I used to think phone cases were a waste of money, honestly. Bought the clear plastic one for a quid from a stall near the salon, cracked my screen within a fortnight, and spent the next two years thinking that was just what phones did. Turns out it was the case’s fault, not mine, and once I got a decent one I stopped treating my phone like it owed me nothing.
The good ones feel solid in your hand before you even put the phone in, not floppy or see through white at the edges. You want proper raised lips round the camera and screen so it can take a face down drop on a tiled floor, because it will, probably on a Tuesday. Check the button covers press back cleanly, not mushy, and that the charging port cut out actually lines up with your cable, because I’ve had three that forced me to buy a new lead just to fit. If you’re only getting one, go for something with a bit of grip to it, silicone or a textured back, because the slim hard shiny ones look lovely in photos and then shoot straight off the arm of a sofa.
For every day, I’d pick a case that matches what’s already going on your wrist or your bag rather than fighting it, a neutral or a classic colour that doesn’t clash every time you set it down on a table. If you carry your card in the back of your case, which plenty of women do, make sure it actually holds the card without it sliding half out in your coat pocket, that’s a proper annoyance. Clear cases are grand for showing off a nice phone colour but they yellow after a summer in your pocket, nobody tells you that bit.
Where they fall down is anywhere delicate is involved. A chunky protective case feels like a brick in a small evening bag, and if you’re going out somewhere you’ve actually dressed for, a slimmer card free one that just about holds the phone is the better call, you’re not dropping it on a dance floor you’re holding it the whole night anyway. And no case, however good, survives being sat on repeatedly, I’ve tested that one more than once by accident. Get one that does the drop test and matches your life, not the one that just looks nice in the photo on the stand.