5 Best Ways To Disinfect Phone Without Ruining Screen

Pretty much everyone knows by now that our smartphones are among the dirtiest things we carry with us. This is because we use it practically everywhere, and keep it on practically any public surface, especially while in a hurry. Keeping this in mind, it can help to disinfect your phone every day to make sure your phone remains clean even if it has gone through a lot in a day.

There are multiple ways to disinfect phone, but it’s important to know what you’re doing to make sure you don’t destroy your device. This is why we have decided to talk about some of the best ways to disinfect phone without damaging its parts, particularly the display module. So let’s take a look.

5 Best Ways to Disinfect Phone Without Ruining Screen

1. Microfiber Cloth

This can come in handy to wipe any soft or sensitive surfaces, which means it is ideal to be used on your smartphone as well. However, it must be said that this doesn’t have any disinfecting material in it since it’s just soft cloth. However, these can come in handy especially if you’re looking to wipe your phone with an alcohol-based disinfectant and dry the surface quickly. Its primary use, however, is to remove sensitive dust without damaging your phone screen or camera lenses.

The best part about a microfiber cloth like this is that it can be washed and reused several times, thus reducing waste in the household. This particular seller offers a total of 10 microfiber wipes, which can basically last for months. Be sure to check it out.

Buy It Now: Amazon

2. UV Sanitizer Device

We did an entire article on phone sanitizers, so we recommend you to check that out before we talk about this. Well, a UV Sanitizer device can serve a variety of purposes, and as such, are available quite commonly on online marketplaces like Amazon. But the one company that started off early was PhoneSoap. We’re going to talk about PhoneSoap’s UV sanitizer which is ideal to make sure all the harmful bacteria on your phone’s surface are killed off with no wiping required. The company mentions that this UV-C sanitizer can kill 99.99% of bacteria on surfaces.

What’s more is that in addition to being a UV-C sanitizer, this can also help charge your smartphone, making this quite a capable offering. The sanitizer accommodates both USB C and standard USB ports, which is a clever decision. Given that most of us also have phone covers that can gather bacteria, it makes sense to put them through the UV sanitizer separately.

The best part about this sanitizer is that it can also handle other household items that you may want to sanitize, so practically anything that can fit inside the sanitizer, think keys, rings, earbuds, and so on. The company mentions that this sanitizer comes with a lifetime warranty on its bulb, which means it will last for a long time.

Buy It Now: Amazon

3. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes

Clorox is one of the well-known names for home disinfectants, and its wipes are pretty great too. These can be used to clean surfaces and kill any bacteria and germs that are present. The company mentions that these wipes can kill 99.9% of bacteria that lay dormant on surfaces, thus giving you near-perfect protection from harmful bacteria.

Each wipe has three-layers which gives you additional protection and maximum cleaning on any surface. The company also recommends this for cleaning up coffee spills on your car, or practically any other area in your home that needs sanitizing. Smartphones and tablets too can be sanitized with these wipes although users have to be careful not to let moisture seep into the ports and openings on the device.

The manufacturer is offering two packs containing 75 wipes each in Crisp Lemon and Fresh Scent fragrances, which is a good deal. It must be noted that surface wipes are not meant to be reused, so it is recommended to dispose of them in the garbage after each use. The company specifies that these wipes do not contain any bleach which makes it safe to use on practically any surface including children’s toys.

Buy It Now: Amazon

4. 70% Isopropyl Alcohol Wipe

Also known as alcohol prep pads, these offer extensive protection against bacteria and viruses, especially when used on surfaces around you. The company, Medline, offers individual sterilized non-woven and highly absorbent pads, making it easy to clean small surfaces fairly quickly.

Unlike the wipes that we talked about above, these are not big enough to swipe entire tabletops or counters, but is highly recommended for surfaces like your smartphone display as well as its cover or the remotes at home, and so on.

The product is sold in a box that contains 200 individual swabs which should last a few weeks depending on how often you sanitize your home. Each wipe contains 70% Isopropyl Alcohol which is scientifically known to be the best way to kill bacteria in your surroundings. Just like the Clorox wipes, these are never to be reused. So make sure they are disposed of after you wipe the surface each time.

Buy It Now: Amazon

5. Keeping Your Hands Clean

This is one of the essential things to keep in mind at all times. Washing your hands frequently, and using hand sanitizers can also go a long way in keeping your hands safe from bacteria.

However, it is not recommended to use hand sanitizers on surfaces and use dedicated surface cleaners that we’ve talked about above. It is also not recommended to make your own alcohol-based hand sanitizers as the process can be quite tricky. To be safe, get one from your local pharmacy, or if you’ve run out, make sure you wash your hands frequently with soap.

Things you Shouldn’t Use to Disinfect Phone

Paper Towels: While this may seem like a great idea to clean your phone when dirty, one must remember that a paper towel can always leave some debris on your phone, especially in the corners and openings, so this is not particularly a good idea.

Rubbing alcohol: This is also a very bad idea to clean your phone as displays can slowly start to wear off with strong alcohol. While it’s safe to use alcohol-based wipes, we recommend users to stay away from alcohol wipes.

Kitchen Cleaners: Companies have long recommended not using harmful materials like kitchen cleaners or detergents to clean the surface of your smartphone. This is because most kitchen cleaners come with bleach, which can destroy the screen of your smartphone. So no matter what, stay away from kitchen cleaners for disinfecting your phone.

Makeup remover: This is a problem particularly for women when some of the makeup gets on the phone. While the instinct is to wipe the phone with the handy makeup remover, it is shown to carry some harmful chemicals that may damage your phone.

High-speed compressed air: While this may seem like a good solution to get rid of the dust on your phone, it’s not a good idea particularly with newer smartphones and tablets since they’re really slim and high-pressure air can damage some of the internal components.

Dish or handsoap: While soaps are excellent to remove bacteria on your hands, it’s not recommended for cleaning your smartphones or tablets. This is because the water, as well as the soap, may seep into your phone and cause unnecessary damage. It’s a much better idea to use a damp cloth to wipe your phone and a dry towel to wipe it, preferably a microfiber cloth like the one we mentioned above.

Vinegar: This has been used by some people in the past, although Vinegar is known to damage the screen’s coating. It’s probably better to use diluted vinegar along with a composition of distilled water to clean the sides of your phone, and not the display.

What if I have a waterproof phone?

Well, things are slightly different for waterproof phones, although it’s still not recommended to use kitchen cleaners or any household cleaners that come with abrasive compounds. While the onboard certification officially allows for submersion in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes, it helps to know that most phone manufacturers don’t cover water-related damages, which defeats the purpose.

Also if you’re using a tap to rinse or clean your phone with water, there’s a high chance of water seeping through the ports, which means you will have to wait for the water to dry out before charging it or inserting any hardware (cables, earbuds, and so on) onto the phone.

So the recommended practice to clean your water-resistant phones is to use wet towels to clean the surface and then pat using a dry cloth. Be sure to also pat into the ports and coverings of the phone to make sure all the surfaces are dry before using it again.

If you’re looking to remove sand and other tiny particles that may have gotten stuck between the grooves of a smartphone, we recommend using scotch tape which has been used by several people to successfully remove sand and lint from phones.