Halo Back: Good idea, but does it work?

A while back, although in terms of Kickstarter dates it was positively recent, a project was posted that caught my eye called Halo Back. This was a glass screen protector with a difference – the bottom left area was “mapped” to the top left making it easier to click the back link on apps. That’s poorly explained but this cheesy video from the project does a better job:

Last week the Halo Back arrived and so I stuck it on. Unlike other screen protectors the positioning is quite important and so the makers have included a frame that fits over your phone and allows for correct positioning. The package also includes screen wipes, applicator and dust removers which were all really good.

I’ve never had a screen protector that I have liked before mainly because I’ve felt that they affect the sensitivity of the screen and given that the Halo was going on a 6S I was keen to find out if it affected Force Touch. Long and short of it is that it feels pretty good and force touch works as expected, which was a surprise and a nice bonus.

An obvious downside is that my olloclip lenses no longer fit and this is going to be an issue as I have to choose between the two.

However, the big question is does the functionality work as advertised? The short answer is yes, sometimes but not as often as I would like it to. Rather frustratingly the area to touch seems to move and so I have to use a swiping motion, sometime sawing backwards and forwards, until I find the sweet spot. Not a great timesaver.

Worse is that the sensitivity of the top left of the screen seems to have been greatly reduced making it difficult to use and it it virtually impossible to use the “back to” app functionality added in iOS9.

So as a screen protector the Halo Back is fine but it doesn’t deliver reliably enough in the area that it promised. I suspect that it will stay in place until the next time I want to use my olloclip lenses and then it will come off for good.

One comment on “Halo Back: Good idea, but does it work?

  1. Guys, if I were you, I’d pass on this one. I bought a Halo Back, and have had it on my iPhone 6s for two weeks. The back button has worked maybe five times. I wish I had read reviews before I purchased it. I got it directly from halo back dot com. I’ve contacted them several times, but they just ignore me. Don’t waste your money. This product just doesn’t work. Also note, the area where the iOS back button is located in the upper left corner, doesn’t work half the time, when I tap it directly, with the halo back on.

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