Where to Put Your Phone When Running: Belt, Armband or Handheld

Almost every runner carries a phone now, for music, maps, safety or photos. Where you put it changes how the run feels more than most people expect. Here is a straight comparison of the five real options.

Running belt

A belt worn around the waist or hips, with a pouch big enough for a modern phone.

Strengths: the phone sits at your centre of mass, which is the single best place to carry weight while running. Nothing swings, your arms stay free, and a good belt disappears within a kilometre.

Weaknesses: a cheap belt will ride up. If it is too loose it rotates, and if the pouch is too big for the phone it rattles.

Best for: almost everything, from easy 5Ks to marathons.

Armband

A sleeve strapped around your upper arm.

Strengths: the screen is visible without stopping, which suits interval sessions where you are checking splits.

Weaknesses: it is the worst position for weight. A 200 gram phone on the end of a swinging limb is noticeable within twenty minutes, and armbands are the leading cause of that specific shoulder ache runners get on long runs. They also trap sweat.

Best for: short, fast sessions on a track.

Handheld

Holding the phone, or using a strap that holds it against your palm.

Strengths: free, instant access.

Weaknesses: it changes your arm carriage on one side. Over a long run that asymmetry works its way up into your shoulder and neck. It is also the most likely option to end in a cracked screen.

Best for: a slow jog around the block.

Shorts or tights pocket

The zip pocket most running shorts now have.

Strengths: already there, nothing extra to buy.

Weaknesses: phone sized pockets are still rare, and a phone in a thigh pocket slaps your leg on every stride. Rear waistband pockets carry better but you cannot reach them easily while moving.

Best for: easy runs, if your shorts actually fit the phone.

Running vest

A lightweight vest with front and back pockets.

Strengths: best access of all, since a chest pocket puts the phone right under your hand.

Weaknesses: hot, and far more gear than a road run needs.

Best for: trail, ultra distance and anything remote.

The short version

• Road running, any distance: a belt.
• Track intervals where you watch the screen: an armband.
• Trail and ultra: a vest.
• Easy loop from home: a pocket, if it fits.

Three things to check before you buy anything

Measure your phone, not your last phone

Phones have grown. A 6.9 inch handset in a case is a different object to a 6.1 inch one, and plenty of belts marketed as fitting any phone do not.

Look for a flat pouch, not a bulging one

A pouch that spreads the phone across your hip carries far better than one that holds it in a lump. The difference is comfort at kilometre 20, not kilometre 2.

Check what happens in rain

Water resistant fabric and a covered zip are the difference between an inconvenience and a new phone. Australian summer storms arrive fast.

How to stop a phone belt bouncing

Wear it high and snug across the top of your hips rather than loose around your waist, tighten until you can just fit two fingers underneath, and centre the weight rather than letting the pouch sit off to one side. Most bounce complaints are a fit problem, not a belt problem. We wrote a longer piece on stopping a running belt bouncing if you want the detail.

What TEMPO makes for this

The CARRY Storage Belt holds phones up to 6.9 inches along with keys, cards and nutrition, on a wide low profile band that spreads the load and sits under a running top. It is $49 in Onyx Black.

If you only need a bib and a gel or two on race day, the slimmer PACE Race Belt is the better call at $32.