Originally published at: Restoring MagSafe to the iPhone 16e (Up to a Point) - TidBITS
My family members have a comforting, foolproof routine when needing to charge their iPhones at our house. They seek out the circular pads I have scattered throughout and hover their handsets over them until a magnetic force pulls the devices precisely into place.
That’s MagSafe, an Apple technology I assumed no modern iPhone would ever be without. That’s why I turned my home into a MagSafe paradise and trained my loved ones to rely on MagSafe charging pads in favor of messy cables. TidBITS publisher Adam Engst recently underwent a similar exercise (see “Going All in on MagSafe for the iPhone in the Office, Bedroom, and Car, 6 May 2024).”
Then, in late February, Apple shook my world a bit with the release of the iPhone 16e, the replacement for the iPhone SE and a budget-friendly addition to the iPhone 16 lineup (see “Apple Replaces iPhone SE with Larger, More Expensive iPhone 16e,” 20 February 2025). The iPhone 16e discards the Home button and adopts the look, feel, and proportions of the other iPhone 16 models, all for $200 less than the iPhone 16.
Except… the iPhone 16e doesn’t support MagSafe.
It is one of several ways Apple’s entry-level phone cuts corners and is perhaps the most confounding. The iPhone 16e does support wireless charging via the Qi standard (see “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Wireless Charging,” 10 June 2019), but not the current Qi2 standard that offers 15-watt charging and the Magnetic Power Profile inspired by MagSafe to ensure precise alignment using a ring of magnets. Instead, the iPhone 16e supports only 7.5-watt Qi charging and lacks the magnetic alignment that enhances the user experience and improves charging speed and efficiency.
The good news is that you can restore most—but not all—MagSafe functionality to the iPhone 16e by using third-party accessories.
MagSafe Resurrected (Kinda)
The key to bringing back some of the MagSafe user experience is a case that provides magnetic but not electrical compatibility with other MagSafe accessories. Apple’s own iPhone 16e cases do not snap onto MagSafe charging pads because they, like the iPhone 16e itself, lack the magnetic ring necessary to interact with the magnets in MagSafe charging pads.
Apple’s assumption here is that most iPhone 16e users will charge their phones using a USB-C cable or slum it with an old Qi charging pad. Data appears to bear this out, per John Gruber of Daring Fireball:
According to Apple representatives, most people in the 16e’s target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging cable. They tend not to use (wireless) charging at all, and when they do, they might not care that the 16e is stuck with a pokey 7.5W Qi charging speed, when recent more expensive iPhones charge via MagSafe at 15W or even 25W.
This hasn’t stopped a herd of case makers from releasing magnetic models for the iPhone 16e. After all, there isn’t much to it. Urban Armor Gear notes that the magnetic ring in its iPhone 16e cases is exactly the same as that found in its other iPhone cases.
The iPhone 16e still won’t benefit from MagSafe’s faster wireless charging speeds. When it launched, MagSafe supported up to 15-watt charging (see “ MagSafe Is Cool, but Is It Worth the Trade-Offs?” 6 November 2020), and Apple has recently increased that to 25 watts for the other iPhone 16 models when paired with a new version of Apple’s MagSafe Charger and a 30-watt or higher power adapter. Even with a MagSafe case that locks it onto a wireless charger—including Apple’s MagSafe Charger—the iPhone 16e remains limited to slow 7.5-watt charging. Will you care?
A Few Notable Accessories
Reviewing a magnetic case for the iPhone 16e is a challenge because there isn’t much to say: put the phone in the case, put the case on a MagSafe pad, and verify that the phone has adhered and is charging. It was boring, and the cases didn’t even look different, but I got a nice tour of prominent case makers. Brands that showed consistently high quality included Urban Armor Gear, Smartish, RokForm, ESR, and Ohsnap.
The magnetic strength on the cases varied. Those who like it extra strong should investigate ESR’s HaloLock Classic Hybrid Case or RokForm’s Rugged iPhone 16e Case. The latter builds in magnets from top to bottom so you can affix it to any metal surface as well as a MagSafe pad.
What if your preferred iPhone 16e case lacks magnets? Apple’s cases fall into this category, as do some third-party cases. Add-on magnets such as ESR’s Universal Ring 360 are the answer. I installed one of the stick-on rings on my Apple Silicone Case with the help of physical guides. It still ended up a bit crooked, but it provided a pleasingly powerful connection. Its stick-on adhesive is weak, though, making it a bit too easy to pry off.
Magnetic cases not only restore MagSafe-like charging (if only at 7.5W) but enable the use of accessories such as stands, wallets, and grips that have their own magnets. I especially like Ohsnap’s Snap Grip Wallet, a metal wallet that holds 8 cards, incorporates a pop-out grip for holding the phone with the index and middle fingers, and features all-over magnetism for slapping the phone onto a metal surface without removing the wallet.
Ultimately, the lesson is that a MagSafe case or add-on magnet can make an iPhone 16e feel like a MagSafe-equipped iPhone 16. It won’t charge as fast, and you won’t get quite the same range of choices, but the lack of MagSafe shouldn’t cause you to pass over the iPhone 16e if it otherwise meets your needs.