Apple says it’s okay to disinfect your iPhone now, so back up COVID-19

For quite some time Apple has been adamant that we shouldn’t clean our Apple products with disinfectant wipes, but on Monday the manufacturer changed its mind.

According to an update on the How to clean your Apple Products page, using 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes is now an accepted way to disinfect your products. The page warns to avoid getting moisture into any openings on the products, and of course to not submerge your phone in cleaning agents.

Apart from that, we’ve got the all-clear to wipe away bacteria on hard, nonporous surfaces using isopropyl alcohol wipes or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes.

While the article doesn’t directly relate this update to coronavirus, it is hard not to make the connection. Health authorities are warning that the main mode of transmission of the virus is respiratory droplets, that occur during talking, laughing and coughing. Your phone tends to bear the brunt of this when you’re say, talking into it, giggling at memes, or just staring at it while you live your life.

Mobile phones are notoriously germ filled as it is, and while we’re sure that this won’t be the first time some of us wipe down our iPhones, it will be the first time Apple has given us the go ahead

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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