How to properly clean your dirty cell phone

We don’t realize it, but the smartphone It is surely the object that you touch the most during the day. When you wake up, most likely the first thing you do is turn off the alarm and check for any notifications you have pending. After you’ve showered and cooked your breakfast, you sit down to check memes, emails, or read the news. And unlocking and scrolling doesn’t stop until the day is over.

According to a shared study Verizon —a major US telecommunications operator—the average person touches their phone about 2,617 times a day, and that number rises to 5,427 for heavy users. And you don’t just touch it with your fingers: the mobile phone also passes through your ears, cheeks, face and different surfaces, such as tables, pockets or countertops, spaces where they can carry dirt and germs.

Nail 2015 survey from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Barcelona revealed that pocket phones can contain up to 600 bacteria, 30 times more than the 20 present in a toilet bowl. “It’s because we handle many objects at the same time,” the authors commented, because “we don’t sanitize our hands properly.”

Although it is not visible to the naked eye, it is necessary to keep our devices clean, both to improve their performance and to take care of our own health. Especially everything if you handle it several hours a day. However, it’s not like arriving and cleaning like a cup of coffee: the delicate components of mobile phones require the use of certain tools and precautions before doing so.

Pedro Segura, site editor specializing in technology paperweight.net , explains that he would separate the elements necessary for the disinfection of the phones in two. “The first thing would be the liquid to clean and the other a microfiber cloth in good condition, to be able to apply the first product correctly”, he specifies.

“The most important thing in this case is to use isopropyl alcohol without water,” suggests David Besnier, technology expert and founder of expertech.cl . He also recommends using cotton swabs for hard-to-reach corners.

The two specialists are frank with the following advice: under no circumstances should alcohol be poured directly onto the screen. “If you do, it’s possible it’ll go through the screen and be permanently smudged,” says Besnier. He even mentions that “there are times when people apply this liquid to the hydrogel sheets that protect the screens, which can peel off or come off.”

Before applying isopropyl alcohol, wipe the phone with a dry cloth to remove dust and other surface particles. This is the first step in cleaning to remove the first layer of dirt. The best material for doing this is microfiber, which is very soft and won’t scratch the screen.

Once the surface dust or dirt has been removed, it’s time to apply isopropyl alcohol. But as we said before, you should never throw it directly into the device. “You have to pour it into the microfiber cloth,” Segura explains. The idea is that you fold the microfiber cloth into four parts. “You pour a little alcohol into one of those four parts and run it over the phone. Then you turn the cloth over and run it through the dry part again,” he says.

“You should wipe it off like you wipe an apple with a rag,” suggests Besnier. I mean everywhere.

“If we talk a lot on the phone, it is likely that the earwax that comes out of our ears will be transferred to the cell phone receiver, which is not always noticeable to the naked eye,” explains the founder of expertech.cl . But if we don’t clean them up, those little holes start to clog up, which can wreak havoc on calls. “When you’re listening to people from afar, it’s often because there’s dirt built up in the earpiece,” he says.

The same thing can happen to the microphone, located in the lower part, which is covered with food debris, saliva, dust, hair and other dirt of life.

It is not recommended to clean the phone on a very hard surface, such as stone or cement, because there is a risk of scratching the phone. “You have to do this in a flat and padded space”, advises Segura, for example on a towel or a large clean cloth. This way it will also have a padded support, so it will be safer to press the smartphone without hurting it.

Believe it or not, it will depend on how often you need to clean your cell phone. “If you are surrounded by a lot of pollution – for example, if you work in construction or in very polluted spaces – you should clean it every fortnight. If you occupy it a lot but in rather clean spaces, then every two months is recommended. Everything will depend on how and where you use it, in addition to your habits,” says Besnier.

For example, people who work in the fields may have a phone full of dirt. Dentists, for their part, can contaminate the phone with this white powder that comes out of the teeth or dental parts they polish. Bakers, on the other hand, can fill those delicate holes such as the headphones or the loading sector with flour. While those who work in the kitchen should be especially careful with fried foods, because when they are in the rooms, the smart phones they absorb fat, which can kill it slowly.

This is how David Besnier describes the frequency of professional intervention. “You brush your teeth every day, but when you have to do a deep cleaning, you have to go to the dentist,” he says. The same would happen with your phone. “When we see that the mobile requires a more detailed and exhaustive intervention, it must be entrusted to a professional technical service”, he specifies.

“What we are doing here in expertech.cl it’s cleaning with a microscope, and with our various tools we get all the dirt out of it,” he says. Often the same people are amazed by the things they find in these small spaces. “Phones get a lot dirtier than you think. They accompany us all day, they are already an extension of our body,” he says.

At the start of the pandemic, many people used the hydroalcoholic gel that they applied to their hands to also clean screens. Others have used surface disinfectant wipes to disinfect their cellphones.

“I have seen several of them use in their smart phones a concoction with chlorine, dishwasher, alcohol and water, known as the best anticovid on social networks,” explains Besnier. In his premises, he had to receive many telephones and notebook with the yellow grids and clogged with this liquid.

If it is suspected that your mobile phone has been in close contact with a covid-19 positive person, it is recommended to do what we have said before: clean with isopropyl alcohol and do not lend the phone to others. ‘other people.

The two professionals insisted on this last suggestion, because several people think that if the phone has this resistance, it means that it can be washed. It is completely false. “Being waterproof actually means they can withstand a quick spill or submersion, like when you drop into a pool or your phone slips into a toilet or container of water,” says Besnier. But from there to soaking it with detergents and then rinsing it is another matter. You don’t.

*Prices for products in this item are current as of July 22, 2022. Values ​​and availability subject to change.