Chinenye Anuforo [email protected]

Your hands touch everything, from shopping carts to public door handles, which could be harboring viruses and bacteria. And without thinking, you touch your phone’s screen right after. Not to mention, your fingers leave an oily residue on your phone, causing the screen to get smudgy. 

The World Health Organization has plenty of details on how you should properly wash your hands to protect yourself against infection and to prevent the spread of flu and coronavirus. But, if we wash our hands and then suddenly switch back to our phone, we’re exposing ourselves to germs all over again.

Several studies, including one published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine in 2017, have suggested phones can contain lots of germs. So if you’re washing your hands, you should probably also keep your phone clean.

Here’s what you should do.

Turn off your phone before you start to clean it.

Apple recommends using a lens cloth, the sort you might use to clean your glasses. If you have an iPhone 7 or higher, which are more water resistant, you can also use a cloth with a small amount of warm soapy water, as long as you avoid getting that water into openings on the phone. Other phone makers don’t specifically say that this works, though you should generally be safe with most modern phones released in the past several years that have some sort of water resistance.

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Apple and Samsung advise against using cleaning products, since they can damage the fingerprint-resistant coatings on the screens. .

If you are worried about damaging the screen, consider buying a cheap screen protector and just using Clorox or Lysol wipes to clean it. You can always replace the screen protector with a new one. Gently wipe down the back and sides of the phone, too.

On older phones, you should just use a soft, lint-free cloth, since those phones aren’t resistant to liquid.

In general, you should probably just wash your hands before using your phone, and then use a hand sanitizer like Purell after you use it and before you touch your face.

If you’re speaking on the phone a lot, consider using headphones to avoid bringing your phone up to your face as frequently. While headphones like AirPods aren’t germ-free either, you can clean the outside with isopropyl alcohol, making sure not to get any inside the AirPods. It’s important not to use household cleaners.

However, it is best to stop a mess before it even happens. That’s where Zagg’s Glass Elite VisionGuard+ comes in. Not only is it scratch resistant, but this glass screen protector is infused with antimicrobial properties that kill 99.99% of bacteria on contact. This is powered by Kastus Intelligent Surface Technology, which disrupts the cell walls of bacteria after they come into contact with the surface. The process is fueled by ambient air moisture and light.

If that wasn’t enough, it also features Zagg’s ClearPrint technology, which resists the buildup of fingerprints by dispersing oils from your fingers evenly over its surface. Yet another bonus is the Eyesafe Layer that blocks high-energy visible blue light, which can contribute to digital eye strain.