Using a MagSafe Car Mount as an iPad Holder on an Exercise Bike

This is the English edition of a review from my Japanese YouTube channel, iestaLife. I review gadgets from my home studio in Japan, so product links go to Amazon Japan.

Quick take

The phone tray on my exercise bike could not hold an iPad mini in a rugged case, let alone an iPad Air. So I bought a bendable MagSafe car mount and stuck it to the bike instead. It held a 700g-plus iPad Air without slipping, the bent arm did not sag while I pedaled, and it turned the bike into something that looks like gym equipment.

MagSafe car mount holding an iPad Air on an exercise bike — The mount replaced the bike’s original phone tray

What I tested

A bendable MagSafe car mount with a hook-and-loop (Velcro-style) base
An iPad mini and an iPad Air in a heavy waterproof case (over 700g in total)
My home exercise bike, with the original phone tray removed

What I found

The magnet is stronger than it looks. The iPad mini stuck on easily, and even the 700g-plus iPad Air stayed put when I tilted the mount.
iPads need the included ring. iPads have no MagSafe magnets, so you stick the supplied MagSafe ring on the back first.
Installation is simple. Clean the spot with alcohol, apply the adhesive hook-and-loop pad as high as is comfortable to view, leave it for a day or two, then attach the mount and bend the arm to the angle you want.
Fine for easy riding. At a gentle pace I could watch videos comfortably. Pedaling hard makes the screen shake, mostly because the whole bike moves. A lower, more bent angle shook less than a tall one.
Reusable. Because the base is hook-and-loop, you can pull the mount off and use it somewhere else. A spare pad comes in the box.

Riding an exercise bike while watching an iPad on a MagSafe mount — Riding with the iPad right in front of me

Who it’s for

Anyone whose exercise bike tray is too small for a tablet
People who want one MagSafe mount they can move between the car and the house
People who find desktop MagSafe stands too bulky for a fixed spot

If you sprint hard and want a perfectly steady screen, no mount on the handlebars will fully fix that. A separate tripod behind the bike would be the only real answer.

Watch the video

The video is in Japanese, but the tests are easy to follow. The magnet check starts around 2:16, and mounting it on the bike starts around 5:11.

Limitations

I tested one unbranded mount on one exercise bike. There are versions of this design with MagSafe charging built in, which cost roughly ¥1,000–2,000 more at the time of recording, but I did not test those. Note that iPads cannot charge through MagSafe.

Products

The packaging carried no brand name, so I could not match this exact mount to a listing and have not included a product link. Similar bendable MagSafe car mounts are widely sold.

More reviews in English