Clicks for iPhone 16 review – clever iPhone keyboard case (not) for everyone

Macworld

At a glanceExpert's Rating

Pros

Pleasant typing feel

Many clever shortcuts

Backlit keyboard

More space on the screen

Cons

Very unwieldy on the iPhone 16 Pro Max

Lengthy setup

Considerable battery Consumption

Our Verdict
The Clicks for iPhone is one of the most interesting accessory products for the iPhone in recent years. The combination of iPhone case and keyboard brings physical buttons to the Apple mobile phone and creates more space on the screen for content, as the on-screen keyboard is no longer needed, and being able to assign shortcuts to certain key combinations is an incredibly clever trick.

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Clicks is the only keyboard case for the iPhone on the market. It is one of those accessories that will inevitably divide opinion. The concept itself isn’t stupid, it’s just a bit out of date, because the era of smartphones with keyboards came to an end with the demise of Blackberry at the latest.

Maybe I’m just susceptible to such concepts, after all I belong to the (probably relatively small) group of people who spent quite a while with keyboard smartphones and look back longingly in moments of weakness.

The small company has launched a revised version of the keyboard case that works with the iPhone 16. Not only was the fit adapted to the two new devices, but changes were also made to both the keyboard and the workmanship.




Eugen Wegmann

Design & finish

Three colors

Good workmanship

Apart from the keyboard at the bottom, Clicks is a standard iPhone case that comes in three colours: Surf, Spice and Onyx (aka blue, ochre and black). Clicks is not explicitly marketed as a protective case, but its design offers a certain degree of protection for your iPhone.

The frame is made of a relatively rigid silicone, and the back is made of a piece of hard plastic in which magnets for MagSafe are embedded in a circle. On the inside, they are covered with a microfiber fabric, similar to the original Apple covers. The buttons are made of aluminum and therefore have a very high-quality feel, while the designers have opted for a simple cut-out for the camera control. So far, so normal.

But then there’s the USB-C port on the lower edge of the inside, which you use to connect the Clicks to your iPhone and which is extended through the keyboard to the lower end so that you can also charge your iPhone and connect it to Carplay.




Eugen Wegmann

The eye-catcher and main function is of course the keyboard with its 37 black, optionally illuminated keys. In the interests of ergonomics, these are slightly dented and tilted slightly to the left on the left-hand side and slightly to the right on the right-hand side. All main keys are double and sometimes triple-keyed, with the most important special characters printed on the respective key.

There are also three additional buttons in the bottom line: one for voice input (or for the backlight), one to switch the virtual iPhone keyboard on and off as required and a third click button for special shortcuts such as shortcuts.




This cover conceals all the technology, but also weights.Eugen Wegmann

On the back of the keyboard is a cover covered with a piece of artificial leather, behind which the technology is housed. If you want to know what it looks like inside, you can take a look at the last quarter of the video on the Jerryrigeverything YouTube channel, where the device is taken apart.

See more options in our roundup of the best case for iPhone 16.




The recommended handling: two-handed.Eugen Wegmann

Ergonomics & haptics

Great haptic feedback

Pro-Max version unwieldy

Requires two-handed operation

Key fetishists get their money’s worth with Clicks. The pressure point is pleasant, as is the clicking noise. The key size and spacing are large enough, unless you have really big fingers.




Even with the best will in the world, your thumb will not reach the opposite side, and if you want to press a button and still hold the iPhone securely in your hand, it will be very tight.Eugen Wegmann

Due to its size, however, it brings with it two not insignificant problems. The lesser of these is that it makes one-handed operation of your iPhone practically impossible and forces you to hold the iPhone in two hands.

This is actually very necessary, because the much bigger problem, at least with the Clicks variant for the iPhone Pro Max (and probably also for the Plus), is the weight distribution. With the Clicks, the already long iPhone models become even longer and their leverage increases when you hold them at a typical angle of 20 to 70 degrees to the ground. Even the best typing feel can’t change the fact that your wrists start to hurt after a while.




Size comparison: Clicks for iPhone 16 Pro Max next to an iPhone 16 Pro Max.Eugen Wegmann

The developers of the Clicks have already done a lot to bring the center of gravity as close as possible to the hands: In addition to the buttons and all the technology, there are also a few weights behind the artificial leather flap on the back. It is possible that the Clicks is more comfortable for the normal iPhone or the Pro iPhone without Max, but I can only speculate due to my lack of such a variant to test.

Functions & software

Keyboard shortcuts for shortcuts

Clicks app for customizations and updates

USB-C passthrough

In addition to the actual physical keyboard, the secret superpower of Clicks is the ability to assign shortcuts to every single key. However, this requires a relatively high level of effort, as everything has to be set up. Clicks uses a function in the accessibility options to assign shortcuts, which makes it possible to control the iPhone with an external keyboard. The setup is not complicated, but lengthy. There is also a video (in English) that explains everything step by step (step by step).

Fortunately, Clicks has now expanded the associated app so that some basic shortcuts can be set up easily. Beyond that, however, you will have to search for the corresponding shortcuts elsewhere or create them yourself. Unfortunately, this is not entirely trivial, because although the shortcut app is versatile, it is also confusing and for non-experts. One shortcut that I had to set up myself opens the Control Center, which has only been possible on the system side since iOS 18.1.

The shortcuts that Clicks suggests in the app include starting Instagram, calling a specific contact, activating a focus mode, calculating a tip in the calculator and many more.

In the app, you can also configure the behavior of some other buttons—such as whether the Enter key sends a message or inserts a line break—whether and when the Clicks goes into standby mode and whether and how strong the button illumination is.

If you use your iPhone via cable in the car for Carplay, you have to switch from keyboard mode to data mode either in the app or via a key combination (123 space bar), as USB-C on the iPhone cannot do both at the same time. Nevertheless, the iPhone can also be charged with a case.

Battery life

As the Clicks connects to the iPhone via USB-C, it does not need its own battery but is powered by the iPhone. This has consequences for the iPhone’s battery life, although the manufacturer assures us that the effects are negligible.

In my tests, Clicks consumed between 20 and 25 per cent of the battery throughout the day according to the iOS battery consumption. On one of my test days, only “Slay the Spire” came close to this consumption, but in a much shorter time.

There are two settings in the Clicks app to reduce the case’s power consumption: the key illumination and the power-saving mode.

It makes the most sense to switch the keyboard backlight off completely and only switch it on when needed, as it is usually the biggest power guzzler. Even in the dark, the screen glows brightly enough for the white letters on the keyboard to still be recognizable.

Power-saving mode, on the other hand, is a double-edged sword. The clicks are simply switched off after a certain period of time, which initially seems to make perfect sense. However, this has the disadvantage that it always takes a really strangely long moment for Clicks to switch on again and connect to the iPhone. This is particularly annoying if you pick up the iPhone after a while, want to quickly execute a short command and press the button combination three or four times before anything happens at all.

So you’re trading a slightly longer battery life for an annoying inconvenience. Which one you choose is up to you. (I recommend switching off the power-saving mode)

Price & availability

The Clicks for iPhone is only available for the entire iPhone 15 series and iPhone 16 series. For the iPhone 14, Clicks only supports the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. The price depends on the size of your iPhone: $139/£109 if you have a standard or iPhone Pro, $159/£129 if Plus or Pro Max.

Buy Clicks for iPhone




Eugen Wegmann

Who should buy the Clicks keyboard case?

I’ll be completely honest: For the average person’s everyday use, the Clicks keyboard case won’t appeal. The keyboard case is an absolute niche product and is aimed at productivity junkies who write a lot of long texts on their iPhone, execute a handful of shortcuts at the touch of a button and, ideally, also want to attract a little attention with their accessories in public. Clicks is also aimed at people who have never really got over the fact that smartphones with keyboards no longer exist. If you belong to either group, the Clicks is the perfect accessory for you.

Clicks is one of the more interesting accessories to hit the market for the iPhone in recent years, and the ability to assign shortcuts to all the buttons has incredible potential if you have the leisure to spend a few hours with it and set it up.