While flu season may almost be over, you can still benefit from keeping your iPhone or other device clean. A study conducted for The Wall Street Journal found among the phones tested, there were between 2,700 and 4,200 units of coliform bacteria present on the devices. (Drinking water is limited to than 1 unit per 100 ml of water.)
But, how can you keep your device clean from germs and bacteria without being all germaphobic-like and wiping it down every 20 seconds with a cloth and Lysol? (Which, by the way is probably bad for your device, so don’t so that!)
Wash Your Damn Hands!
It’s just common sense to keep your hands clean. Simply washing your hands after a restroom break, or a few time during the day, such as before meals should keep the bacteria down. If you’re a hand cougher, you might want to wash them a little more often, or use an antibacterial gel. Dispensers of that stuff seem to be hanging on the wall in offices and such anyway, so make use of them. Watch not to use them so much that your hands dry out or have a reaction to them. Remember, common sense.
Don’t Use Your Device While in the Restroom
Yeah, I know, not much chance of this. I’m guilty of this too. Just sitting there doing nothing seems like wasted time, and that Word Chums game isn’t gonna finish itself, is it?
So, we can probably rule this out as a preventative measure. So, let’s look at something you can do following a restroom trip…
Use Antibacterial Device Wipes
Yup! They make these. Amazon.com has an entire section full of antibacterial wipes made especially for use with electronic devices. I’m a big fan of the Wireless Wipes Rosemary Peppermint scented wipes myself, but there are wipes available there for every preference and pocketbook. These run from 5 bucks and up. Be careful when you’re working your way through the list, you don’t want to buy Preparation H wipes by mistake.
Be careful when deciding what to use to clean your devices. Common household cleaners can actually be harmful to the finish of your device. Apple explicitly forbids the use of “window cleaners, household cleaners, aerosol sprays, solvents, alcohol, ammonia or abrasives,” to clean iOS devices.
Use an Ultraviolet Sanitizing Light
We recently reviewed the PhoneSoap charger/sanitizer. it looks just like a tiny tanning bed, and you just plug your device into the handy built-in charging cable, lay your device inside, and close the lid. A few minutes later, your device is sanitized.
If you have doubts about how well something like the PhoneSoap works, the Discovery Channel Canada took the device to a lab with measuring equipment, and the results may surprise you! See the video at Discovery Channel Canada. (Sorry, no embedding code available that I could find.)
In Conclusion
Using common sense by keeping your iPhone and your hands clean will go a long way towards keeping bacteria and germs from growing on your device. Using cleaning wipes, or UV cleaning units such as the PhoneSoap may be overkill for some, while being just one more step in keeping a clean device for others. Decide what’s right for you and your device.
