With one of the best iPhone tripods, you can to take your smartphone shooting to a whole new level. They’re small enough to carry everywhere, slipping easily into a bag or pocket, but they allow for exploring loads of new shooting techniques, especially when used in conjunction with the best photo apps, which allow you to take control of your smartphone’s camera settings.
While the best camera phones are always getting better and able to do things that the owners of the first iPhone could only have dreamed of, there are some things, however, that are simply limited by hardware. A sharp long exposure, for instance, can only really be achieved with stable camera support (no matter the claims a manufacturer makes about stabilization). At the bottom of this page, in our FAQs section, we've listed a few of the uses of an iPhone tripod, with advice on how to choose one that's right for you.
This list consists of options for all budgets from reputable manufacturers, including Manfrotto, Joby, and more. Many of these tripods are ones our team has personally tested and reviewed, so you can be sure we know what we're recommending. Let's get started!
Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. As a committed photo enthusiast he shoots on anything and everything – including iPhones. As such, he's ideally placed to be our guide to the best iPhone tripods and supports.
Fully flexible, with handy accessory arms that can take a light, a mic or other accessories, the Koalapod is a versatile support for serious iPhone shooters, at a great price.
The famous Manfrotto PIXI is a simple, affordable option for those who simply need a rigid tabletop support for their phone. It's well-made, as you'd expect.
With rigid carbon fibre legs that contain flexible legs inside them, Benro's top-end TablePod Flex Kit offers the best of both worlds for iPhone shooters.
Packed in with a sophisticated ball head, the Smallrig Tabletop Mini tripod is one of the best options for smooth panning, making it easy to create panorama shots.
A clever phone case with built-in legs, Joby's StandPoint prioritises convenience and portability over versatility. If your needs are simple, it's a great buy.
Extremely compact and easy to fold away, the Joby GripTight ONE Micro lets you take a pocketable pair of legs everywhere with you, ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
Equipped with magnetic feet, the Joby GripTight ONE GP Magnetic Impulse adds an extra dimension of versatility to the regular Joby flexi-tripod experience.
Strong enough to support small interchangeable-lens cameras as well as smartphones, the Joby GripTight Gorillapod Stand PRO is a good choice for serious shooters.
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If you're just after something simple, and compact but still versatile, the KoalaPod is a superb and affordable choice. Its flexible legs enable you to wrap it around other objects such as a metal fence or a pole so you can be more creative about the angles you shoot from. If you're a vlogger, influencer or content creator, the handy accessory arms mean you can attach a light and a mic to the tripod and be able to record well-lit videos with good audio. Included are a carry pouch, the phone mount, an auxiliary ring that can be used to stop the legs from slipping and a quick-lock clamp so you can attach 2 legs together when you need a bit of extra strength.
Manfrotto markets its PIXI mini tripod and universal smartphone clamp as separate items, but it generally works out cheaper to buy these two items as a complete kit. With this, you get the tripod itself, which comes with an integral ball head and is suitable for use with cameras, plus the smartphone clamp, which attaches via a standard 1/4-inch socket, and can accommodate phones of up to 83mm in width. It’s a good solution, though the limited range of movement for the ball head means you can only shoot with the camera phone in landscape orientation. You need the more advanced Manfrotto Pixi Evo 2 and its more advanced ball head if you need to shoot portrait shots (most camera phone tripods are designed for horizontal shooting).
A tiny but effective flexible friend for your camera phone
Specifications
Closed length: 118mm
Maximum height: 100mm
Weight: 32g
Leg type: Flexible
Phone adaptor included: Yes
Pivot: No
Maximum phone width: 90mm
Reasons to buy
+
Very small and lightweight
+
Wraps around objects
Reasons to avoid
-
Limited maximum height
-
Lacks the versatility of larger GorillaPods
With suitably small and phone-friendly dimensions, the Joby GorillaPod Mobile Mini weighs in at just 32 grams. It’s also Joby’s cheapest ‘tripod’, yet features the company’s trademark flexible legs, constructed from a series of movable joints. As such, you can stand it up like a mini tabletop tripod, or wrap its legs around other objects to cling onto them. It comes complete with a phone mount so it’s an all-in-one solution. The only real drawback is that each leg is only 60mm long, so you can only attach this relatively small GorillaPod to fairly thin objects.
Leg type: Rigid carbon fibre (with flexi legs inside)
Phone adaptor included: Yes
Pivot: Ballhead included
Maximum phone width: 83mm
Reasons to buy
+
Versatile with rigid and flexi legs
+
Packs down small
+
Very well made
Reasons to avoid
-
No panning option for video
-
Flexi legs have their limits
For those who can't decide between a rigid-leg or flexi-leg iPhone tripod – here's both in one! The Benro TablePod Flex Kit cunningly conceals flexible legs inside its rigid carbon fibre legs, meaning you can swap from one configuration to the other in moments. In testing, we were impressed by the build quality of this tabletop tripod – the materials feel premium and moving parts have a reassuring smoothness. It delivers all the stability you could want, and folds up so small that it's easy to sling in a bag and take everywhere with you. It's pricier than other options, but if your budget extends to triple digits, this is a superb iPhone tripod – with clamp included.
A tripod equipped with a capable 360-degree ballhead
Specifications
Material: Aluminium alloy
Extended height: 11.3cm
Folded height: 23cm
Weight: 0.408kg
Feet: Rubber
Leg sections: 1
Max load (legs, head): 2kg
Reasons to buy
+
Strong aluminium-alloy build
+
360-degree ball head
Reasons to avoid
-
Smartphone grip costs extra
With a standard 1/4" screw mount, the SmallRig Tabletop Mini Tripod is a versatile tool for all sorts of setups (though you'll need to pick up a smartphone clamp separately). It's equipped with a 360° ballhead that provides a great deal of shooting flexibility, thanks to its 90°/+45° front tilt, and -50°/+50° lateral tilt. The head even has accurate calibration and an independent panning knob for panoramic shooting, which you may not have even considered with a smartphone! The plate is an Arca-Swiss type, so you can quickly mount and dismount your setup, and the rubber feet ensure a non-slip support on practically any surface.
This isn't a tripod, but the cleverly designed Manfrotto TwistGrip universal smartphone clamp does let you attach your camera phone to any regular tripod, including the Manfrotto Pixi above. It also folds virtually flat for stowing away in a pocket. You simply twist each end to pivot the clamping jaws around, so they can attach to any phone of up to 82mm in width. The clamping action itself is nice and solid, thanks to a locking screw at the rear. Immaculately engineered from high-grade aluminum and colored dark grey, the TwistGrip looks and feels a quality item. It can mount on any tripod via its 1/4-inch screw socket, and has a cold shoe at the top for attaching accessories, like the Manfrotto Lumimuse LED light.
Compatible with: iPhone 12/ 12 Pro/12 Pro Max/11/11 Pro/X/Xs, Google Pixel 4/4XL
Dimensions: 14.7 x 82.4 x 156 mm
Weight: 60g
Reasons to buy
+
Doubles as a phone case
+
Useful for video watching
Reasons to avoid
-
Limited phone models
-
Needs a flat surface
-
Limited camera angles
This is a tripod that you can carry around permanently with your smartphone – as it doubles as a protective phone case. However, as well as its photographic uses, the StandPoint is perfect for perching your phone on a surface – a train or airline tray-table being the obvious candidates – for hands-free video as well as video calls and photo reviewing. We like the case’s protective nature, and the fact that it works with wireless charging pads. The only drawbacks are that the StandPoint’s tiny tripod legs do require a flat surface, and don’t allow many angles.
Swivelling legs mean the Joby can pack away into a smaller space
Specifications
Closed length: 85mm
Maximum height: 30mm
Weight: 88g
Leg type: Swivel
Phone adaptor included: Yes
Pivot: Yes
Maximum phone width: 90mm
Reasons to buy
+
Packs away very small
+
Innovative swivel legs
Reasons to avoid
-
Sits very low to the surface
-
Legs can't be extended vertically
Unlike Joby GorillaPods, the Joby GripTight ONE Micro is a tabletop tripod with rigid, non-flexible legs that swivel around. This makes the whole tripod very small and slim when folded away, while enabling a secure base when the legs are fanned out for the standing position. It’s a neat and very streamlined design, the only catch being that the operating height to the bottom of the phone is only about 30mm. Although there’s no height adjustment, the main clamp does enable you to pivot the phone forward and backward and from side to side, albeit with a fairly limited range of adjustment. You therefore can’t use the phone in upright, portrait orientation.
This is novel – a tripod with magnetic feet for metallic surfaces!
Specifications
Closed length: 165mm
Maximum height: 60mm
Weight: 92g
Leg type: Flexible
Phone adaptor included: Yes
Pivot: Yes
Maximum phone width: 90mm
Reasons to buy
+
Good versatility
+
Grabs onto almost anything
Reasons to avoid
-
Limited pivot movement in head
-
Less compact than the GorillaPod Mobile Mini
The relatively long legs of this GripTight GorillaPod have nine flexible joints. That’s a significant step up from the GorillaPod Mobile Mini, and enables greater height when using the stand as a tabletop tripod, as well as allowing you to wrap the legs around larger objects, such as tree branches and fence posts. On top of that, the ‘Magnetic’ edition also incorporates magnetic feet, so you can easily attach the GorillaPod to anything metallic. The phone clamp is the same one that’s featured in the GripTight ONE Micro Tripod.
This chunky GripTight GorillaPod Stand PRO gives very stable and solid support for smartphones and comes complete with an up-market phone clamp. It features a locking screw for adjusting the clamp to the exact size of the phone, and this screw also enables rotation for portrait and landscape orientation while shooting. However, a little care is needed to ensure the clamp doesn’t loosen its grip on the phone during rotation. It’s rather bigger, heavier and stronger than smaller GorillaPod siblings, but is still good value at the price. If you unscrew the phone clamp, the legs are also suitable for use with a compact camera or small DSLR.
Regular tripods and even travel tripods are too big and bulky for a smartphone shooter; they’ll negate the main advantage of a smartphone, which is that it lets you travel light.
Smartphones don’t have a standard tripod socket. This means you need another way to mount the phone to the tripod, even a mini one. The solution is a phone clamp; these are sometimes sold separately, and sometimes come in bundles with mini tripods. In our guide, we’ve included both complete bundles and standalone clamps, so you can decide how best to construct your setup.
The other main decision you'll be making is whether you want a flexi-legged tripod that can grip onto protruding objects and uneven surfaces, or a rigid-legged one for tabletop use. While the former is more versatile, the latter gives you a stable platform that's good for consistency (handy if you're regularly vlogging and want your shots to look the same).
How we test tripods
Our testing procedure for iPhone tripods is fundamentally the same as for full-size tripods. We measure the maximum operating height and its folded height for carrying, with head or clamp if there is one, and also look at the combined weight of each set of tripod legs and head, using electronic scales. We measure the diameter of all leg sections, from the widest to the thinnest, using digital calipers.
We check the ease of use, smoothness and precision of all available adjustments in each set of tripod legs and heads. This ranges from adjusting leg sections and pivot facilities (where available), to the locking mechanisms of the head, as well as independent pan and friction damping adjustments, where fitted. If the tripod has flexible legs, we attach it to different objects to get the measure of its stability and ease of use.
We’ve listed a few things here that a good iPhone tripod will allow you to do:
• Capture night shots. Even if an app lets you open up the shutter on your smartphone camera for a long time, without a good source of support, all you’ll get is a blurry image. Mounting your phone on a tripod means you can shoot long exposures, without worrying about image blur caused by camera-shake.
• Get vlogging. If you want to vlog with your smartphone, you'll need a good support so you can set your camera up without having to hold it.
• Get a selfie without the arm-stretch. In a similar vein, phone tripods make it easy to get selfies and group selfies without having to stretch out your arm.
• Try a timelapse. Again, locking your phone in a fixed position opens up all sorts of creative possibilities, one of which is time-lapse shooting.
• Shoot panoramas. There are apps that will stitch together a rudimentary panorama. But the results you get will dramatically improve if you use a tripod, especially one with a dedicated panoramic head.
Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com
