As the only leather MagSafe iPhone wallet on the market, the Distil Union MagSafe Wally Junior uses a magnet to secure cards so they don’t fall out. Odd, but it works great. Maybe Apple could take a queue from Distil Union?
(if you want to see all the features and how many cards and cash it can hold, please watch the video)
REVIEW
We have Distil Union’s Wally Junior MagSafe wallet. Let’s take a look.
The wallet comes in four colors: brown, black, gray, and navy. Features of this wallet include an external magnetic closure at the top of the pull strap. In addition to assisting in pulling cards up, once you’ve pushed your cards in the strap head folds over the top and secures to the front of the wallet via the magnet against the metal front plate. The internal slot has capacity for up to four cards, and it has the MagSafe feature which provides for the wallet attaching to your phone.
It measures 3.8 by 2.5 by 0.2, and it weighs 34 grams. That’s 1.2 ounces. As mentioned, it can carry up to four cards, which is better than the Apple wallet which is molded to carry up to three. Unlike the Apple wallet, you can fold cash and put it into the Wally Junior along with cards. The wallet is designed in the United States and made in China, it’s made from a full grain veg tan and leather, but also has the neodymium magnets along with steel and nylon.
The sewing is also done very well. Reinforced in the right places at the top. In a normal wallet, this reinforcement protects against the wallet face from pulling away from the back when opening the wallet. Due to the rigid materials used, it doesn’t allow that to happen, but it’s still good practice, nonetheless.
It has RFID in it, but it’s okay. The use case being that if you attach your wallet to your phone, when you go to use the tap pay, it could interfere with a card in the wallet. So having your card shielded is a good thing.
This wallet, of course, requires the Apple iPhone 12 or better. And unlike the Apple MagSafe wallet, you don’t need to remove this wallet from your phone to use it. You just grab the pull strap, pull it up, and have access to your cards. Unfortunately, when you have the Apple wallet here, there is no way to get into the wallet as the thumb push slot is on the back. You have to pull it off, to turn it over, to get your cards out. You can also use it as a slim card case. Of course, you have to remove the wallet from your phone before you can charge via a MagSafe charger.
From the pocket carry perspective, it inserts just fine in the front pocket, when attached to an iPhone. Overall, this is one of my favorite all time MagSafe wallets. When I carried it, this was brilliant. And it works, of course, with the Distil Union iPhone cases and Distil Union has a 30-day return policy and a one-year warranty.
Now, on to the final score. For quality a 4, price a 3, features a 3. This really has good features with the pull strap and I love the security of the magnetic top. Usability of 4, again, for the same reasons, and perception a 4. Distil Union makes great products. That gives us a final score of 3.8 out of 5.
CARRY TEST
I carried this wallet for three months. I had four cards, which I feel is a much better number than 3 like you find with the Apple wallet. I had my ID, two credit cards, and a work access card. I recently did a six-month carry test on the Apple MagSafe wallet, and I really struggled at first when I had to downsize to just three cards, but when I was done, it made it a lot easier. And the more I trained myself to carry fewer cards, I had no issues. If I needed other cards, then I would include them in my carry depending on the day, whether it was an insurance card or something else.
The Distil Union Wally Junior began to develop a wonderful patina and the smell of the leather is still good. The best thing about this wallet is the pull strap and the magnet for closure. Distil Union are masters of magnets, so they know how to do it right. A design element that I really like is not needing to remove the wallet from your phone to access cards. However, in practice, I found that no matter what MagSafe wallet you have, you generally do remove it because the strength of the magnets just isn’t good enough to keep it on your phone. It’ll always fall off in the process. And so I still use my habit where I’d reach into my pocket and strip the wallet off my phone, use it, then it goes right back into my pocket, being reattached to the phone again. The leather feels like it should, very high quality. You can smell it. The pull strap, high quality nylon. The strap head with that magnet, brilliant.
Now for my dislikes. There’s still a problem, like all MagSafe wallets, due to the strength or lack thereof of the magnets that it can strip off by accident. But that really only happens if you wear super tight pants, and you know who you are out there. But putting some small gripper dots on the back like we see with the Ekster MagSafe wallet, may help prevent that from sliding off too easily.
Never again get caught without your ID or sandwich shop loyalty card because it’s attached to the thing you spend too-many-hours-to-mention scrolling every day.
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