I have a Type B personality, and oftentimes that translates to rarely leaving the house with a fully charged phone. If I'm at 50 percent or above, I consider myself ready to go.

Being this lax about battery life has gotten me into some sticky situations, like needing to use tap-to-pay when my device is barely alive, or losing my only form of communication with friends at a concert. Instead of suddenly becoming a more responsible human, I've started relying on something more realistic for me: a portable power bank.

Last Thanksgiving, my family did an hours-long game night with a huge sweep of prizes, and one was the Podoru Magsafe Battery Pack. I've had other portable chargers over the years, like my Anker Power Bank, but I rarely reach for them because they require a cord. The Podoru is the first power bank I've tried that magnetizes to the back of my phone, and it's made keeping my devices charged easier than ever.

Podoru Magsafe Battery Pack, Reviewed

I absolutely love the fact that I can just slap this charger on the back of my cell phone without a mess of cables, or realizing I brought the wrong end-to-end connection. It has a 5000mAh battery capacity, and I've been able to bring my dead phone way beyond my 50-percent-is-good-enough threshold. I appreciate that along with 5 to 15-watt charging capability, this device also supports lightning charging.

One of the features I like the most is that the battery pack charges two devices simultaneously, so you don't have to wait on one or the other. This has proved useful when I'm out with my iPad plus a dying cell phone with both in need of some juice (I know, I have a problem).

The Podoru works with most recent iPhone models, down to the iPhone 12. As with a majority of magsafe chargers, I recommend only using a magsafe-compatible phone case. I've tried with one of my more stylish, standard phone cases, and while it did magnetize to the back, it wasn't as strong or consistent and it lost connection often.

With a magsafe case, I'm able to hold my phone upside down or use it with the charger attached without any problems. It's also super compact, measuring less than four inches long, so it doesn't take up much space at all in my bag.

While the power bank does get a little warm because of the energy transfer between devices, it offers a lot of specs that ease my concerns about overheating. It has temperature control, overcharge protection, and short circuit protection, so I can keep my phone attached for extended periods of time without being worried about potential damage.

Bottom Line

This is probably the most useful tech gadget I carry with me on a regular basis, and it's a pretty cheap investment. I don't have to worry about charging cables because it connects directly to my phone, and the onboard battery capacity is enough to get me through most of my charging dilemmas. My only complaint so far is that the power bank is only compatible with USB-C charging cables. Luckily, this hasn't been an issue for me, but it'd be nice to have a standard USB-A port for case-based usage.

Its small size is convenient enough to bring with me virtually anywhere, and being able to power up more than one device at a time is a win for me. Now that I have the Podoru, dead devices are (almost) a thing of the past.

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