How To Properly Clean Your Phone Amidst The Coronavirus Outbreak

In the age of coronavirus, hyper-sterile environments are the need of the hour. We’re washing our hands after everything, but one object that may be a carrier is our phone itself. Apparently, Covid-19 can survive on these surfaces for 9 days. The worst part is, we probably touch it even more than our own faces. Here’s how to keep it clean without ruining the screen.

1. Avoid rubbing alcohol, use disinfectant wipes to clean iPhones or UV light to clean other phones.

Apple has said that iPhones can be cleaned with disinfectant wipes, so those of you that have that phone are safe. For the rest, you can use a UV light based disinfectant, like this. Cleaning your phone with rubbing alcohol can strip the oleophobic and hydrophobic coatings that keep oil and water from damaging the display and other ports.

2. Use a microfibre cloth to clean fingerprint smudges on your phone.

Since our skin constantly produces oils, we end up with pesky fingerprint marks on our phones every time we touch them. Use a microfibre cloth to get these off, and if things are really bad, wet the cloth with distilled water beforehand. Don’t spray water directly on the phone.

3. Remove sand and lint from crevices by using scotch tape or toothpicks.

The little holes in your phone frequently accumulate a lot of dust and outside material. To get rid of it, you can gently place scotch tape on the surfaces, as the stickiness of the tape will pull out whatever is stuck. You can also use a toothpick to get rid of dirt in the speaker holes.

4. Even if your phone is waterproof, cleaning it with a wet cloth is a better idea than running it under a faucet.

Dunking the phone will get water into the ports, which means you won’t be able to charge it for at least a day. Use a damp or wet cloth to clean it instead.