Smartish Side Hustle review

The Smartish Side Hustle is the fun, affordable answer to the MagSafe wallet: a slim card holder that snaps onto the back of your iPhone, holds your essentials, and comes in everything from classic black to playful custom prints, all for around thirty dollars. It is Qi2 certified, offered in soft vegan leather or a tougher hardshell, and designed to keep your cards safe from the magnets. This Smartish Side Hustle review covers what you get for the low price, and the honest catch, a magnetic hold that varies by phone case, worth knowing first.

The short version: the Side Hustle is one of the best-value MagSafe wallets you can buy, cheap, well made for the money, and available in genuinely fun designs. Its main considerations are that it holds only about three cards and, by several accounts, its magnetic strength can vary depending on your phone case.

Smartish Side Hustle at a glance

What the Smartish Side Hustle is and how it works

The Side Hustle is a simple, slim wallet built to live on the back of your phone. It snaps on magnetically, holds up to three cards and a little cash, and detaches whenever you need it. That detachable design matters: when you want to wirelessly charge, you pull the wallet off, charge as normal, then snap it back on in about two seconds, so your charging routine never changes.

Smartish also pays attention to a common MagSafe worry, that magnets could harm your cards. The Side Hustle is designed to keep your cards safe from the magnets, so credit cards, debit cards, hotel keys, and transit cards work as expected. For a budget wallet, that is a thoughtful detail.

Materials, colors, and value

You can choose between two versions: a soft, scratch-resistant, sustainable vegan leather, or a tougher hardshell. Both hold the same few cards; the choice is really about feel and looks. And looks are a Side Hustle strong point, alongside classic black and brown, Smartish offers a range of custom prints and patterns, so this is the MagSafe wallet to pick if you want a bit of personality rather than another plain black rectangle.

As an iPhone accessory it strikes a nice balance of function and style: the color and print options let you match it to your phone or your mood, and the quality feels a step above what the price suggests. The headline, though, is value. At roughly thirty to thirty-five dollars, and often on sale, the Side Hustle costs a fraction of premium MagSafe wallets while covering the essentials, magnetic attachment to your Apple iPhone, three-card capacity, Qi2 certification, and card protection. If you want to try phone-first carry without spending much, it is an easy recommendation.

Where the Smartish Side Hustle falls short

The trade-offs are what you would expect at this price, plus one worth flagging. The most important is the magnetic hold: customer feedback is mixed, and several users note that magnet strength can vary depending on the phone case you use, so on some setups it holds firmly while on others it feels weaker. As with any MagSafe wallet, check your case, and be a little careful pulling the phone from a tight pocket.

Beyond that, the Side Hustle holds only about three cards, so it is an essentials carrier rather than a full wallet, and it is a straightforward card holder without extras like a fold-out stand or a built-in tracker. For many buyers that simplicity, at this price, is exactly the point, but it is worth knowing what you are and are not getting.

• Variable magnet strength: the hold can differ depending on your phone case.
• Only about 3 cards: an essentials carrier, not a full wallet.
• Basic feature set: no fold-out stand or built-in tracker.
• Magnet caveat: as always, keep older magnetic-stripe cards in mind.

Smartish Side Hustle vs the alternatives

The Side Hustle competes on price, so it helps to see it against premium and mid-range MagSafe wallets.

In plain terms: choose the Side Hustle if you want an affordable, colorful MagSafe wallet that covers the basics, a premium wallet if you want top-tier leather or built-in tracking, and a stand-wallet if you want your wallet to prop up your phone.

Is the Smartish Side Hustle worth it?

Yes, as a value pick. If you want to carry a few cards on the back of your phone without spending much, in a wallet that comes in fun designs and protects your cards from the magnets, the Side Hustle delivers exactly that. Just go in knowing the magnetic hold can vary with your case, and that it is a simple three-card holder rather than a do-everything wallet.

• Buy it if you want an affordable, colorful MagSafe card holder for a few essentials.
• Think twice if you want a rock-solid magnetic hold regardless of case, premium leather, or extras like a stand or tracker.
• Great for anyone trying phone-first carry on a budget, or who wants a wallet with a bit of personality.

The bottom line

The Smartish Side Hustle is the value champion of MagSafe wallets: cheap, Qi2 certified, available in soft vegan leather or a tough hardshell, offered in genuinely fun prints, and designed to keep your cards safe from the magnets. The mixed, case-dependent magnetic hold and the three-card limit are the honest caveats. But if you want to carry your essentials on your phone without spending big, and maybe show a little personality doing it, the Side Hustle is one of the best-value picks around.