

"Also, avoid any cleaners that advertise 'scrubbing power' or anything similarly abrasive."Īpple warns its customers that heavy-duty commercial cleaning supplies can damage the fingerprint-resistant coatings on its screens and possibly scratch the glass fronts, while Samsung has published the same warning for its popular Galaxy models.īelow, Forte shares step-by-step instructions for how to safely clean your phone without damaging it or impacting its resale value. "Never spray anything directly onto the phone, and avoid over-saturating, as you don't want your phone to become wet," she advises. Forte says that includes things like pure bleach, metal cleaners or bathroom-specific cleansers aimed at tile or grout. That said, Carolyn Forte, the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Home Appliances & Cleaning Products Lab, says that cleaning your phone shouldn't be something that you lose sleep over - but a regular sanitizing routine could reduce your risk of coming into contact with germs, especially during flu season.Ĭleaning your phone won't require the same astringent chemicals that you use to wipe down hard plastic and glass in your home. " norovirus can survive on surfaces for up to four weeks." "Most cold and flu viruses survive from a few hours to up to 9 days, depending on the temperature and relative humidity," says Dr. Indeed, phones aren't considered a culprit when it comes to spreading disease, but viruses can stick around for longer than you'd think.Ĭharles Gerba, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona, tells Good Housekeeping that viruses can linger on hard surfaces anywhere from a few hours to a couple of weeks.

coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus, among other icky germs. How dirty is the average mobile device, you may ask? A 2017 study published in the journal Germs looked at 27 phones owned by teenagers and found that screens were playing host to viruses and bacteria including E. Even though there isn't a way to guarantee that public surfaces are regularly cleaned, there is something that you touch every day that you do have control over - your cell phone.


