Phone charms (also phone danglers, phone lanyards, phone chains and phone straps) are charms that are connected to a

mobile device A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physica ...

either via a phone connector or silicone plug that fits into the jack port sometimes provided with

circle cotter A circle cotter, also known as a cotter ring or split ring, is a formed wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high cond ...

s and a

lobster clasp A lobster clasp, also known as a lobster hook, lobster claw, trigger clasp, or bocklebee clasp, is a fastener that is held closed by a spring. The lobster clasp is opened or closed by holding a small lever, usually with a fingernail, long enough ...

, or a small strap knotted with a cow hitch knot, or a

lanyard A lanyard is a cord, length of webbing, or strap that may serve any of various functions, which include a means of attachment, restraint, retrieval, and activation and deactivation. A lanyard is also a piece of rigging used to secure or lowe ...

. Some phones may have a loop hole through which a strap can be attached or a phone case may be needed for the strap in phones that lack a loop hole. In Japan, they are known as . Phone straps have now become a cultural

phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried ...

beyond their basic utilities, and they may be themed with famous characters such as ''

Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...

''. Phone straps may also serve additional functions, such as screen cleaning.

History

Phone charms first originated in Japan and later in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. They are gradually becoming popular in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In recent years, it has been popular to accessorize a phone this way, and

Maki-e is a Japanese lacquer decoration technique in which pictures, patterns, and letters are drawn with lacquer on the surface of lacquerware, and then metal powder such as gold or silver is sprinkled and fixed on the surface of the lacquerware. The ...

stickers are also becoming more common, especially in Japan, and to a lesser extent, Asia.

Types of charms

There are a variety of charms available, such as little figurine characters, rhinestone crystal charms, and small teddy bears. Some charms flash or light up when the phone rings. Many charms also have a small bell attached and there are charms available in

Gashapon , also called , is a trademark of Bandai. Among the variety of vending machine-dispensed capsule toys that originated in the 1960s, it became popular in Japan and elsewhere. "Gashapon" is onomatopoeic from the two sounds "gasha" (or "gacha") fo ...

machines, many of which are based on characters from various popular franchises, such as video games. There are also some charms in which one may put on the finger to clean the device's display.

History

Types of charms

See also