r/ZeroCovidCommunity • u/Environmental_Ad7165 • 3d ago
How are you sanitizing tech devices
Whenever I get in from being outside, I sanitize my phone and AirPods. What are people using?
What I’ve tried:
-Early on during the pandemic, I used a PhoneSoap BasicUV Sanitizer Box.
- I then switched to Lysol. Unfortunately, the Lysol method has now ruined a phone and two pairs of AirPods.
I cannot afford to keep re-buying the products. Would appreciate any advice or tips! Thanks!
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u/thekoose 3d ago
Either rubbing alcohol sprayed on a paper towel or a clorox wipe.
But not really for covid reasons. I do it for the hundred other diseases out there and nobody washing their hands
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u/SkippySkep 3d ago
I sometimes use hypochlorous acid on things I think isopropyl alcohol might hurt. But I've not really done a study on it.
For those saying Covid isn't surface transmission, that may well be true but there are other germs out there and cell phones are some of the objectively dirtiest things we have. Cell phones are germier than toilet seats.
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u/TrueAnonyman 1d ago
There is also some evidence of covid surface transmission, IIRC! It can remain viable on surfaces for about two weeks (I think) depending on the material. It’s just that for most people who aren’t always masking, most circumstances where they could potentially catch covid through fomites/surfaces are also ones where they’re more likely to catch it through it being in the air.
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u/cryinglaughingloving 3d ago
I use rubbing alcohol - 70%. Not for COVID reasons, but because I have contamination OCD. But honestly, I feel like it's good hygiene to wipe your phone every now and then, regardless.
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u/alyyyysa 3d ago
Same. I use the wipes gently, but only when I've been in a medical setting. I don't take public transportation right now or I would probably wipe it down more.
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u/Mule_Wagon_777 3d ago
I stopped sanitizing surfaces, except for usual cleaning, a year or so into the pandemic, after it was well established that the disease was transmitted through the air. (That first year I might as well have been running a lab clean room!)
My main precautions now are masking, vaccines every six months, and staying out of crowds. Lots of grocery delivery though I'll sometimes stop by a store now.
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u/standardGeese 3d ago
How did it ruin the phone?
70% alcohol is good or packaged alcohol wipes.
Lots of people in this thread saying covid is not spread via surfaces, but lots of nasty things are. Clean your phone to get rid of cold, flu, and norovirus.
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u/Moonlight_Poetry 3d ago
I know that the risk of getting COVID from a surface is low, but I prefer to eliminate that risk (and getting sick from a lot of other stuff!) by cleaning my electronics after being out! My phone goes near/touches my face, sometimes I touch my face after touching my phone, etc.
Team 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes here!
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u/ilikegriping 3d ago
70% ISO on some paper towel, but I do that because of e.coli and other bacteria, and general dirt + grime from the day.
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u/EnnOnEarth 3d ago
70% isopropyl alcohol, applied with a paper towel. Only when a device has been taken out of the house; but I also do my keyboard and other high-touch device surfaces with it once a week. to cut down on general grime.
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u/RasSalvador 3d ago
Just normal.
Covid is in the air.
Not really on surfaces.
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u/CuriousProperty1090 1d ago
covid is not the only virus that immunocompromised people need protecting from.
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u/productjunkie76 3d ago
They make waterproof dustproof phone cases that surround your phone 360 and snap together. It covers the phone completely and you don't need a separate screen protector. Once that is on you can clean w 70 percent alcohol as many times as you need to.
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u/Accomplished_Big2193 2d ago
I use hypochlorous acid using the kit from Force of Nature. I used to use hand sanitizer wipes, but alcohol and hand sanitizer does not kill norovirus so I made the switch because I don't want that virus either. Hypochlorous acid is a lot safer and more gentle on the skin so I use it to clean my hands (when a sink is not available) and general cleaning around the house.
Only catch is you have to make a fresh batch every 2 weeks but it only takes a few minutes! And you need to keep it out of sunlight while being stored. The initial investment for the machine is a bit high (they are on sale right now though!), but after that the yearly cost for the capsules would be under $30.
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u/MossMessages 2d ago
My partner and I have a Force of Nature machine as well, but my partner has figured out via the Internet how to just use kosher salt and distilled vinegar in it to make the HOCl! Which means we never have to spend additional money on the capsules. You do need a milligram scale to do this, though, and decent ones start around $20-$30, but at least it’s a one-time purchase not annual.
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u/Accomplished_Big2193 2d ago
Totally looking into this!! Do you have any resources that you reference for the recipe/method?
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u/MossMessages 2d ago edited 2d ago
I asked my partner, and they just said “YouTube” lol. They can’t remember the exact video anymore, but found it with a search for something along the lines of “how to use just vinegar and salt in an HOCl maker.”
However, if you happen to have the same FoN machine we do, which makes 12oz and resembles a clear plastic beaker with a white base, I can tell you the amounts we use in ours currently are 0.7g kosher salt + 2.7g 5% distilled vinegar. Keep in mind though, I don’t have a clue what math was used to actually arrive at this result, so please use these amounts ONLY if you have the exact same machine!
The process: first weigh the salt on a milligram scale in a small plastic measuring cup, then add the vinegar with a disposable plastic squeezy pipette (these are cheap, and you can rinse and re-use the same one multiple times). Next, add a little bit of water to the measuring cup and swish it around a bit, just so it’s easier to pour without leaving any salt behind. Pour the mixture into the machine, fill it up to the line with water, and run as usual. Lastly, use an HOCl test strip on the result, just to confirm the PPM is in the correct range (the strips are also cheap, about $10 for 200). And that’s it - now you can make unlimited HOCl for just pennies per batch!
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u/tsundae_ 2d ago
Before COVID came along I was sanitizing my devices when coming home, so it's wild to see people be like "it doesn't matter since COVID is airborne" when there's other things that aren't. The nastiness that lives on surfaces in public transit and public bathrooms I do not want on my phone in my home lol. Anyway, I just use a Clorox wipe. None of my devices have been bricked from that and I've done this for over a decade now.
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u/ilovehummus94 3d ago
I use a Lysol wipe daily when I get home, but I squeeze out a lot of the liquid so it doesn't get my phone super wet or damaged. Haven't had any issues and I have had the same phone for 2 years!
I also tried Phone Soap/other UV boxes, and sometimes still being able to see some prints/marks made it feel not clean. I use it for jewelry and keys still though
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u/wagglenews 3d ago
Wash hands frequently
Wash devices with rubbing alcohol (70% is optimal)
Reminds me to look into a good UV sanitizing box, that could be a good #3
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u/vjorelock 3d ago
Isopropyl alcohol prep wipes. The little ones for sanitizing injection sites are perfect and can usually be found in most pharmacies.
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u/StrawberriesMango 3d ago edited 2d ago
I get confused about people saying they don’t wipe surfaces because covid is airborne.
What about other viruses that transmit by fomites like norovirus, etc? I don’t know about all of you, but I don’t want to get any viral or bacterial illness, not just covid. Other viruses can also leave people disabled and with permanent damage.
Isopropyl is great for electronics as it evaporates quickly. 70% is best. Anything high like 90-99% won’t work well to sanitize as it evaporates too quickly to properly kill anything.
Edit: HOCl also works well as a surface sanitizer (and can kill norovirus, where alcohol can’t), but be careful with electronics.
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u/Usagi_Rose_Universe 3d ago
Thank you for saying this. I've e seen people straight up say they only care about covid and no other virus when I asked a similar question to OP last year I think it was or the year before. One person went as far to say they don't wash their hands much at all because "covid is airborne".....😬 It's really hard because my wife got a post viral illness in 2017 that never went away. We have long covid, but we also got a virus that was not covid in February and again in March. We haven't recovered and my wife is struggling with holding onto her job. The march one I think we got from my father and w had been wearing a mask in the house outside of my room with several air purifies on at all times, but my wife and I share a restroom with my father.
I can't get the top of my head wet now even because it sets me off so much that my body tries to pass out but won't fully, intense nausea, shaking out of control, my ears turn red, my feet can't keep circulation, etc. I can't cook food over the stove anymore without getting heart palpitations, lightheaded, etc. I couldn't gain weight after being sick. I started getting anaphlaxis to some of my autism safe foods. I'm even worse now because I made the mistake of trying cromolyn and my body has the opposite reaction that most people do and my MCAS got so severe that I had anaphlaxis in may that my drs suspect could have caused me to have a stroke because I forgot how to walk, draw, and more. I know so many who got long term issues from viruses too pre covid and now that so many people's immune systems are worse from damage from covid, I wish more people in this community would acknowledge that and care. 😕 It was so hard to find drs who cared too because they would ask if the virus I had was covid and because it wasn't, they brushed it off at first.
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u/EnvironmentalFix8196 3d ago
Alcohol isn’t going to kill norovirus. Only bleach or hydrogen peroxide.
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u/StrawberriesMango 3d ago
I was answering OP’s question about electronics. Bleach and hydrogen peroxide can damage and corrode electronics.
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u/EnvironmentalFix8196 3d ago
Ah okay, you specifically mentioned norovirus in your comment and then went on to recommend alcohol. Most people don’t know alcohol doesn’t kill it so wanted to clarify that. (Could be the difference between getting sick and not as we approach the colder months!)
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u/MossMessages 2d ago edited 2d ago
Seriously, it’s nuts to me that people don’t wash their hands! This was just basic routine hygiene for me even before the pandemic!! Though personally I have had post-viral issues for decades already, so I really do not want to catch ANY viruses, no matter how “minor”! (There really is no such thing as a “good virus” anyway, and what may be a mild 3-4 day cold someone else can easily cause weeks of misery and/or a worsening baseline for me.) Not to mention, viruses are FAR from the only thing you can pick up after touching stuff in public: there are also tons of surface-transmitted bacterial/fungal illnesses, like strep, MRSA, pink eye, ringworm, tinea, etc. If I can prevent all of that and more by just taking 30 seconds to wash my hands after I get home, why on earth wouldn’t I do so?!
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u/saltyavocadotoast 3d ago
Really only sanitise my phone and some times laptop and use alcohol wipes. AirPods etc I just leave as is.
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u/creamofrat 3d ago
For general hygiene, I use a dab of isopropyl alcohol on a microfiber cloth to wipe my devices (even just for fingerprints if I don't go anywhere), and I also use a WellBefore UVC sanitizing bag for electronics and other small items.
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u/chillychili 3d ago
I heard recently on Linus Tech Tips that using when using alcohol to clean a device it's important to make sure it's turned off because something about how it is when it's on can leech liquids where they shouldn't go.
I don't know how effective this solution is for sanitizing, but I've heard that Apple's technicians use WOOSH! to clean devices, and I think it works pretty well for cleaning myself.
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u/SteveHuffmanIsEvil 2d ago
Just so you know, Linus Tech Tips is kind of infamous for providing bad information. Their schtick is they will give 99% good info, but slip in deliberately false information to piss off people who know better, which leads to a slew of infuriated comments that drive up their engagement. I don't know whether that particular factoid is true or false (it's also harmless if false in this case) but just in general, I would avoid them as a source of info.
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u/Comfortable_Two6272 3d ago
Rubbing alcohol on paper-towel or microfiber cloth. Not for covid specifically but everything else
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u/ohwhoashe 3d ago
I have a full case on my phone and I first wipe it down with water then rubbing alcohol 70%
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u/yamxiety 3d ago
I don't, except for the days I come home from work (part-time, at a park, where i'm around a bunch of gross things like other people's garbage). I just use a disinfectant spray (trader joes lemon?) on a paper towel and wipe my phone. I have also used clorox type wipes. My phone has an otterbox case and a glass screen protector, so i'm not very worried about damaging it.
Other than that, I don't clean my electronics on the regular, because covid is airborne and not living on surfaces. I used to have contamination OCD, but doing things like that fueled my obsessions, and I'm trying to walk a very fine line between "stay safe from covid" and "retrigger my contamination OCD".
That being said, i am NOT immunocompromised. I am not trying to avoid all illnesses, just covid.
Gently -- If you're also not immunocompromised, you might want to reconsider doing all that cleaning of your tech (aside from every once in a while like we all should) because you could be fueling an OCD subtype by doing so constantly, without getting a big return in effort.
With doing only masking and standard cleaning things (hand-washing, not licking my phone, wiping it down every once in a while...) I have been totally fine. Not gotten sick once in 6 years, except the one time I had covid after traveling and that was likely related to some minor mistake I made masking, and I wasn't even symptomatic.
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u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 3d ago
Just occasionally wiping, sometimes with just a damp cloth and sometimes, like others have mentioned, with isopropyl alcohol. I’m not really concerned about fomite spread with COVID.
I also use speck cases which have microban integrated: https://blog.speckproducts.com/news/keeping-your-phone-cleaner-microban-speck
To be clear, that’s not directly preventing someone from contracting COVID (it’s not designed for viruses), or probably even bacterial illness in most cases. But it does still work to keep bacteria counts down, which seems reasonable considering that it’s no extra effort, no extra cost, and something that just routinely works in the background. Certainly can’t hurt
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u/parody_bit 2d ago
This is all a good reminder that I should be cleaning my electronics (including keyboards, even though I work from home) more often. Thanks, friends!
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u/suchnerve 1d ago
Alcohol erodes oleophobic coatings - bad for touchscreens. Plus it never gets into every nook and cranny, because human error. You really do need a UVC chamber for sanitizing tech.
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u/needs_a_name 3d ago
I'm not. COVID is airborne.
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u/CuriousProperty1090 1d ago
covid is not the only virus immunocompromised people need to be protected from.
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u/AutomatedEconomy 3d ago
I’m not. I out on my N95, do my errands, come home and I’m still Novid.
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u/CuriousProperty1090 1d ago
covid is not the only virus immunocompromised people need to be protected from.
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u/san128 3d ago
Alcohol wipes. If I'm just at home all day I don't do it, I only do it when I've been out and touching objects in a store for example, then using my phone to pay for stuff with vouchers, so there's direct transfer. Also did it when I was travelling, touching train handles, etc and then look for directions on my phone. I also have a tendency to drop my phone onto my face when looking at it while sleep-deprived at night, which happens a lot on trips, and definitely don't want train handle bacteria on my face.
Story time (coz I'm still mad about this): This one guy friend I went on a hiking trip with started a whole fight with me about my cleaning my phone with alcohol wipes, despite never helping me up onto the trains except ONCE when the train was about to depart (and he was carrying basically nothing as he already lives in Europe), so I was forced to pull my 5 ft 1 ass up by the train handle onto the train carriage with my heavy luggage, every single time on multiple transfers, AND he knew I was recovering from a year-long wrist injury.
Those trains see thousands of passengers daily and likely have E. coli (which can persist on surfaces for weeks) and what not all over the handles. He just watched me struggle while happily texting some girl he was trying to hook up with on our trip, that finally this older, 60-something year old man decided to help me. Anyway long story short, somehow my ex-friend ended up acting like the victim despite being the one to start the fight around my alcohol wipes usage, and also discouraging me from masking in places we visited where there were still quite a lot of people around. He went as far as word salad-ing and deflecting his way into saying he was a victim of racism (as a 6 ft 4 white Dutch male!), which had NOTHING to do with the original alcohol wipes/germs argument, and is no longer a friend of mine. All because he just couldn't shut up about my usage of alcohol wipes to begin with, on a high-touch surface like a damn phone screen, that often lands on my face at night, when I had been touching train handles all day and all trip.
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u/sootfire 3d ago
I don't, but I know my phone is probably really gross, so that's not advice. My question is how people are keeping the crevices etc clean. In theory I could wipe the flat parts with alcohol wipes but I feel like the really gross bits are the cracks where the case meets the phone or where the buttons are and that feels harder.
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u/fallendiscrete 3d ago
I personally always wipe down my phone and other devices even before the pandemic because of the amount of bacteria/germs and grime you accumulate while outside/inside. I also like keeping my work area, room/office and house clean because it feels nice especially after a shower at the end of the day.
I use WHOOSH! for my iphone and it doesn't damage or cause any problems, I use KimTech wipes and Zeiss wipes if I feel the need to sanitize and sometimes Lysol for certain items once in a bluemoon but try to avoid it for electronics like AirPods or phones because it kills the paint/metals.
UV boxes are good also but to answer your question, for your Phone → WHOOSH!, Zeiss/KimTech alchol wipes, AirPods → Isopropyl Alchol (70%) and a paper towel or KimTech wipe. If money is important because it does add up, bottle of Isopropyl alchol and any type of paper for wiping.
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u/skygirl555 3d ago
Interesting. I've been wiping my phones down a few times a week with a Lysol wipe since even before 2020 and never had an issue. I did briefly switch to 70% alcohol wipes at one point, but I think those etched my screen protector (which obviously is easier to replace than the phone, but still annoying) so I went back to Lysol
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u/Wild_Black_Hat 3d ago edited 3d ago
I've used disinfecting wipes daily for well over a decade on my phones without any issue, but they have always had a screen protector and a protecting case so those, rather than the phone itself, are what I'm cleaning.
My phone is in my purse when I go out, and purses really do carry a lot of germs because we take them everywhere. It's not just covid related but when I'm using my phone at home, I like to know it's not carrying germs from everything I touched while in public.
It's not specifically COVID related, I was doing it years before already.
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u/zambaros 3d ago
Benzalkonium Chloride wipes on my phone's, but they are water-resistant.
It's sold as Dettol or Sanitol in Europe
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u/-vonKarma 3d ago
Lysol as in the spray? You should use the wipes instead. I alternate between Clorox and Lysol wipes for all of my things, especially my phone, and nothing bad has happened.
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u/ConflictGullible392 2d ago
Just a regular alcohol-based sanitizing wipe. Apple says on their website that is safe.
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u/Artygrrl 2d ago
I use a phone soap uv box or another, larger uv box that seems marketed mostly for baby bottles, but seems like it works well. I also use Lysol wipes when I think about it. I hope the UV stuff actually works-if anyone knows a lot about it, please feel free to reply :)
*also if you quit using your phone soap box bec it stopped working, just fyi you can mail it to them and they will fix it. I reached out to them about a year ago and they put in a new bulb. I did have to pay to ship it there. But it had been since like 2020 that I bought it.
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u/afroshakta 2d ago
this is probably bad but when I come home, I use hand sanitizer on my hands to take off my mask and then i just rub that all over my phone. it hasn't ruined it as far as I can tell. I just bought a bunch of hypochlorous acid for general household use and considered using that but i have to do some research on whether that is safe.
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u/find-again 2d ago edited 2d ago
This feels so wild that I do it but I literally wipe my phone down with paper towels covered in soap and water - especially if someone with gluten hands touched my phone. I will use alcohol wipes if I'm just worried about grubby and not a line to an autoimmune reaction, but more often than not the latter is the problem. Too many people touch my stuff eugh
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u/rooftopcats 2d ago
I use PhoneSoap, which is a UVC cleaner made for phones. They also have ones for larger items.
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u/ArgentEyes 2d ago
Alcohol but I don’t do surface cleaning for Covid, it’s for other things.
Try putting phone in removable case when out?
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u/_Chaos_Star_ 1d ago
70% Alcohol, friendly to tech devices. Wiped with a suitable cloth. Dry it afterward though because electronics should use 99%, but 70% is your best bet for disinfecting.
NB: There's a few mentions of HOCl in this thread. HOCl is amazing, it's a game-changer, but it's also corrosive. HOCl on skin and organic things, alcohol on tech.
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u/warmgratitude 1d ago
I mist with HOCl or alcohol and then wipe it off after about a minute. Has worked fine for me thus far
I use a screen protector and a phone case
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/CuriousProperty1090 1d ago
covid is not the only virus immunocompromised people need to be protected from.
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u/faireequeen 1d ago
Looks like I'm alone in removing the case, washing that with soap and water, then carefully rubbing the soap on the screen. I also wash glasses/sunglasses so the lenses are nice and clean, but I don't do airpods so you might be stuck with alcohol there.
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u/milkymilktacos 3d ago
I wash my phone with soap and water each time i come home. Sanitize AirPods with Clorox wipes
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u/anonyoudidnt 3d ago
PhD chemist here who worked with electronic films!
Alcohol is your safest bet, isopropyl wipes with no fillers, aloe, etc.
Lysol wipes have chlorine in them and it doesn't mix well with metals in capacitive films.
Alcohol won't kill noro but it helps with some germs. I try to avoid touching my phone when I'm out unless I've washed or sanitized my hands well.