Introduction: Iphone Subway Card Holder With Mute Button Wedge

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I hate to reach into my wallet every time I want to get into the subway. It doesn't feel right to show everybody exactly where I keep my money. However, I have no self-consciousness about playing with my Iphone.

Trying to kill two birds with one stone I looked in vain for a thin phone-case/metro-card holder.  Everything was too clunky.  Finally I realized the case I already had would work just fine.

Step 1:

I slipped the card between the back of phone and the case.  Every time i entered the subway, i just peeled back the phone case and grabbed the card. 

The problem with my system was that every time I slid the case back, I inadvertently would hit the mute switch.  I missed a lot of call that way.  Even though flipping the switch back to ringer-on would have been easy, I had a hard time remebering to do this simple step.  I didn't want to use tape since it would end up being a sticky mess eventually.

Step 2:


Wedging the switch to stay on seemed like the best solution. I had a plastic coffee stirrer lying around as the raw material.  You can get one at Starbucks, [even without buying a beverage]  but but any soft plastic stick would work. With a razor blade I cut off the end and sliced the stick to the thickness of the switch slot. This was all by eye-- I had plenty of material to work with.

Step 3:

I test fit the plug in the switch slot, making sure that I had a good snug press fit.  I had to clip off the end at a little angle to match the curve of the switch.

With the piece wedged in, I was able to mark the right length pretty easily.

Step 4:

After cutting the piece to length and cutting a little bit off the corner, I had a nice tightly fitting wedge to keep the switch on. 

The plug stood proud of the phone body and i thought it might fall out. Using a super-sharp razor blade I used the side of the phone as a guide and flushed up the plug.

Step 5:


The plug seems pretty secure. If I need to, i can probably pull the plug with a pin. I've lost the quick ringer moot button, but turning the ringer down as low as it goes makes the phone silent enough when it's in my pocket. Don't know anything about microprocessors but I haven't demagnetized the card with this storage method. Haven't tested system capacity. All identity theft questions aside i wonder if I could squeeze a credit card in there too.