The advent of Coronavirus has put us all on “hygiene red alert”. Keeping hands and surfaces clean has been proven to slow the spread of Coronavirus but what can we do about our phones and tablets? What is the best way to keep these hygienically clean?
There are a number of practical measures you can take to keep you phone or tablet hygienically clean and stop the spread of germs.
The most important thing to do before cleaning your device is to make sure your hands are washed with soap and warm water on a regular basis. That way if you do pick something up on your hands, you have a better chance of not passing it on to your device. Hand sanitising gel has the same effect as washing with soap and water if you can find any available.
Top Tips
1 – Don’t share your device. It might sound obvious, but if you let anyone else use your phone or tablet you could be spreading germs. The simple rule is one device per person and no sharing around, no matter how much the kids ask.
2 – Keep it clean. Wiping your phone on the sleeve of your jumper might make it looks clean, but it could still be covered in germs. The best way to hygienically clean a mobile phone or tablet is with a sanitising wipe. These can come in numerous forms and because demand is high, some are proving hard to source – particularly those normally found in supermarkets.
One option is a standard antibacterial surface wipe. These are in high demand and could be hard to get. The other downside to these is they contain rather too much liquid and often leave screens smeary or even worse can damage the surface coating of the screen. You may need to dry your device off with a clean tissue once you’ve used one of these wipes but it is worth consulting the phone manufacturers website before using these wipes. Use these with extra care and as a last resort.
The best option is a camera lens wipe. Lens wipes are the preferred choice of professional photographers because they are tried and tested. Lens wipes contain isopropyl alcohol which is proven to kill germs including Coronavirus. Although fairly small in size, they are normally individually sealed and won’t leave a mobile phone too wet, nor will they damage the screen. However, we still recommend consulting with the manufacturers website before using these.
Things Not to do
1 – Don’t be tempted to use any sanitising gels on your devices. They could damage the surface of the screen or leak inside causing long term corrosion issues.
2 – Don’t put your phone in the freezer. Most germs can’t survive in temperatures below zero, but your phone won’t like these low temperatures either.
3 – Don’t be tempted to use even a small amount of soap and water on your phone. Many phones claim to be water resistant but it’s just not worth the risk.
