When braving the cold, wet outdoors in wintertime, you still need to do two things: Keep your hands warm and use your smartphone. For that, you will need a special pair of gloves that can do both jobs. You can’t use a smartphone with just any gloves because your smartphone’s capacitive touchscreen, blanketed with electrodes, is designed to react to taps, touches, and swipes on your screen with conductive material — like your fingertips.
Touchscreen gloves bridge that gap with fabric that emulates your skin’s conductive properties. But touchscreen gloves aren’t all cut from the same cloth. Here’s our guide to the best touchscreen gloves for smartphones. These work best if you have a phone with secure face ID or a passcode. Otherwise, you’ll still need to remove your gloves to unlock phones with a fingerprint sensor.
Why stop at a lovely pair of touchscreen gloves? We’ve got great tips on how to winterize your car, and keep an eye on the weather with the best weather apps for Android and for iPhone.
Achiou Winter Knit Gloves
If you’re seeking warmth and comfort in the great outdoors — and need to use your phone — try Achiou’s pull-on knit gloves. Their soft lining and four-way stretch construction provide warmth and functionality for all outdoor activities and commuting. Breathable material allows the gloves to ventilate to minimize sweat accumulation. A practical three-touchscreen capability design (using thumb, forefinger, and middle finger) ensures complete functionality. A large triangle silicone palm grip secures your phone against drops.
Mujjo Insulated Touchscreen Gloves
There are a few reasons that we really like these touchscreen gloves from Mujjo. Firstly, they work beautifully — you can use any part of any finger to tap or swipe on your touchscreen. They’re also understated, in black with a simple logo on the cuff. They have a three-layer construction with 3M Thinsulate and soft fleece inside, but it’s all fused together, so you don’t end up separating layers when you take them off in a hurry. They are very comfortable, cozy, and they have a wrist cuff that keeps out the cold. Mujjo has altered the silicone grip lines in this year’s pair to ensure they offer a secure hold on your phone. The Insulated Touchscreen Gloves are suitable for moderately cold climates, but you can always opt for a Double-Insulated pair if you live somewhere really cold. They come in small, medium, large, and extra-large.
Moshi Digits Touchscreen Gloves
If you want a traditional-looking pair of gloves, then the Moshi Digits could be ideal for you. The gray knit is woven with a conductive fiber that makes each fingertip responsive to touchscreens. There’s a very soft microfleece lining inside that provides enhanced comfort and the dual-layer knit design is specially engineered to shield against cold wind. To ensure that your phone doesn’t slip from your grasp, Moshi has used a GripTrak pattern of lines bolstered by dots, which covers the palms and the bottom of your fingers and gives you a sticky grip.
The Moshi Digits come in two colors, dark gray and light gray, and you can get them in small, medium, or large sizes. There’s a Moshi logo on a soft label sewn onto the ribbed cuff. These touchscreen gloves are very comfortable, warm, and they work well with touchscreens. The only thing we’re not keen on is that the inner lining can sometimes separate from the outer knit when you’re taking them off in a hurry.
Anqier Running Gloves
These lightweight running gloves are perfect for chilly mornings. The elastic fabrics are breathable and wicking to deal with any sweat buildup, and the liner will keep your fingers warm even when the air isn’t. The gloves also have grip materials in place for more reliable device management and a better grip for handlebars and such. For true snowsports, they are also slim enough to fit under skit mittens and other, larger gloves for more protection. Plus, the variety of colors and sizes makes the Anqier Running Gloves easier to customize than many options. The low price sure doesn’t hurt, either.
Black Diamond Heavyweight Screen Tap Fleece Gloves
If you’re looking for something that can handle extreme cold and serve you well on the ski slopes, hiking, or just out walking the dog in bad weather, then these gloves from Black Diamond are worth a look. They have a flexible Polartec Power Stretch fleece shell to keep your hands warm and the palm is covered in durable goat leather, which is ideal if you’re holding a leash. You’ll also find they work just fine with touchscreens, though the sensitivity can wear away a bit as the gloves age. The heavyweight gloves are designed for 25 to 40-degree weather (-4 to 4 degrees Celsius), but Black Diamond also offers mid- and lightweight gloves.
Mujjo Double-Layered Touchscreen Gloves
Mujjo’s distinctive wool touchscreen gloves feature a leather securing strap that snaps shut with a clever magnetic closure, a double soft-touch insulating lining, and black leather cuff dots that match the gloves’ black-and-silver pattern. Anti-slip silicone dots in the palm and on the fingers do a great job of preventing accidental slippage, and stretchable, silver-coated nylon fibers make the entire glove (including the knuckles and palm) touch-sensitive. The gloves come in one color, black and gray, and in small, medium, and large sizes. If you don’t need your gloves to be really warm, then you can save a few bucks by opting for the single-layer version. Much like the Moshi Digits, the weakness of the Mujjo Double-Layered Touchscreen Gloves is that the layers sometimes separate when you’re taking the gloves off and it can take a bit of fiddling to get them realigned.
GliderGlove Touchscreen Gloves
You can choose from a selection of knitted finishes from GliderGloves which employ conductive copper yarn to ensure your entire hand and all your fingers will work on touchscreens. The layered nylon combines with a soft, waffle interior to provide ample insulation, and acrylic mesh provides enhanced grip around the palm area. These aren’t the warmest gloves, but they’re slim-fitting and lightweight, with a small amount of spandex to adjust them to your hands. They come in two styles: Winter is a snug and Urban is a looser fit. GliderGlove’s touchscreen gloves come in small, medium, large, and extra-large sizes.
Feiqiaosh Driving Gloves
These stunning Feiqiaosh driving gloves have a cozy fleece lining and a stylish feminine touch, and they come in many different colors so they fit your phone, car, or outfit. Despite the sheepskin leather and cashmere liner, they are also touchscreen-compatible throughout the hand, so no need to take them off if you need to juggle devices during your morning commute.
C.C Unisex Cable Knit Anti-Slip Touchscreen Texting Gloves
Made from soft acrylic with a pull-on closure to fit most size hands, these stretchy and comfortable gloves come in a wide variety of colors and patterns for both men and women. The gloves feature SmartTips technology on both thumb and index fingers for touchscreen compatibility, coupled with faux suede palms to secure your grip. You never need to remove these gloves while driving or to use your smartphone in the cold.
$13 From Amazon
