Find out the best ways to clean your dirty smartphone.
We use our smartphones all day and night, so naturally, it’s is going to get dirty. Lifehacker’s here to help with a list of the seven most common ways your smartphone gets dirty–and the safest and most effective ways to clean it.
- Debris in the charging port. Lifehacker recommends using a toothpick (preferably plastic, since that’s less likely to splinter) or a SIM eject tool, and gently cleaning out the charging area by “making soft scooping motions alongside the outer edges of the port.”
- Dust obstructing the speaker grill. First, try using compressed air to clean out the blockage. If that doesn’t work use the gentle cleaning method from the charging port example.
- Leftover food on the screen. If you’re out in public, gently wipe off food with a napkin. When at home, do further cleaning: “Place a tiny bit of dish soap onto a clean towel or cloth napkin and then rub it together under the faucet to create some suds. Don’t get it soaking.”
- Stickiness. Try rubbing your thumb on the spot. If that doesn’t work, do the soap-and-water trick above–and, if that still doesn’t do the trick, carefully use the hard edge of something like a credit card to scrape at the stickiness.
- Makeup on the screen. Try wiping off Koala spray, which doesn’t have ammonia or alcohol in it, with a soft cloth. Cleaning wipes made for your device also help.
- A super-dirty phone case. Lifehacker recommends soaking the case in warm water and dish soap and then doing a deeper clean with a toothbrush. Method all-purpose cleaner also works
- A dirty charging cable. The warm, soapy water on a clean towel trick is best here.
