Failed cellphone pocket for backpack hipbelt.

Stupid rationale for making a cellphone pocket for the hipbelt pocket of my Osprey Exos 58:  Another pack I used, the ULA Circuit, had a hip pocket that swallowed my Samsung Note 4. I wanted the shallow pocket of my Exos to do the same.

pocket in a pocket

I started with just a black vinyl sleeve that held the top third of the phone, hoping that the phone would stay in the pocket.  A few times it didn't stay in the pocket and the black sleeve would flop about when I removed the phone--that made replacing the phone with one hand cumbersome.

Pocket of vinyl and ripstop

I added the bottom 2/3 of 1.6 oz ripstop nylon which helped keep the phone in the hip pocket, but it still flopped enough to make replacement clumsy. Design issue:  the phone case attached to the hip pocket with a snap on the middle front of the phone case.  Rather than make another pocket that snapped to the bottom of the hip pocket, I quit this project in favor of another location because my upper arm rubbed against the phone case when I walked.  Potential new site:  top of the shoulder strap--two loops present attachment points.

February 22: Update:  positioning a phone on the top of the shoulder straps can interfere with the load lifter straps above the top loop.  Instead, I placed two snaps on the shoulder strap webbing below the adjustment buckle and two matching snaps on the phone case.
Now that I've got the phone where I want it, I can't remember why I wanted it in such an accessible spot.  No cell signal in the wilderness.  I'm planning to use paper maps with only occasional phone use to confirm my path near unsigned trail junctions.  😀  Oh, yeah, on training walks in town, I can check my pace and mileage or plug in my ear buds and tune in NPR, etc.