Apple: It’s now okay to use disinfect your iPhone with disinfecting wipes

Apple now says it’s okay to use Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and other disinfectants to clean your iPhone and other Apple devices, but you shouldn’t use aerosol sprays, bleaches, or abrasives, and you shouldn’t spray cleaners directly on the screen.

disinfect iPhone. Image: coronoavirusTodd Haselton for CNBC:

Apple has updated its website with instructions that say it’s OK to use disinfectant wipes to clean your iPhone and other Apple gadgets.

Previously, Apple’s site advised against using cleaning products because they can sometimes damage the special coating on screens that helps prevent fingerprints.

The change comes as more people look to keep their hands and phones free of germs, particularly as the coronavirus spreads around the world.

MacDailyNews Take: Disinfect those iPhones – and Macs, iPads, iPods, displays, and peripherals! Apple’s updated “How to clean your Apple products” document adds the Q&A: Is it OK to use a disinfectant on my Apple product? Using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, you may gently wipe the hard, nonporous surfaces of your Apple product, such as the display, keyboard, or other exterior surfaces. Don’t use bleach. Avoid getting moisture in any opening, and don’t submerge your Apple product in any cleaning agents. Don’t use on fabric or leather surfaces. Read more .

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]

14 Comments

    1. Minimum of 60% alcohol solution with surface fully saturated for one minute. Anything less is ineffective. Peroxides and bleaches may be more effective but are more caustic.

      Disinfectant soap is the mildest choice.

    2. Dilute Clorox to solution of 20 water to 1 Clorox, making an unbuffered form of Dakin’s Solution. Look it up.

      Dakin’s Solution

      It’s even safe to use orally. We use it in our dental office. That will kill any biological organism in two seconds and devolves to salt water in minutes. It’s essentially strong swimming pool water.

  1. Lysol spray is good. I can spray it on a cloth and wipe down my devices with the cloth. It doesn’t harm anything I’ve used it on and it supposed to kill 99.9% of all germs and viruses or so it says. I have been using it for years and it comes in various fragrances. I recently stocked up on Purell Gel hand sanitizer, but I only use that on my hands although it might be good for other things. None of those sanitizing products may be effective in stopping CoViD-19 but we might as well try something and feel somewhat reassured.

    This is the first time I’ve ever done anything about any virus or seasonal flu except occasionally get a flu shot. I suppose this is the only time I have ever paid attention to the talking-heads and their constant spreading of bad news. Anyway, no panic here for virus or stock declines. It’s just daily business as usual. I’m retired, so I don’t have to ride on the NYC subways or buses and I’m happy about that.

    1. What ever you do, do NOT SPRAY Lysol or any such cleaners on a computer keyboard. We had a janitor do that to our Apple keyboards in our office and 90% of them were killed. DOA the next morning. We had to replace everyone of them. They were not repairable.

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