Phoney to see you texting with third iPhone cover (5)
I believe the answer is:
cutie
'phoney' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'you texting with third iphone cover' is the wordplay.
'you texting' becomes 'cue' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'with' indicates putting letters inside.
'cover' indicates taking the first letters (in a down clue, the letter covering the word).
The initial letters of 'third iphone' is 'ti'.
'cue' going around 'ti' is 'CUTIE'.
'to see' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cutie that I've seen before include "Smart female" , "Endearing person" , "lovely" , "considered by most to be attractive" , "Appealing young lady" .)