How to Clean Your Phone Safely

A smear lands on your screen, and the nearest fix is a shirt hem, a paper towel or the glass spray under the sink. Here is what Apple and Samsung actually say you can use on a phone and its case, and what stays away from it.

My repair counter runs on eight rules. Every one has a cracked or smeared phone behind it.

Eight rules for the phone

Rule 1: Unplug it, turn it off, take the case off. Apple and Samsung both start their cleaning steps here.

Rule 2: Use a soft, lint-free cloth. Microfiber or a lens cloth. Apple puts towels and paper towels on its avoid list, next to abrasives.

Rule 3: Disinfect with 70% alcohol, on the cloth. Apple allows a 70% isopropyl or 75% ethyl alcohol wipe on the outside of an iPhone. Samsung says 70% or stronger isopropyl or ethyl alcohol, applied to a cloth and never straight onto the phone.

Rule 4: Never bleach, never hydrogen peroxide. Apple rules out both.

Samsung keeps it shorter: never use bleach.

Rule 5: No glass cleaner, kitchen spray or aerosol. Apple lists window cleaners, household cleaners, aerosol sprays, solvents, ammonia and abrasives. Your screen has an oil-repellent coating, and Apple says cleaning products and abrasive materials wear it down.

Rule 6: Keep liquid and tools out of the holes. Both makers say no moisture in openings and no soaking, distilled water included. Water resistance is not a rinse cycle.

Rule 7: No compressed air. Apple and Samsung both say skip it. Samsung warns it may damage the surface.

Rule 8: Clean the case on its own, phone out. These are Apple's steps for its own cases. Other brands print their own care notes.

Hidden tips

• Finish with plain water. After the alcohol wipe, Apple's steps end with one more pass using a cloth slightly damp with water.
• Go easy on the alcohol. Samsung warns that exposure to alcohol too often, over a long time, may affect water resistance. For everyday smudges, a dry microfiber pass is enough.

The one I bend

Confession: Rule 6 gets broken at my bench daily. Pocket lint packs into charging ports, and I pick it out with a wooden toothpick from a tin under the magnifying lamp. Phone off, dry, gentle, nothing metal. Cable still loose after that? The port is worth fixing.

Your copy

Keep just one, and keep Rule 5. Kitchen spray does slow damage you won't see until fingerprints stop wiping off.

Follow the rest loosely, break them knowingly, and your phone will be fine.

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