6 Stocking Stuffers for Your Smartphone Under $25

We love costly gadgets here at PCMag, but not every gadget needs to break the bank. Since almost everyone has a smartphone nowadays, one great way to find inexpensive tech gifts is to think of smartphone accessories. Whether we're talking about audio, batteries, or memory cards, there are easy ways that any handset can be enhanced on the cheap.

Don't turn to that bin full of power adapters by the checkout counter at Walgreens, though. You can do better than that. Instead, consider a nifty activity tracker, a solid Bluetooth speaker, and the best memory card in that huge, confusing rack of memory cards—all for less than $25.

We hunted down 10 great gifts for Android, iOS, and Windows 10 Mobile users who are looking to raise their smartphone game this holiday. They're sure to please everyone on your list.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.

Tile Mate

This little Bluetooth tracker can help your phone find your keys, but Tile Mate can also let your keys ring your phone.

SanDisk Extreme 32GB MicroSD Card

If you have an Android phone with a MicroSD card slot, you can quickly and easily juice up your storage for 4K videos and HDR photos with this inexpensive, high performance memory card.

Apple iPad Power Adapter

Have a new iPhone? It'll charge much faster if you use this iPad power adapter than the one in the box.

Griffin iTrip Clip

Does your new phone lack a headphone jack? This little adapter can convert your existing headphones into a Bluetooth pair.

Anker PowerCore II 6700

Anker is our favorite battery brand, and this is its most powerful battery under $25. It's enough for two full charges of most smartphones.

AmazonBasics Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Your phone's speakers sound awful. For less than $20, listening to music will be a much more enjoyable experience with this battery-powered Bluetooth speaker.

The Top Holiday Gifts for iPhone Lovers

For more, check out The Top Holiday Gifts for iPhone Lovers and The Hottest Phones for the Holidays.

Target Touch-Screen Gloves

It's getting cold out there! There are a lot of nice touch-screen compatible gloves available, but it's hard to beat Target's line on price. You can stuff a pair into everyone's stocking and make sure their fingers won't freeze off when they're texting you this winter.

Tile

Do you lose your keys? Do you lose your phone? The Tile is a little device that you can attach to anything you tend to lose, and you can ping it from a smartphone or desktop app. If it's near you, it'll beep. If it's far away, it might ping someone else's app, and then it'll tell you where it is. With Tile, losing things becomes a lot less frustrating. The company currently offers two versions: Tile Mate, which can attach to things like keys, luggage, and backpacks; and Tile Slim, which is a thinner version you can slide in your wallet.

Zagg Invisible Shield HD/HDX

Your phone's screen is its most frequently broken part. You may have a case, but does it really protect the screen? The InvisibleShield HD/HDX has five layers of shatter protection, is much clearer than less expensive screen protectors, and still costs around $25. Compare that to the C-note it'll cost to get your screen replaced.

Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter

The day of the dongle has arrived. The latest phones from Apple, Motorola, and LeEco all lack the 3.5mm headphone jack which we've relied on for years, which means that you're going to be using a lot of dongles. You're also going to be losing a lot of dongles. Buy two. Maybe buy three. Apple has one, as does Rancco.

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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