Tell me if this scenario feels familiar. You’re alone, you’ve got your hands occupied, and you need to film something on your smartphone. You prop your phone against something on your table or counter, perhaps a tin of coffee, or any stationary object you find around you. You switch on the camera, and as soon as you compose your shot, you tap the screen to hit record and your phone shakes. It’s inelegant, and is what Indians call jugaad, or a lifehack. Engineer and ex-rocket scientist Jeremiah McCoy found himself in a similar scenario and realized he wasn’t the only one… and rather than relying on a worthless lifehack, he developed a more concrete, appropriate solution to the problem.

Essentially a tripod for your phone, the Ultimate Kickstand is a small piece of plastic, the size of a thumb drive, and small enough to fit on your keychain (it even comes with its own carabiner). Fold it out, and it becomes a phone-gripping tripod that you can place anywhere, and even at any angle. It works universally, gripping any phone by the sides (you can only use it in landscape, unfortunately), and rests on two legs and a base. A worthy replacement for a coffee-tin, a couch cushion, or any cheap prop, the Ultimate Kickstand can be used to compose great shots of products, people handsfree (no more selfie-stick either!) The Ultimate Kickstand is currently 3D printed out of PLA plastic, but I don’t see why we can’t have ourselves a nice machined Aluminum one somewhere in the future. Did I also mention that it’s small enough to be carried with you everywhere on your keychain?

Designer: Jeremiah McCoy