Everywhere we look, we’re being told to wash our hands. Use hand sanitizer. Don’t touch your face with dirty hands. Practice social distancing. Clean your house. Wash your bedding. I’ve seen all of these tips this past week, but one is missing: our phones. They go in our pocket, against our face, and let’s face the icky truth, we take them into the bathroom with us. When is the last time you disinfected your phone? Or you’ve thought about it and remember hearing liquids and cell phones do not go together! Well, that’s true, in most cases. Here’s what you need to do to be smart about your smartphone. 

We have research that tells us that our phones likely have viruses and bacteria lurking on their surfaces. Did you know there’s poop on there too? Fecal matter can be found on 1 out of every 6 smartphones. Ew! 

Studies have shown bacteria and viruses on cell phones, including MRSA, Streptococcus, and even E. coli. Double ew! 

So now that you know how disgusting your phone is, what do you do? 

We wash our hands religiously. We sanitize everything these days. Time to include our phones! We should be cleaning our phone at least twice a week. The best way to handle that will be a Lysol or Clorox (or store equivalent; make sure it’s the same active ingredients) wipe. 

Since we aren’t too sure how long COVID-19 can live on hard surfaces, it’s best to disinfect high touch surfaces, according to the CDC. 

As a former technical support employee of a major cell service provider and manufacturer, I took quite a few calls regarding water damage when a customer would try to “wash” their phone. We’re going to avoid those pitfalls with my helpful tips: 

1. Power off your device and remove case, if applicable. 
2. You’ll need a microfiber cloth. (This is what I use; get whatever you want as long as it says microfiber cloth) 
3. Gently buff or polish your phone. Carefully go all around the exterior to wipe away fingerprints or in my case, makeup #girlproblems. During this process, some germs will be removed from the surface simply because it’s being wiped down. This does not kill germs.
4. Once you’re satisfied your phone is free of smudges, get your Lysol wipe. We wanna try Lysol first because it’s advertised as safe for topical use with smartphones and tablets. Avoid the charging port, aux port, etc. (Clorox wipes are fine in a pinch!) 
5. Your phone will need to air dry. 
6. Using a second, clean microfiber cloth, gently wipe away any residue left. 
7. Repeat steps on phone case, if applicable. If your phone case is a different material like leather, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
8. D-O-N-E! Yay! 

You can also purchase a UV light case to place your phone in and the UV light kills certain pathogens. A simple Google search will lead you to shopping options. 

Now, to avoid this gross factor in the future, I recommend: 

1. Leave your phone out of the bathroom. Keep a book to reach or a Sears catalog in there, but for the heavens, please quit texting me while you’re rocking #2 out.
2. If you are using public transportation, try to minimize using your phone. Public transit is covered in all the things the CDC loves, so by not playing on your phone, you’re way less likely to have bacteria crawling all over your phone screen. 
3. I love to Pinterest recipes! Cookbooks take up too much space and I’ve got thousands of recipes I can look at right now! How cool is technology? It’s cool until we’re cutting chicken or cracking a raw egg and we get salmonella on our Kate Space phone case. Use a cookbook darling. If Siri can read the recipe to you, that works too. 
4. Listening to music at the gym is a must! Some new leggings have a pocket for your phone like Fabletics, which is perfect if you’re using Bluetooth. You can also invest in an armband that your phone will comfortably fit in so it’s not coming into contact with Brad’s sweat because Brad is gross and never wipes his station down. Don’t be like Brad.
5. I try to minimize when my kid can play on my phone. To him, it’s a big treat to do it. (No shame in my mom game. I just spent a ridiculous amount on a new iPhone and I’m not letting Paw Patrol and peanut butter kill my vibe). So after my beautiful and sticky kid plays on my phone, you bet I’m cleaning it! 

Stay safe during this time. Wash your hands. Cover your cough. Basically? Do all the things, including iClean and iSanitize.