The Easy, Belated Way to Add a Headphone Jack to Your iPhone

Rewind back to the reactions to the September 2016 iPhone 7 announcement and you’ll find few fans of the removal of the headphone jack. Press reactions called the move anything from “annoying” to “user-hostile and stupid.” Enter Incipio’s OX case, which was announced at the 2017 CES trade show, but is just now seeing the light of day. However, a year and a half after we started down the path toward this headphone jack-less future, does it matter anymore?

The OX is a $70 protective case with a Lightning connector on the inside, connected to a Lightning port and headphone jack along the bottom edge. It works well if you’re intent on listening to corded headphones and charging your iPhone at the same time. (The adapter included with iPhones can’t do both.) The headphone port is a little tight, but capably puts out music with audio quality that’s indistinguishable from Apple’s own Lightning headphone adapter. And the Lightning port charges properly—although you can’t use it for audio, if for whatever reason you wanted to. I would prefer using the OX to carrying around an imminently losable adapter if using corded headphones was a priority for me.

As a case, the OX is slim, with a matte rubber finish. A half-inch chin at the bottom houses the electronics. The buttons maintain a pleasant clickiness and the camera and side switch openings are properly sized. However, the protective lip around the screen is shorter than the 1 mm height Apple recommends (PDF). Technically, the case is certified to work with only the iPhone 7, but it works just fine with the iPhone 8.

The OX isn’t available in an iPhone X version, but at this point I’m left wondering if it’s even worth it. The outrage over the removal of the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 died down almost as quickly as it came and in the time since, major phone makers such as Google, HTC, and Motorola have followed Apple’s lead. (Samsung is the last major headphone jack holdout, with its latest Galaxy S9 and S9+.)

For us, at least, the initial annoyance has since been tempered by the recent proliferation of decent wireless headphones and earbuds. “Since headphones jacks have started to go away, Bluetooth headphones have become seen as the standard, rather than a bonus feature,” said Lauren Dragan, Wirecutter’s senior staff writer covering headphones. “There are a lot more cheap options, and a lot more great options, too. True Wireless have especially made a jump in stability and sound quality.” This includes Apple’s AirPods, which are a genuine hit and a favorite accessory among Wirecutter staff.

That’s not to say Bluetooth headphones are a perfect solution. “Because Bluetooth is still evolving as a technology, you’ll always be paying more than you would for corded headphones to get the same sound quality,” Lauren added. Other things being equal, wireless headphones require chips and batteries that add to their cost. “Usually price cuts are made in other aspects of the headphone (drivers, build quality, etc.),” she clarified. Additionally, Bluetooth headphones can be a pain to pair, and they’re yet another thing you have to charge.

Wireless charging, introduced to the iPhone line with the 8 and X, also makes a big difference. Instead of having to plug in to the Lightning port to juice up your phone, you can simply place it on a pad or stand, leaving the jack open for wired headphones.

There are other accessories to solve the problem if you don’t want Bluetooth headphones, wireless charging, or the OX. Belkin’s 3.5 mm Audio + Charge RockStar is a dongle that lets you use wired headphones and charge; Apple’s iPhone Lightning Dock is better suited for your desk.

The OX may fit well into some lifestyles, like for people who have audiophile-quality headphones they’re not willing to give up but still require power. But better options, such as wireless headphones, are available for most people. For us, we’d rather have a headphone port than not. But the jack-less trend is going to continue, and fortunately there are great solutions that require little sacrifice.