How To Clean Your Apple Phone
Cleaning Your iPhone? Do This First
When your iPhone goes everywhere with you, it’s likely to pick up some dirt along the way. There’s only so much wiping the screen with your sleeve will achieve. Your phone is potentially a health hazard and needs cleaning.
However, you need to take care when cleaning your iPhone. You can’t just use anything you find in the cupboard, else you risk damaging it. Let’s walk through the steps of how to clean your dirty iPhone.
Follow the steps below to clean your iPhone.
1. Clean Your iPhone Case
You can clean the case separately since it’s far more resistant to damage than your iPhone is. It’s also relatively cheap to replace the case if something happens to it.
With the case removed, clean per the manufacturer’s cleaning instructions, if there are any. If not, use warm soapy water to dislodge dirt and grime from the case. Pay attention to the various openings including charging ports, mute toggle, volume rockers, and camera lens opening.
Put your iPhone case to one side to dry. Then turn your attention to the phone itself.
2. Clean the iPhone Screen
Take extra care with the screen, which is the most delicate part of your device. Apple applies an oleophobic coating to your iPhone screen, which helps repel finger grease and oil. This also applies to the back of devices from the iPhone 8 series onwards.
In order to preserve the oleophobic coating, you should only use water to clean your iPhone screen.
Do not use abrasive cleaners, glass cleaner, surface sprays, rubbing alcohol, or anything that promises to cut through grease. These substances will damage the coating on your screen.
Instead grab a soft, lint-free cloth and moisten it with tap water. You should have a lint-free cloth already, but if not, you can buy them for a low price online. They’re the same ones you use to clean glasses, camera lenses, and other coated scratch-prone surfaces.
3. How to Clean the iPhone Charging Port
If your iPhone isn’t charging as well as it was, the charging port might be to blame. Pocket-lint, fluff, bits of paper, and other debris can prevent the pins inside from connecting with your charger.
Apple advises against using compressed air for cleaning any part of your iPhone, and the charging port is no exception. One of the first parts of your device an Apple Genius will check is the charging port, so take the time to clean it.
4. Clean the Lightning Cable Contacts
Another reason your iPhone might not charge properly is the state of your Lightning cable. In particular, the contacts can press against the gunk that makes its way into the charging port. This results in grime build-up on the cable contacts that can prevent proper charging.
Unplug your Lightning cable at both ends before attempting to clean it. Wipe the contacts clean with a damp cloth until you can see them gleaming they should be gold. Be sure to let the connector dry before using it again.
5. How to Clean the iPhone Speaker and Microphone Holes
The speaker and microphone are at the bottom of your iPhone, on either side of the charging port. This is one of the most difficult areas to clean, and the most likely area to become filled with dirt.
Do not use compressed air, since the pressure could damage your iPhone or compromise the water resistance. Instead, take a fine, super-soft toothbrush and lightly scrub the area to loosen stuck-on dirt. Take care not to apply too much force.
6. Clean the Mute Toggle Switch
Every iPhone has a mute toggle switch along the left edge of your device. Certain cases can really worsen the build-up of gunk, making the switch hard to clean. Eventually, it can become hard to toggle the switch.
And if you never touch this switch (if your iPhone is always on vibrate mode, for instance), it’s likely full of dirt.
Take a fine toothpick and scrape the grime out. Flip the switch a few times so you can clean both sides.
7. Clean the Home Button
If you have an older iPhone, another important area to keep clean is the Home button. In fact, it’s so important to keep this clean that you might consider carrying a soft, lint-free cloth with you.
You should clean the button often, perhaps weekly. Since the button handles Touch ID with its built-in fingerprint reader, clean it as regularly as you would your screen. Even a thin layer of grease can prevent your fingerprint from registering.
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