory mounting points on this tripod, which may be a big concern if you want to produce higher quality content down the line. At $54, it’s also rather pricey.

The Joby GripTight One GP Stand & Mount weighs very little and folds down to fit into the same small bag or pocket where you keep your phone. The GripTight can hold even large phones tightly, while the flexible legs are equally at home sitting on a flat surface or wrapping around a tree branch. That makes this stand more flexible for taking interesting shots at home and abroad without weighing you down.

When extended, the tripod can hold your phone just over 6 inches high, and the legs are rigid enough that you can hold onto them and use the tripod as a hand-held camera mount. Its flexibility and features make this tripod well worth the reasonable price.

This is the one to choose if you want something slightly smaller than the Joby GripTight GorillaPod Pro 2 without sacrificing the flexibility of the bendy legs. There are no accessories mounting points on this tripod, though, so it's not one to choose if you use a mic or light.

The $75 Joby GripTight Pro Telepod is a more conventional mini tripod when compared with Joby's GorillaPod products. It features three rigid legs with features that more-serious photographers will appreciate. It can extend to hold the phone up to just under 14 inches high, so you get more control over how you frame your shot.

The GripTight Pro TelePod folds down into a compact package that is just over 7 inches tall, though, and can double as a hand-held camera mount. Extend the column of the tripod while it is folded up, and it holds the phone farther away, for more-flattering video. Combine this with the Bluetooth remote on one of the legs, and you've got a fully actualized selfie stick.

In addition to holding the phone itself, the TelePod has a small shoe mount, which is great for night shots when combined with a miniature light like a Lume Cube. Alternatively, this can hold a directional microphone for better audio.

Manfrotto is known for its expensive professional tripods, but the Pixi brings many of the features from those tripods to your smartphone. It has the same stainless-steel construction and matte-black finish as its higher-end cousins, while a soft rubber grip in the clamp holds your phone in place without scratching it.

The low, wide orientation of the Pixi keeps the phone from tipping over and you can tilt the phone forward and back — though bear in mind that the phone can be held only in landscape mode. We also like the fact that the Pixi Mini Tripod folds down into a relatively small package — and when the three legs are folded together, they can also be used as a hand grip for those travelogue shots.

If you're looking for an alternative to the Ravelli APTL3 at no.2 in this list, the Fugetek 51-inch Professional Selfie Stick & Tripod could be the answer. Like that model, it goes high — 51 inches, or just above 4 feet, in this case. It also doubles as a selfie stick and comes with a Bluetooth remote for easy operation. Plus, it's almost half the weight of the Ravelli, at just over 1 pound.

However, while the including phone mount does tilt, it can't pan, so it doesn't offer quite as much control. Still, it's well priced and offers plenty for the money.

The Xenvo SquidGrip looks like an ordinary miniature tripod until you grab one of the legs and bend it. Covered with smooth plastic, the thin legs look like those of any of hundreds of minitripods, but they're made of a flexible plastic that can be bent and reshaped with ease. The phone mount also includes a ball head that you can use to rotate and tilt the phone to find just the right angle. You do have to be careful to make sure that the phone mount is tight enough to hold onto the phone, though.

The combination costs around $29.99, and you get a lot for the money; the neo-plastic coating of the legs and the metal phone mount are far more robust than what you find on many cheaper models.

The Shoulderpod S2 takes a rather different approach than most tripods and mounts. For one thing, it isn't really a tripod: Moment describes the S2 as a handle grip. With its one leg, you can use it in much the same way that you would use a minitripod, though, holding it in your hand, sitting it on a flat surface or attaching it to a tripod for more-flexible mounting.

The wooden handle makes for a more comfortable and steady grip on the phone, and the included strap means your phone won't go flying off if you run headfirst into a tree. The counterweight of this grip makes it sit evenly on a flat surface, so you can plonk it down and narrate your latest adventure in either landscape or portrait orientation.

If you unscrew the wooden handle, you'll find a standard tripod socket that can screw onto most any tripod, including flexible ones such as the Joby GorillaPod. This accessory is a bit expensive, but those who prefer hand-held shots to static ones may like the different approach to holding the phone.

The name may sound a bit silly, but this combination of tripod and mount is all business. The Jelly Grip is a small, compact mount that uses springs to hold your phone tightly and that can be rotated to either portrait or landscape mode. The Jelly Long Legs is, well, a tripod with long legs. Despite the wibbly, wobbly name, the legs are solid metal, with wide spacing that makes for a solid, stable mount, even with a heavy phone placed on rough surfaces.

Some tripods may tip over with a large, heavy phone on them, but the wide, low legs of the Jelly Long Legs keep it from falling and getting your expensive phone scratched. This combination is well priced and provides a simple, stable base for selfies or Instagram videos.

As the name suggests, this iPhone tripod is a combination of selfie stick and tripod. When you unfold the legs, you get a pretty standard miniature tripod with three wide legs that keep the phone well balanced. When you extend the column of the tripod and fold the legs back, you get the selfie-stick mode.

The phone grip at the top of the column has a ball head that you can use to tilt and rotate the phone, so you can point the camera in pretty much any direction, then use the clamp to hold it in place. It is possible to use it as a taller tripod by folding the legs out with the column extended, but be careful; it's top-heavy and rather prone to tipping over. With 40 inches of extension, that's a long way for your iPhone to fall. Also included is a small Bluetooth remote that attaches to one of the legs. This allows you to take photos or stop and start video recording without touching the phone itself.

When shopping for one of the best iPhone tripods — really, any smartphone tripod — think about how you're going to use it. If you're looking for something that'll let you take nice vacation photos, you'll want a small, compact tripod that you can stash easily in a bag, and that won't take up much space.

If you're one of those people, and insist on inserting yourself into every shot, then we suggest an iPhone tripod that can also convert and extend into a selfie stick. Just be cool about it, alright?

If you want to take photos from unusual angles, or from uneven surfaces, then it's probably best to get an iPhone tripod with flexible legs. These will allow you to wrap it around a tree, or rest it on a rock, or hang it upside down from somewhere. You'll only be limited by your imagination.

One thing to also consider is that if you have a bulkier case on your iPhone, then some of the grips that come with even the best iPhone tripods may not hold your phone as securely as you like. In this situation, you may have to remove the case on your phone.

Now that you've sorted yourself a fantastic iPhone tripod, you should also consider investing in some of the best iPhone lenses to match. Use one of the best photo editing apps to ensure all the images you take are edited perfectly, and store them off your device using one of the best photo storage sites, to make sure you don't fill up your precious physical storage.

Fancy making the leap from your smartphone to one of the best cameras? First you may need to figure out where you stand in the DSLR vs. mirrorless debate. Then you can look into either the best DSLR cameras or best mirrorless cameras accordingly. If you'd prefer something more casual, then check out some of the best point-and-shoot cameras or best instant cameras. And you're on a budget, you'll want to read about what we consider to be the best cheap cameras. For any action enthusiasts or adrenalin junkies, we've got guides to the best action cameras and best GoPro cameras.

Here at Tom’s Guide our expert editors are committed to bringing you the best news, reviews and guides to help you stay informed and ahead of the curve!

Richard Baguley has been working as a technology writer and journalist since 1993. As well as contributing to Tom's Guide, he writes for Cnet, T3, Wired and many other publications.

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