Customer Ratings & Reviews

Dont buy it will ruin youre phone when youre done use you cant use youre apps very will

The Backbone brings the Xbox Gaming experience to the mobile phone. Upon getting the backbone and inserting the iPhone took less than 5 minutes. Once you have the Xbox Cloud service up and running it was very easy to get going with the backbone. Once in your hands the ease of use was noticeable as I felt like I had a traditional controller in my hand. The buttons were responsive and quick to react. I didn’t notice any delays in using the backbone while playing Halo, COD or Bass Fishing. I loved how natural the setup felt while playing games on it while my wife watched her movies. I liked how compact it was and could take it anywhere with me. It’s very durable and handled well on traveling in my back back. I didn’t notice any stick drift from hours of usage.

Great product. Didn’t want it because of the phone case situation. Every time you want to use it, you have to take your phone case off.

Item did not perform as the store employee said it would. I returned the item.

Nothing was mentioned about having to pay a yearly fee for using it

I never ever got it. Worst product ever please take this way. If you’re not home, I have r have a

I like to dabble in mobile gaming, and more specifically, cloud gaming on the go. I had my eye on this device for my iPhone 13 Pro Max for a while and am excited to finally own one. I had previously been using an Xbox controller with a mount for my phone and while that worked fine, I could tell I had some additional latency, and it was a bulky thing to try and bring with me places. The Backbone One for iOS devices is a really solid and well built controller. It feels like a premium device, with nice clicky buttons, and a decent amount of travel in the sticks and triggers. I immediately noted a significant reduction in input lag on my xCloud gaming with it compared to my Xbox controller, and that has made the experience much more enjoyable. Being so much smaller and using the phone’s battery power makes using it a simple affair as well. It thankfully included the adapter for 13 Pro devices, which is necessary for working around their larger camera bumps, and snaps right onto the center rail on the left side of the backbone one. It has a lightning passthrough port for phone charging in the bottom of the right handle, and a 3.5mm jack on the bottom of the left handle, making it a built in 3.5mm adapter which is nice. The controller itself is very comfortable to hold and has all the necessary Xbox buttons to make it work with any of the cloud streaming services available, even controller supported games on Apple Arcade or even PS Remote Play. It even includes a free trial for Xbox game pass ultimate, Apple Arcade, and Google Stadia. I do have a couple small gripes about it, but they don’t detract from the overall experience much. First off, to use it you must remove your very expensive iPhone from its case. Even slim cases will not work it must be totally exposed. I understand why as the lightning connector is fixed in place and cannot be expected to work around a huge variety of potential phone cases, but if you have a case that does not come off easily you will need to reconsider either your case or the backbone one. Secondly, I feel like for an expensive premium device designed and dedicated to portable gaming that it would include at very least some sort of protective sleeve, but it does not have anything of the sort. If you want to protect your controller investment, you’ll need to buy something separately. Lastly, to take full advantage of the Backbone One’s features you’ll need to download the app, and crucially sign up for a free 1-year trial of the Backbone+ service to use it at all. But, to do so you also need to sign up for auto renewal at $49.99 annually to get into that trial. It feels odd to hide the entirety of the app behind a pay wall like that especially at an extremely high price tag. I appreciate a 1-year trial but if I forget to disable auto renewal, I feel like I’ll regret it. I wish there was at least some more basic functionality in the app without the service agreement, but it seems to be all or nothing which is disappointing. I do really like this thing. It’s exactly what I needed to burn as much data on my unlimited plan as I possibly can streaming games when I am on lunch breaks at work. I get a little nervous pulling my phone out of the case to use it, but I quickly get over it when I am putting it to use. If you prefer mobile gaming on iPhone and want to improve your experience as much as possible, this device is for you. I recommend it.

(Backbone )just a lost deal, when it’s not working on PUBG mobile .

This is a well-designed and useful controller though I'm not sure what the Backbone annual fee is for. You actually can not even use the controller unless you put a credit card on file to pay the annual fee of $49.99 once your included free year is up. I wasn't a fan of that. It's ok to offer a premium service for a fee just don't require it in order to just use the device. I don't even know what the fee is for as there is barely any details. Only that it includes premium features. I can only hope that you're not required to pay the fee every year to continue to use the controller? The build and design of this is fantastic. It's the best execution I've seen. The whole thing is just well done. Once your iPhone is inserted, It looks like a svelte, one-piece mobile gaming unit and not something thrown together with cables and plastic adapters. For my testing, I used an iPhone 12 Mini. Don't worry about marring your iPhone either, everything is rubber where it needs to be and the built-in spring is sufficient enough to secure your phone. The kit includes an adapter for iPhone 13 Pro Max. One caveat though, no phone cases. Just your naked iPhone will fit in the cradle. The controller itself needs no battery though a Bluetooth radio would be a welcome feature to offer the convenience of a wireless connection when gaming on other screens. Currently you can game on a PC, Android, IOS, and Mac OS but only with a Lightning to USB C cable you supply. There is no physical mode switch and all compatibility switching must be done with the iPhone attached. Once the mode is switched, you remove the phone and plug into the screen you chose. The Backbone offers quick one touch in game photos and screen recording. It saves these in a folder for you to show the world your greatness via the platform of your choice. The YXBA buttons click. They're very clicky but I personally don't mind. You get used to it quickly. The analog sticks are fine and did not drift once while I used them on various racing and FPS games on the XBox Cloud Gaming platform which worked very well. Backbone includes one month of Xbox Ultimate and it was easy to claim that offer. The controller does not have haptic feedback. No haptic feedback seems like a strange omission for a video game controller until you realize without a battery present, there's no way to power the haptic motors. Perhaps there will be a way to use the iPhone's haptic engine in a future software update? I deduct one star for the requirement of a credit card just to activate a controller you own. That's just wrong. If you're looking for a purpose-built controller to house you're iPhone and offer a fairly easy transition to switching screens then you will most likely love the Backphone for iPhone.

It’s not the best to play with on the phone. Not easy to use.

It’s good quality, But it is not compact and because off that is to big for traveling!

Not worth getting. Because it was a low IQ device.

This a great controller and my son loves it very much. He usually doesn't get mine or my wife's phone much but ever since we got this, he's been playing on our phone very frequently. I also got to try it and so far I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit, but for larger games, like Xbox games that are played on the cloud, it can lag quite a bit. Works amazing with iPhone apps though. The feel, button mechanics, and d-pad make for an immersive experience similar to the Xbox. The responsiveness is unmatched; as soon as I move my finger, the backbone responds. It literally, with the greatest of ease, converted my iPhone into a mini arcade with detail and graphics just like an Xbox or PlayStation. The beauty of it is that you are not confined to the house or chained to the tv, it goes with you, which is what makes it so great for kids. This thing is amazing, the ergonomics and build quality are unmatched even by industry veterans such as razer. The hardware is light and comfortable. It’s easy to snap on, even in the dark. All of the buttons/sticks feel solidly built. The only caveat here is that you have to take your phone cover off in order to use this controller which is not a big deal for me but might be for some. If your phone cover slides off easily like mine, this will not be a huge issue but I know some phone covers are pain to take off. So it may become frustrating to take it off every time you want to use this controller. Something to keep in mind before purchasing it. The backbone app is fantastic and useful. It has surpassed my expectations. It is the only controller with a dedicated app, which works flawlessly. It is easy to navigate and links all your games to one place. The lightning port is also perfectly placed, so that it’s very comfortable to charge (or use lightning headphones) and play. It’s great that the unit itself requires no charging, and seems to use very little power. Lot of fun. Highly recommend whether you are a casual or serious gamer.

Didn’t really like it just wasn’t for me i guess thanks

I need a refund this backbone don’t work no more Ty

This is a great product that overall works well and is a good alternative to some of the more expensive options out there, including full gaming systems. This obviously doesn’t replace an actual gaming system, especially if you’re a serious gamer. But it’s a great on the go option for all ages, kids to adults. I do have two cons to note though. First, you have to take your phone out of the case to use the Backbone. I really don’t love that at all. For one thing it’s a convenience thing, but for another it can put your phone at more risk of damage it’s dropped. Second, I did find that when playing games for an extended period of time (typically at least an hour) especially those that require a lot of graphic bandwidth, my phone tended to start getting quite hot. I won’t go so far as to say that it overheated, but I also stopped playing to give it a chance to rest before it got to that point. For reference, I have an iPhone X. I can’t say this is a perfect product, but it is very functional and works as promised on compatible games. It makes it much easier to play those games that would normally be played with a separate controller versus using the touchscreen on my phone. That alone makes it a pretty cool product and worth buying in my opinion. You will want to be careful with it if your phone is out of the case, and avoid playing for too long so that your phone doesn’t overheat. But that did not occur with every game, and again, only in high graphics games played for extended periods.

It’s looks great when looking to Purchase. When you get home you realize that it’s a $40 per year membership that needs to be purchased. I’m son chose to return them.

The packaging for the backbone is sleek and compact. The company packaged the device in bare minimum packaging. I had to remove my case to fit the iPhone 12 Pro into the controller, it did not fit my apple magSafe case. The controller setup was super easy. The company provides a code on the side of the box that takes you to download the app and from there you set up an account. The easiest option was to use the Apple account. You then have to log into each of the game accounts that you will be using. The main screen has suggested games and apps and allows you to search for a specific app. The controller has a backbone dedicated button that snaps you back into their main app. It’s convenient to toggle in mid game or when first connecting the controller. Button layout is Xbox layout as well as an option to snap images, a menu button that brought up the bottom tray for my iPhone. I am not a fan of the joystick button layout on the right hand portion of the controller. It is really uncomfortable and ends up hurting my thumb. I have medium ish size hands and did not find the controller size big enough or comfortable. I know this is supposed to be a compact size solution but it didn't work for me. The size of the left/right controller should bump out to be more comfortable and allow better hand placement. This would also allow the joystick and button placements to be moved for a more comfortable grip. D pad is a bit mushy as are the shoulder and trigger buttons. A B, X, Y are clicky and responsive. Joysticks are just small. The menu button under the backbone button brought up the backbone menu while in the backbone app. . The mobile gaming portion worked really well and smooth. I was able to launch the game play from the backbone app. It recognized the services I already had on the phone. I think the controller/app worked the best with mobile gaming apps. It worked really well right off the bat with the call of duty mobile app. The buttons and controls were responsive and did not notice any latency. I think Xbox gaming cloud services were spotty with the controller/app. It kept wanting to launch the game pass app instead of the cloud service. I left the app and went directly to my shortcut to launch. Xbox itself didn’t have the best connection but that really isn’t on the backbone more so Xbox. Hopefully launching will be more smooth in the future. The controller worked well once in the game. But there was a delay here and there with button inputs. PlayStation setup was super quick launching the remote play app from their backbone app.Playstation compatibility was perfect, I played gran turismo sport, and was able to move the menus, and play with no issues. I had to do a search in the backbone app for steam link, then sign in. The steam app gives you an option to add the backbone controller and do the button mapping. Once you map the backbone the controller worked great with steam and my power washing game. The controller may work great for others, but I could not play for longer than five to ten minutes. My hand and or thumb started hurting and I had to take a break before going back in for another match/race/continue power washing. I hope on the next version of the controller that they would allow for the middle piece to be restricted to where the controller closes up more instead of having the bar out in the middle.

It's a Christmas gift. Will let you know after the holidays.

I dislike this item because you have to remove your protective case in order for it work.