Your Phone Is 10 Times Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat. Clean It Now
There are products you should steer clear of when cleaning your phone. We'll tell you what they are and what to use instead.
Yes, it's true that your phone harbors more bacteria than a toilet seat, which is why you should be regularly disinfecting the device that touches your skin multiple times throughout the day. As a bonus, cleaning your phone can also help make it last longer. But how often should you?
Ideally, you should clean your phone at least once a day by following your phone's manual for cleaning instructions. Cleaning your device the wrong way (like using rubbing alcohol and paper towels) can strip away coatings that protect your screen. There are safer items that will do the trick.
We'll show you the most common ways to clean your phone free of germs and gunk the right way, especially for phones rated for water resistance.
Use disinfectant wipes or the right alcohol-based solution
If you touch your phone after touching a public door handle or grocery cart, your first thought might be to clean it with rubbing alcohol. Don't. Straight alcohol can strip the oleophobic and hydrophobic coatings that keep oil and water from damaging your phone's display and other ports.
Some websites suggest creating a mix of alcohol and water yourself, but it's crucial to get the concentration right. Get it wrong and you could damage your phone. The safest bet is to use disinfectant wipes that contain 70% isopropyl alcohol to clean your phone screen.
Before the pandemic, we were instructed to not use disinfectant wipes on our phone screens, but Apple says it's OK to use Clorox Wipes and others with similar concentrations.
AT&T's cleaning guidelines suggest that you "spray a nonabrasive or alcohol-based (70% isopropyl) disinfectant directly on a soft lint-free cloth and wipe down your device while it is powered down and unplugged." Samsung has also said you can create an alcohol-based solution of 70% ethanol or isopropyl alcohol, applied with a microfiber cloth.
Another option for day-to-day cleaning is investing in a UV light, such as PhoneSoap. This UV light company says its product kills 99.99% of germs and banishes bacteria. As far as we know, this model hasn't been tested in relation to COVID, although some of its products have.
2022-11-01 03:33:18
