Backbone

I thought the initial price was a little bit high, but it seemed to be among the best that I could find in the mobile controller department. This is likely due to my own lack of research, but I had no idea there was a $50 recurring subscription to use the software for the controller (after a one year free trial). If the controller was just $100, it might be worth it, but with the subscription on top of that, it’s just not worth it for me.
Nice controller, feels good, but just a bit pricey

I wasn't sure what to expect when ordering this and was surprised with how smooth the controls and triggers were in general. I previously had a Razer Kishi and the controls were not as smooth as on the backbone. The Backbone app having a large assortment of games and having the ability to see games that would be remote play or gamepass games directly through the app is phenomenal. The only qualm I have and a minor inconvenience at that is, there was a few games that didn't seem to work with the backbone that were within the app (War Robots was one).

I was super excited for this purchase and for the first few months it was great but literally at the same time, both the controllers I bought bugged out within months of my purchase, we are gentle players and don’t hit or throw them around. My left joystick looks to be fine but on cod mobile I’m stuck running backwards, it was compatible with cod mobile until now…. Also the vibrate button feature is stuck on???????? and my brothers left joystick literally just fell out. And both of ours takes screenshots and opens the backbone app on its own. Super sad. Please lower your prices if your gunna make it this cheap.

This controller is solidly built, the d-pad feels great and it's comfortable to play with. It's made Xbox Cloud streaming such a blast to play. Occasionally the controller will have some odd behavior like the analog drifting down or a button being pressed repeatedly. Once I disconnect it and restart my phone, it behaves as expected but it's odd that it happens. I'll be upgrading to a larger iPhone next time around because I'm really loving gaming on my iPhone with this controller.

As a device, really cool buttons and layout. As something that I would use often, poor. I have to take my case off every time. When I mentioned that on Facebook, instead of getting an explanation as to the unwise but cheaper design choice, I was told the BOLD FACE LIE, that most people don't mind taking the case off. Yes they do. They HATE that. Could it have been designed differently to accommodate a case? Sure, but that costs a few more cents per unit.

My first backbone was giving some problems so I reached out to the customer service to get a replacement. Mind you my backbone was a gift that was given to me as a gift that was purchased in May..and I was reporting the problem in June. So I passed my 1-year warranty. But they were still generous to still process me another. The replacement came back within a week I believe. And on TOP of that when getting my replacement they gave me an adapter🥹. That showed me that they pay attention to detail & very observant. This proves to me that they care about your issue to resolve the matter. Because I had a 13 Pro max…I almost cried. Truly love & appreciate you guys!!!♥️Thank you so much.

Amazing Gamepad. With Backbone and XCloud I could finally get rid of my Switch. The buttons and the Joysticks feel high quality and the possibility to charge the phone while playing is amazing.
My biggest problem is, that you can’t use the Backbone with a Case. It’s a bit annoying to always slip it on an off just for playing. Also for my big hands it gets uncomfortable after 2 hours of gaming. I would honestly sacrifice some portability for a more ergonomic feel.
Can’t say much about the app because it doesn’t work with XCloud.
Otherwise I’m really happy. Great work guys!

The controller itself is all I could ever hope for in a phone controller. It is certainly not the most comfortable to hold, but that's to be expected with phone controllers. As for the software, I do have some criticisms. First of all, there is no way to close out of games using the controller. The home button opens the Backbone app, sure, but the game you were playing remains open as well. So for maximum performance you have to manually close out of the game using the touch screen, which defeats the whole purpose of the home button in the first place. Secondly, web apps do not appear on the Backbone app. This means that to use streaming services like Xbox Game Pass or Google Stadia, you have to exit the Backbone app and find the web app on your home screen. This again destroys the immersion of the Backbone app. It is trying to make things feel like a console experience, but with these two issues it fails to deliver that experience. I have no doubt in my mind that both issues can be solved through software updates, so I'd love to see it happen.

Alors que dire.
La livraison est longue près de 3 semaines d'attente pour le recevoir et le pompon c'est que tu as 35 euros de droit et taxes a payer loool vraiment.
L'aplication backbone j'esperais que ce soit une application ou il y avait vraiment des jeux a jouer mais ce n'est qu'une facade c'est juste une application qui te dit quels jeu ta le droit de jouer et sur quelle application il y est mais pour y jouer vraiment c'est les applications de jeu pour téléphone tel que xbox cloud ou playstation remote rien de plus et il faut payer 50 balles pour un an mais la premiere année est gratuite mais il faut se rappeller de resiller avant parce que elle ne sert vraiment a rien cette appli.
Et Xbox Cloud est payant donc je suis perdante dans tous les domaines..
Je me sens bien arnaqué la pour le coup...
Donc appart Xbox cloud qui est bien pour le coup car tu peux jouer les jeux proposés mais payant le reste c'est un 0 pointé..
Je suis trés trés decue...

Amazing iOS controller!!! The Backbone One with the adapter fits my iPhone 13 Pro Max perfectly. It has a premium feel and seems like it should last for many years.
The analog sticks are responsive, the buttons have a nice premium click, the shoulder buttons feel the same except the trigger buttons, which have the perfect travel distance.
Remote play for Series X and PS5 work great and I use it before bed now. If my family is using the TV I still have the ability to play my consoles!
Apple Arcade and other compatible games work amazing with the Backbone One! It makes mobile gameplay far more enjoyable to play. No more mistaps that get me killed.
Plus the backbone app makes it faster to browse games and get them booted up.
Do yourself a favor and upgrade your mobile gaming with the Backebone One!

Great controller, I am surprised how well it works. I appreciate that I do not have to charge it or pair it with Bluetooth. It is always ready to use if my phone is. App itself is the smoothest app I ever had on my phone. Ergonomy of the D-Pad could be a little bit better, but it is not used that often anyway. A compatible slim case for the phone, directly from Backbone, could be a thing. I am also missing a hard case to protect the controller. 4.7/5 ;)

I bought a backbone when I was traveling a lot for a move. I really wanted to play Destiny 2. Tried various streaming options and landed on Xcloud and Stadia. Great services. Now the device itself is very useful. I can run xbox party chat with beats headphones because the audio is routed with my iPhone (12 pro max). This feature is absolutely killer because I have several Bluetooth headphones that aren’t compatible with the Xbox.
It is a comfortable device to hold even for a person with large hands. The switch, for me, was uncomfortable, but the backbone is great.
The controller is responsive and the buttons are smooth. I almost prefer it over my traditional Xbox gaming experience. D2, assassins creed, and Chrono Trigger on handheld everywhere I go.
The unit I purchased began to have left stick drift after several months. I reported it to backbone and they replaced it without issue. Strong customer service.
A1 company and will gift backbones to my friends in the future.

I would have given 5 stars, but the only setback for me is using this with the iPhone 13 pro. The adapter was a good solution but the device is set in slightly crooked which is only aesthetically displeasing. As far as feel and functionality, this controller came full of surprises. Feels great in my hands (comparable to a more ergo switch controller) and the quality is competition worthy. I wish it extended a bit further so I could set my ipad mini in it but maybe that would be a nice upgrade in the future. Bottom line is that this thing is awesome. I would highly recommend!

I like the controller. If I was reviewing the controller in and of itself: 5/5. It has missed some inputs here and there, but mostly this is when the iOS seems to be working hard, or a low battery situation, or a combination of the two, so I can't quite fault the controller when it's the phone itself having issues.
This is a bit of a meta-review, looking at what it takes to use the backbone. I don't know if it's fair to dock a star since the issue is that I have to remove my phone from its case to use the backbone, and only maniacs are walking around with a 1000$ phone sans case. So literally any gaming controller thing is going to have the challenge of attaching to a wide variety of different cases. However, it is still annoying. I am concerned with the long-term ramifications of flexing my case off and on my phone 100s of times per year - the plastic is going to wear out sooner.
The adapter works great for the 13 pro, but there's no easy way to store it in the provided backbone box. The backbone fits snugly in the cutouts WITHOUT the adapter in place, with the adapter attached it won't fit. But then the adapter is just loose wriggling around in the box. I'll probably use an Exacto knife/scissor to widen the hole on the L part of the backbone so that it can fit without having to remove the adapter just for QoL.
I mean overall I'm nitpicking here, these are minor QoL issues, overall I'm really happy with the purchase and it provides a better and more ergonomic way to enjoy mobile games on my phone. I'm not much of a mobile gamer, but I've been in a bit of a "no desire to play anything" rut and diablo immortal, a new mobile game, has scratched my gaming itch and I've probably logged 100s of hours already - the backbone has made that experience a lot more enjoyable.

To be honest, I'm a console gamer. Have been for a while, so I didn't put much stock on that I would even like mobile gaming. I really only bought this for diablo immortal. This thing though is awesome! It comes with an app that prompts instillation when you first slingshot your phone into the controller. The app has a-lot of features and its pretty cool, surpassed my expectations. I wont spoil it. Overall though the controller is dope, I love the sound it makes when you snap your phone into it, and pull it up to fit the length of your screen. Like honestly you guys could make an advertisement completely based off that snap in sound, its just so satisfying when you do it right. Snappa lacka crackle pop. Great controller high quality.

buttons and triggers wise are ok, still getting used to the tactile feel of it.
design could have been more compact like their competitor product.
the way it snaps to the phone can be improved especially when you're trying to remove it from the phone.
the sign up and setting up for the included is a big hassle.
also there were problems with the promised bundled third party subscriptions.
if it's quality and lifespan can wage better than it's competitor product that i've tried then it's good.

Muy buena calidad, llena las espectativas y muchos mas cuando se trata de jugar en el movil. De mi parte lo unico que quisera es el joystick derecho, el movimiento es muy tosco, se hace dificil ser preciso en especial en juegos de disparar armas que requieren prescicion. Quizas agregarle un bumper para hacerlo mas largo podría mejorar la prescicion al disparar. Pero en general supera mis espectativas, ademas que trae un app para hacer todo mas facil

First I would like to say that the product is awesome!!! It allows you to use your phone as a console. Very convenient when on the go all the time. It allows me to use what pockets of time I have to relax as if I would if I was home.Customer service I would rate five out of five. The only gripe I would have if any is that it takes 24 to 48 ht for them to respond with email. Far as them standing behind their product and supporting the needs of us the customer they are spot on.

The concept is amazing but the amount of games that are compatible are extremely low.
Playing with shareplay for PlayStation is cool but the joysticks are so small and input is on the joysticks feels janky. It’s not smooth. I understand it’s tough to fit everything into one controller like this but being so used to PlayStation controllers with smooth joysticks, the backbone feels sloppy.
Still can’t wait to see how this turns out in a few years.

I wish it was a little more clear that the app requires a relatively enormous yearly subscription to use.
And if I don’t want to use the app, why can’t I reassign the Backbone button to function like a DS4 home button for use in PlayStation Remote Play? It’s pretty irritating that there is no PS button function on this controller, but there is a useless backbone button to take me to a glorified app folder to launch games from that costs almost as much as a new AAA game to use.
Controller gets points for nice clicky buttons but wow the rest of the experience is not good.