The idea of super rugged cases isn’t new. Adding in real materials – wood, leather – isn’t new. Making a ‘wallet’ case with card slots, with a folio fold for watching media isn’t new. And even having a cover case attach to a folio ‘back’ with magnets isn’t new. But Mous has taken all of the above, added a few twists of their own, and come up with what is basically the most comprehensive iPhone case ‘system’ I’ve ever seen.
Review: Mous ‘Limitless 3.0’ iPhone Case/Wallet System
Going along with the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, you’ll get the idea below, starring my iPhone 11 Pro with gapped homescreen(!):
The idea, in a (wal)nut shell, is that you can have the best of all worlds on the case front. A supremely durable TPU case – as shown below – with tasteful walnut (veneer) backing. So you can throw it around and generally live your life indoors and at the office. Or down the pub. Living super-mobile. And then, when you need access to cash, non-phone-compatible loyalty cards, contactless payment cards, etc., you grab your Flip Wallet, as Mous is calling it, magnets auto-align your phone – still in its case – to attach correctly onto the wallet’s backplane and… you’re off. You use your phone in this folio form, storing it typically in a biggish pocket or man bag or similar. And then, when it’s time to chill or go ‘light’ with just your phone again, minimal force is needed to detach the cased phone and put the wallet away.
The core case is very form fitting, to the extent that it takes an extra second or so to get the iPhone into the shell and a few more than usual to get it out again afterwards (e.g. if you wanted to change your SIM card*). But it’s supremely tough, thanks to specially hardened plastic, a softer inlay for the phone’s steel edges, plus raised edges at both ends, meaning that this Mous case can genuinely protect against face drops (in tests, from several metres high). Mous’s advertising is all about protection and rightfully so.
* In fact, there’s a small recess inside the case for a couple of spare SIM cards and the official Apple SIM tray extractor. Now that’s attention to detail!
The slight extra bulk of the edges and protective sides doesn’t really impact day to day use – in fact, when not in the Flip Wallet system, there’s a feeling that the iPhone is just about invulnerable. And that’s got to be good.
On the back, I opted for ‘Walnut’, but you can also get inlay panels of white or black leather, or even bamboo. Which is pretty cool, even if the panels are necessarily thin – you wouldn’t want to bulk the case out too much! As shown above, the camera island cutout is neat and well done.
So, we have a solid and protective cover/case, a cut above the competition. But there’s more – in addition to the SIM slots, there are four hidden magnets, part of the ‘Limitless 3.0’ auto-aligning system. In addition to the main Flip Wallet (and Wall Mount shown at the bottom), there’s also a simpler ‘Card Wallet’ that snaps and aligns onto the core case back:
And I just love systems which are flexible and extensible.
The wallet implementation here is sound – in fact it’s very good, with the flip side featuring four card slots, of which one is hidden and cleverly positioned for contactless payment through the front flap. Plus cash and anything else you need to keep safe. Plus a piece of elastic, ostensibly for larger notes/bills or other documents, but which wasn’t needed in my case.
The whole set up is quite thick though, once the phone is cased and then magnet-attached to the backplane, with your own selection of cards and cash laid on top and them behind the leather front flap. In practice, fully set-up, you’re looking at an inch, around 25mm. But then again, this is taking the place of a cased phone and separate wallet in your pockets, so…
As mentioned above, there’s a wall mount too, as part of the ‘Limitless 3.0’ system. The idea is that you stick it up with the supplied 3M ring adhesive, slap your cased phone on it, in portrait or landscape mode, and bingo. Well, bingo if you want your phone mounted on the wall in one common place, as shown below, perhaps for hands-free watching or podcast listening in the kitchen, while preparing food? Me, I tend to move around too much in the house!
As with other folio ‘cases’, I loved the half fold in the rear leather plane, allowing the Flip Wallet to also act as a media stand (now that is something I do a lot when cooking – watching YouTube!):
I’m always on the look out for lateral thinking when it comes to wallets – and the same for phone cases – so it’s very cool to have this for both accessory genres at the same time.
This Mous case system for many iPhones (older models may have to do with the ‘Limitless 2.0’ system, which is slightly more primitive) can be found here in the Mous online shop. The prices are high at full retail, but they usually have offers on, which drop the cases and add-ons down to reasonable levels.
