While checking messages, shopping, playing games, or doing any of the other numerous things we do online, we spend a lot of time touching our phones. While receiving calls, our phones also spend considerable amounts of time touching our faces.

This increases the possibility of contacting disease-causing germs including the fast-spreading coronavirus. If the phone is being used when someone sneezes or spreads germs in some way, there is the possibility that part of it will land on your phone screen as well.

This means that while we wash our hands and regularly sanitize surfaces, we also need to pay good attention to cleaning phones and ridding them of harmful organisms.

However, water and liquids generally are not exactly best friends with phones. The best practices to keep your phones clean are shared below.

#1 Use alcohol-based disinfectants

Disinfectants have been declared good for phones, but not every kind is effective. Samsung recommends using an alcohol-based solution (containing more than 70% ethanol or isopropyl alcohol). Sanitizers or disinfectants with this percentage of alcohol will do just fine.

The disinfectant should be carefully applied to a microfiber cloth, and the cloth should be used to wipe down the phone surfaces.

According to Samsung, this should be done only for parts of the phone that are made of glass, ceramics and metal surfaces.

Before the phone is wiped, it should be disconnected from the power source and accessories should be removed.

To eliminate organisms like the COVID-19, wiping with a disinfectant using a microfiber cloth is recommended.

#2 Use Distilled water

However, for regular cleaning of phones, distilled water can be carefully sprayed on the microfiber cloth and used to wipe the phone. If you are using distilled water, you have to apply a number of cautions.

First, the water shouldn’t be too much on the cloth or paper towel, and you should avoid the exposed ports of the phone such as the audio port and charging port.

Second, if you are using distilled water it has to be distilled water which is the gaseous steam of boiling water. When this steam reverts back to liquid form, it is distilled water. It is one of the purest forms of water.

You can make distilled water at home if there are no other sources available to you. Here is how.

Microfiber cloths are more effective than using a regular washcloth or tissue paper because of the fiber on the surface. This fibre has a large surface area for trapping dirt and can absorb grease. The friction between the microfiber cloth and the phone surface will remove germs from the phone surface to the cloth.

#3 Use disinfectant wipes

Disinfectant wipes can be used as well, after cleaning gently with a microfiber cloth. This is applicable if one does not want to use an alcohol-based disinfectant. Wipes like Clorox and lysol wipes are already treated and will do the job of cleaning and disinfecting your phone.

When using disinfectant wipes, it is important to get the dwell time right. Disinfectants do not kill germs, specifically the coronavirus, immediately. The time it takes can vary from 4 minutes to 10 minutes before the job is done. this is the dwell time.

However, in the case where you cannot get disinfectant wipes, you can make your own disinfectant for hard surfaces like that of a phone, and apply it to a microfiber cloth or paper towel.

Making your own disinfectants is not the best approach but in the case that stores have run out of disinfectant or disinfectant wipes, then you can proceed with extreme caution.

While it has not been confirmed yet how long the COVID-19 can survive on phone surfaces, it has been recommended by the WHO that high touch surfaces should be disinfected regularly. Following the tips above can help keep your safe constantly harm-free to you.