Please raise your hand if you’ve ever dropped your phone on the ground.
You hold your breath as you reach down and pray that your screen hasn’t cracked. Flipping it over you find a perfectly smooth screen and you put it back in your pocket and continue with your day.
Well, a cracked screen is not all you should be worried about. Just how clean do you think your phone is? How about your tablet? Add up the amount of times you drop your phone on a daily basis, how often you leave your phone on the table with food, when you bring it to the bathroom or let a friend play the newest game. Our phones are much dirtier than we think and for many of us it never crosses our minds.
Keeping your smart device sanitary is not as big of a hassle as it may seem, and we will walk you through the best and safest ways to accomplish this. When we’re done, you’ll know exactly how to clean your device and maintain its cleanliness. Ready? Let’s get started.
Device Cleaning
Before you start diving into the cleaning you need to know what is safe to use on your device without damaging it. Just like you wouldn’t use bleach on your car, there are certain things that work better for your smart devices. Whenever cleaning your device, make sure it is turned of and unplugged.
Keep in mind that there are many kinds of smart devices but in general they have similar components.
Your screen is often covered in oily fingerprints, dead skin, makeup from your face and countless other things throughout your day. This means your screen needs a proper cleaning since it goes through the must abuse.
A microfiber cloth is the best method for cleaning your screen without leaving scratches. Try to avoid using paper towels because they are rough and potentially leave scratches and nicks. Dirt and debris will wipe away mostly with just the cloth. For any stubborn marks and smudges you can use distilled water to break up the debris.
The back and sides of your devices can be cleaned in a similar manner but are frequently more sanitary since they are protected by your cases for the most part.
The last step to cleaning the device is to make sure the ports and edges are clean. Whether its your charging port or the headphone jack, dust and debris and sneak inside and remain there unnoticed. The easiest way to go about cleaning these areas is to used canned air and gently blow out the areas getting the larger debris out.
See, nothing fancy going on here. By keeping your device clean you have one less thing to worry about carrying germs and bacteria.
Case Cleaning
After you’ve cleaned your device, it is now time to move onto the case which can be just as dirty. Think of this step like you did when cleaning the device— you’re going to clean all areas so that you won’t leave any dust, germs and allergens behind.
You can use your same microfiber cloth to clean the majority of the case. Gently wiping 
down all areas will remove most major debris in a safe way. For the hard to reach nooks and crannies of the case, you can use a cotton swab to and the air can again is required.
Last, but certainly not least, we want to disinfect the device and case before putting them back together. Using disinfectant wipes is the quickest and easier way to accomplish this. Now we will be sure there are no germs or allergens left on the device. While you should give your device and case a thorough cleaning often, you can prolong an in-depth cleaning by frequently using disinfectant wipes throughout your week.
Then, you’re ready to put your case back on your phone and start your day. Now that you know the basic steps to cleaning your device, next time it wont feel quite as daunting.