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Clean Your Phone & Tablet Safely – COVID-19 & Your Phone
Here at Fortress HQ, we understand that your phone is what keeps you connected and safe. It’s one of the main reasons why we created Fortress in the first place. Your phone is even more important now, as the world tries to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing. Humans are social creatures. We need to interact and stay connected and even if we can’t be with our family, friends and loved ones. We use our smartphones and tablets to keep in touch in many ways: call, video chat, IM etc. However, this also means we are touching our tech… a lot. Clean your hands, now clean your phone!
Even during normal times, the majority of Americans, on average, check their phones 160 times a day — once every 9 minutes! As caring, concerned and health conscious citizens we’re all remembering to wash our hands and disinfect surfaces around the house and workplace. However it is important to remember to disinfect your tech, too. Especially considering that scientific studies show that the virus can remain infectious on objects, such as your phone, for days. We have put together 9 tips and tricks on how to clean your smartphone or tablet to help prevent the spread of germs and viruses.
How should you clean your smartphone or tablet?
- Turn your smartphone or tablet off before cleaning.
- If you have a protective case on your device, please remember to remove the case before starting to clean your phone.
- Use a microfiber cloth with a safe cleaning solution (suggested: 50/50 water and alcohol).
- Spray/Moisten the cloth, not the device.
- Try and avoid using disinfectant wipes. Depending on the ingredients they could damage the external coating or the internal makeup of the device.
- If you have a protective case wipe down the case as well as the device and remember to clean all of the case’s openings for the headphone jack, camera, buttons and charging port.
- Allow the device and the case you’ve cleaned to air dry.
- For the more adventurous you can try using a UV sanitizing device. Ultraviolet light can kill 99.9% of germs in about 10 minutes. Some models on the market can simultaneously charge the phone while they clean it.
- Make sure you wash your hands for 20 seconds using soap and water once you’re done cleaning your device.
How often should you clean your smartphone or tablet?
The easy answer is clean your tech regularly.
How often is regularly? Well, that depends. Where do you use your device? If you’re like one of the 73.4% of the Americans surveyed that admitted to using their phone when on the toilet you should wipe it down more often than someone who does not. If you tend to eat while scrolling through your device, a daily wipe down with a microfiber cloth would be a good idea.
A simple solution would be to wash your hands before you eat and not touch your device during meals. However, if that’s not an option for you, the more you clean it, the better.
We’re here to help you.
Every Fortress protection tier provides access Assist Features which are specifically designed to help negotiate the complicated and sometime tricky to understand tech world. In addition our Assist Team are group of dedicated experts that are just a click or call away and are available to help you, your kids and your parents – no matter where they live.
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