Your smartwatch could be 30 times dirtier than a toilet seat. Yes, really. Here's how to clean it.
When it comes to germs, our gadgets are like filthy little bacteria-carrying bullet trains.
You’ve probably heard by now that cellphones are 10 times germier than a toilet seat. But that’s nothing compared to the average smartwatch. No matter how often you wash your hands, if you’re not wiping down your wearables too, you might as well just lick a public bathroom floor.
Recent research crowns wrist-worn wearables the "worst of the worst" of our go-to gadgets for carting about 30 times more bacteria than the common commode. Ew.
The rest of your gadgets are like a petri dish of nastiness too, including earbuds, gaming consoles and keyboards.
Here’s how to clean those germy gadgets that you touch all the time.
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Can you clean a smartwatch with alcohol?
You wear it when you exercise, eat and go to the bathroom. It sits on your skin all day long and sometimes all night. It’s right there, just inches away from that snot you wiped off your baby’s nose or wisp of bangs you pushed out of your eyes.
Boy, does your smartwatch need a deep clean!
The best way to disinfect your wearable is to turn it off, remove the band, then gently swab surfaces with a slightly damp microfiber cloth or moistened wipe.
Apple’s support community pages recommend using a “70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe, 75 percent ethyl alcohol wipe, or Clorox Disinfecting Wipe.” You can also make a diluted mixture at home and lightly mist a microfiber cloth for similar results.
No matter what, don’t drench your watch or Fitbit, especially any speaker, mic holes or any other ports, warns all the big gadget makers on their product FAQ pages. They also say not to stick anything sharp, like a paper clip, into any ports, and they caution not to clean gadgets while they’re charging.
How do I remove gunk from my watch?
For deep-down gunk, like I just found around the wrist-side sensor of my Apple Watch and where the band connects to the watch body, you can use a lightly moistened soft bristle toothbrush. The key word is "soft," as in tickle versus scrub.
I also have the $10 iFixit Precision Tool cleaning kit, which has the just-right-size spudgers (don’t worry, I had to look that word up, too), teeny-tiny brushes and a variety of swabs. Honestly, though, I already have similar tools in my makeup bag, and a disposable eyelash brush or lash serum applicator works just as well.
I rotate among three different Apple nylon weave sports bands and find that just tossing them into the washing machine once a week keeps them all spick-and-span. Apple doesn’t recommend doing this, but I’ve done it since these bands first hit store shelves, and I’ve never had any problems.
Device makers recommend using a use mild, hypoallergenic soap and handwashing for bands. Leather and metal bands might take a more specific cleaner made just for that kind of material, so check with the manufacturer.
I’ve also gotten great results getting stains off silicon and rubber watch bands using a tiny dab of toothpaste, a smidge of baking soda and vinegar, or even a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge.
PRO TIP: Don’t forget to turn your watch off before you start to clean it. With SOS enabled, holding the side button calls 911.
What do I use to clean my cellphone?
As with smartwatches, the safest way to clean smartphones is to use disinfectant wipes that contain 70% isopropyl alcohol and gently wipe them down at least once a day.
You can also make a DIY version yourself in a little spray bottle, mist it onto one of those microfiber cloths that come with most of your gadgets, and use that to give it a good once-over.
That should remove the germs – even makeup and sweat – and leave your coveted handset all shiny and clean.
Most gadget makers warn to power the device down and unplug it so no extra moisture gets into the guts of the handset. Obviously, don’t spray anything directly into any openings, and don’t use bleach, paper towels or anything abrasive.
If you’ve been to the beach lately, rolling around in the grass or grooming your shedding dog, Scotch tape is a great way to remove sand, pollen and pet hair. Stick a strip along the creases and speaker, then gently peel it off. It should grab most of those little nasties. You can even roll some tape up and use it to swap out the ports for any lint or grit tucked down in there.
You can use Q-tips or other soft-tipped swabs for the little nooks and crannies too, but I’ve noticed that sometimes a little of the cotton gets left behind, which defeats the purpose.
How to clean your cellphone screen
When in doubt, check the manufacturer’s instructions: The list of what not to do seems to be growing by the day.
Things not to clean your phone with include makeup remover, window cleaner, compressed air, dish soap and vinegar.
How to clean earbuds
Use that same combo of disinfectant wipe or homemade spray on a gentle lint-free cloth to wipe down your earbuds and charger.
In the past, I’ve used a toothpick to work out any gunk in the cracks, but this year I picked up an $8 multi-function cleaning pen on Amazon that’s built specifically for deep-cleaning earbuds, and it’s pretty perfect for this job.
Make sure everything is completely dry before you put your earbuds back into their charging case.
Apple says you can use a clean, dry, soft-bristled brush – I often use a baby toothbrush – to remove any debris from the Lighting connector. Again, don’t stick anything in the charging ports that you wouldn’t stick in your own ear, or you might damage the metal contacts.
How to clean your AirPods Pro
You can pull off the tips of each AirPod Pro and run those under water to rinse them off, but Apple says not to use any soap or other household cleaners. Be sure to tap each top on a soft, dry, lint-free cloth before reattaching them. Don’t use them again until you’re sure they’re completely dry, and no, do not use a hair dryer to dry them.
My favorite speaker-cleaning trick is to use that adhesive putty you can use to put posters on your wall to grab all kinds of grodiness. Make a little ball out of the putty and gently press it into your earbud speakers. If there’s any leftover grime, you should see it when you pull away the putty.
How do I keep my keyboard and screen clean?
Keyboards are another hotbed of bacteria and bugs. For quick daily pickups of all those sandwich crumbs between the keys and whatever else might have been on your fingers before you started tapping away, it’s hard to beat the Mistic-Cool slime-like cleaning gel that you can order on Amazon for about $8.
While magical for grabbing gunk, it doesn’t disinfect, so for that, go back to your routine of gentle disinfectant wipes. In fact, that’s pretty much the Holy Grail of your gadget cleaning routine, so be sure to keep those 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes, 75% ethyl alcohol wipes, your home DIY concoction or your Clorox Disinfecting Wipes handy.
These are all fine for hard, nonporous surfaces, such as the display, keyboard and other exterior surfaces. Just be sure not to use anything with bleach or hydrogen peroxide, and don’t get any of the openings wet.
Compressed air works well, too, but be careful not to blast your keys off. (Yes, I've done that.)
How much bacteria is on a remote control?
Don’t forget the remote controls! Everyone touches them, even your youngest, who swears they’re not picking their nose and wiping it on the couch. These little lifelines to the best of all binge-watching could be 20 times dirtier than your toilet and harbor more germs and bacteria than your garbage can or shoe rack. Um, ew. Again.
Give it a good once-over with antibacterial wipes at least once a day. For a deeper clean, remove the batteries, then turn your remote upside down and gently tap it against your palm to get rid of all those little nasties hiding in the cracks here too. Use that Blu-Tack or Scotch tape trick, or even give it a little blast of compressed air.
I’m starting to feel like a broken record, but don’t spray anything directly onto – or into – the actual device. When you're done cleaning the remote, make sure it gets 100% dry before you put the batteries back in.
The same tricks that work for wiping down your gadgets are great for joysticks, controllers, and all those other hard surfaces on gaming devices. If you need some extra help, tech repair site Asurion walks you through spring cleaning your gaming consoles step-by-step here as well.
Now go wash your hands.
Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech columnist. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Paste BN.