Let's face it: your cellphone is literally covered in germs.
You're on it all the time, and it goes basically everywhere with you (including the bathroom). It's disgusting. Studies have shown that most phones test positive for potential disease-causing microbes and fecal matter (so yeah, poop). And because you're constantly touching your phone, all that grossness can get transferred right back to your face.
TL;DR — your phone is a mobile germ carrier.
Think sanitizing is as simple as a quick rub-down with an antibacterial wipe and reading this post is a waste of time?
WRONG. Antibacterial wipes and disinfectants are actually super abrasive and can damage or scratch your phone.
So here's a safe way to disinfect your phone that's way less abrasive but still effective at killing all the germs.
Step 1: Fill a spray bottle halfway with distilled or bottled water.
Step 2: Fill the other half of the bottle with 70% isopropyl alcohol.
Step 3: Screw the cap back on and shake the bottle to mix the solution.
Step 3: *LIGHTLY* spray the solution on a microfiber or lint-free cloth.
Rub it all over your entire phone — especially those buttons!
Important: This is for once-a-week disinfecting, not everyday cleaning.
Overuse with this solution can result in some slight damage to the screen's coating, so you don't want to do it more than once a week. For daily cleaning, you can just use a dry lint-free cloth (which Apple recommends).
Does this method actually work? We swabbed a phone and grew bacterial cultures before and after cleaning to find out.
Here's what grew on the petri dishes after 5 days:
