- Sep 21, 2020
- Riding Since
- 2020
So this is a bit of PSA for anyone that has recently upgraded to a newer iPhone (iPhone 11 or newer), or any new phone with sophisticated OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). I recently upgraded to an iPhone 12 Pro and mounted the phone to my Tackform mount as usual for access to the GPS. After about a two hour ride, I wanted to take advantage of an amazing view and snap a few pics with my brand new fancy camera - only to open the camera app and find that the focus was all jittery, and I could actually hear the phone making a buzzing sound like it was trying to find focus but was unable to. I figured it was just a software glitch since the front-facing selfie camera was working fine and so was everything else. I did a hard reset, but the problem was still there.
After returning home I decided to do a full factory reset on the phone to see if that would fix the problem as that would rule out a software issue, but unfortunately that did not fix it. Luckily I was able to take it in to the Apple store and get a replacement under warranty. I was curious what had happened and had a suspicion that it could have something to do with the phone being mounted on the bike. After brief worm hole on the ol' interwebs, I was able to find many people were experiencing this same issue after hard-mounting their phones to the handlebars. This seems to be such a wide-spread issue, that both QuadLock and SP Connect have both developed "vibration dampeners" for their mounts. QuadLock actually lists the Honda CB/CBRs on their site as a "problem bike" (pic attached). It seems like there are specific vibration frequencies produced by certain engines that will damage the very sensitive sensors on some of these phones.
I am not a fan of riding with my phone in my pocket and like to have it accessible while I'm on the bike. So I'll be trying the QuadLock mount with the dampener and see if that eliminates the problem. Which is a shame because I love the Tackform Enduro mount, solid metal and well constructed - best of all, there is no need for a dedicated case (Tackform has also added a disclaimer to their website on this issue). At least if the phone breaks again, I'm still within the warranty period and can have it replaced. Curious if anyone else has run into this issue?
After returning home I decided to do a full factory reset on the phone to see if that would fix the problem as that would rule out a software issue, but unfortunately that did not fix it. Luckily I was able to take it in to the Apple store and get a replacement under warranty. I was curious what had happened and had a suspicion that it could have something to do with the phone being mounted on the bike. After brief worm hole on the ol' interwebs, I was able to find many people were experiencing this same issue after hard-mounting their phones to the handlebars. This seems to be such a wide-spread issue, that both QuadLock and SP Connect have both developed "vibration dampeners" for their mounts. QuadLock actually lists the Honda CB/CBRs on their site as a "problem bike" (pic attached). It seems like there are specific vibration frequencies produced by certain engines that will damage the very sensitive sensors on some of these phones.
I am not a fan of riding with my phone in my pocket and like to have it accessible while I'm on the bike. So I'll be trying the QuadLock mount with the dampener and see if that eliminates the problem. Which is a shame because I love the Tackform Enduro mount, solid metal and well constructed - best of all, there is no need for a dedicated case (Tackform has also added a disclaimer to their website on this issue). At least if the phone breaks again, I'm still within the warranty period and can have it replaced. Curious if anyone else has run into this issue?
