Technologies

Your Phone’s a Germ Magnet. How to Disinfect It Properly

Want to keep your iPhone or Android germ-free? Follow these phone cleaning tips.

Your phone goes everywhere with you — on your commute, your lunch break, even the bathroom (don’t lie). But for something that spends so much time in your hands and against your face, it’s probably way dirtier than you think. In fact, studies have shown that the average smartphone can carry more germs than a toilet seat. Yeah, really.

All that touching, tapping, swiping and setting it down on random surfaces adds up fast. If you’re not regularly disinfecting your phone, you’re basically carrying a pocket-sized petri dish. The good news? Cleaning it the right way is quick, easy and doesn’t require fancy gear. Here’s how to sanitize your device safely — without damaging the screen or frying your electronics..

The Federal Communications Commission suggests disinfecting your phone daily, but not all cleaning methods are safe. Harsh chemicals and abrasive materials can damage protective coatings and potentially harm your screen. To keep your phone both clean and intact, it’s crucial to use the right cleaning techniques.

We’ll guide you through the best methods and products for keeping your device germ-free, from iPhones to Samsungs, and whatever their level of water resistance may be.

For more cleaning tips, here’s how to clean wireless earbuds and AirPods.

What are the best products for daily cleaning?

After touching surfaces that see a lot of action from the public — such as door handles, seats on public transportation, grocery carts and gas pumps — you might think you need a heavy-duty cleaning agent to use on your phone. However, you should avoid rubbing alcohol or products made of straight alcohol, since they can damage the protective coatings that prevent oil and water from harming your screen.

Some suggest making your own alcohol-water mix, but getting the concentration wrong can damage your phone. The safest option is using disinfectant wipes with 70% isopropyl alcohol. For daily cleaning, consider a UV light product like PhoneSoap, which kills 99.99% of germs and bacteria. We can also turn to phone manufacturers and cell service companies for guidance, too.

Apple now approves using Clorox Wipes and similar disinfectants, which was not recommended before the pandemic since they were thought to be too abrasive on the screen’s coating. AT&T advises spraying a 70% isopropyl alcohol solution on a soft, lint-free cloth and wiping your device down. Samsung also recommends using a 70% alcohol solution with a microfiber cloth. Always make sure your phone is powered off before cleaning it.

What are the best methods for removing fingerprints, sand and makeup?

Sometimes your phone needs a more specific treatment when washing up. The recommended process for daily cleaning may not be enough to remove pesky grains of sand after a beach vacation or tough foundation stains.

Get rid of fingerprints

Fingerprint smudges are inevitable since your skin produces oils. Every time you pick up your phone, your screen will get fingerprints. The safest way to make your screen print-free is with a microfiber cloth. For a deeper clean, dampen the cloth with distilled water (never apply water directly to the screen) and wipe down the surface. This works for the back and sides of your phone as well.

Alternatively, try a microfiber screen cleaner sticker that sticks to the back of your phone for easy wiping.

Remove sand and small particles

Grains of sand and lint can easily get stuck in your phone’s ports and crevices. To remove it, we recommend you use Scotch tape. Press it along the creases and speaker, then roll it up and gently insert it into the ports. The tape will pull out any debris. You can then just simply throw away the tape for easy cleanup.

For smaller speaker holes, use a toothpick gently or a small vacuum crevice tool to suck out the debris. These tools work well for other small appliances or hard-to-reach areas in your car too.

Cleanse makeup off your phone screen

When you wear makeup and skin care products, such as foundation and moisturizers, you’ll leave residue on your phone screen. While makeup remover works for your face, it’s not safe for screens due to potentially harmful chemicals. Instead, try a screen-safe makeup remover like Whoosh, which is alcohol-free and gentle on all screens.

Alternatively, use a damp microfiber cloth to clean your phone, then wash the cloth afterward. Make sure your cloth is only slightly wet to avoid soaking your phone in water.

What if my phone is waterproof?

For waterproof phones (IP67 and above), it’s best to clean the device with a damp cloth instead of submerging or running it under water — even if the phone advertises that it can withstand submersion for a certain amount of time.

Afterward, dry your phone with a soft cloth, ensuring all ports and speakers are patted dry. While your phone can withstand water, submerging it can lead to water in the ports, delaying charging. Remember, water resistance is meant for accidents, not swimming or regular cleaning.

Things to avoid when cleaning your phone

We’ve already covered why you should avoid makeup remover and rubbing alcohol, but those aren’t a comprehensive list of harmful cleaning agents. Here are a few other items and products you should never use to clean your phone:

Hand sanitizer: Fragrances and ethyl alcohol found in many sanitizers can harm your phone.
Window or kitchen cleaners: Harsh cleaners can strip the protective coating on your phone and leave it more vulnerable to scratches.
Paper towels: Paper can shred, making the debris on your phone much worse, and the rough texture can leave scratches on your screen.
Dish and hand soap: Most soaps require you to combine them with water, and since you should keep water away from your phone, it’s best to stick to a damp cloth.
Vinegar: Like cleaners and alcohols, vinegar will strip your phone screen’s coating.
Compressed air: Blowing intense and direct air into your phone’s portals can cause damage, especially to your mic. Apple specifically warns iPhone owners not to use compressed air.

For more cleaning tips, explore how to clean your Apple Watch.

Technologies

TMR vs. Hall Effect Controllers: Battle of the Magnetic Sensing Tech

The magic of magnets tucked into your joysticks can put an end to drift. But which technology is superior?

Competitive gamers look for every advantage they can get, and that drive has spawned some of the zaniest gaming peripherals under the sun. There are plenty of hardware components that actually offer meaningful edges when implemented properly. Hall effect and TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance or tunneling magnetoresistance) sensors are two such technologies. Hall effect sensors have found their way into a wide variety of devices, including keyboards and gaming controllers, including some of our favorites like the GameSir Super Nova.

More recently, TMR sensors have started to appear in these devices as well. Is it a better technology for gaming? With multiple options vying for your lunch money, it’s worth understanding the differences to decide which is more worthy of living inside your next game controller or keyboard.

How Hall effect joysticks work

We’ve previously broken down the difference between Hall effect tech and traditional potentiometers in controller joysticks, but here’s a quick rundown on how Hall effect sensors work. A Hall effect joystick moves a magnet over a sensor circuit, and the magnetic field affects the circuit’s voltage. The sensor in the circuit measures these voltage shifts and maps them to controller inputs. Element14 has a lovely visual explanation of this effect here.

The advantage this tech has over potentiometer-based joysticks used in controllers for decades is that the magnet and sensor don’t need to make physical contact. There’s no rubbing action to slowly wear away and degrade the sensor. So, in theory, Hall effect joysticks should remain accurate for the long haul.

How TMR joysticks work

While TMR works differently, it’s a similar concept to Hall effect devices. When you move a TMR joystick, it moves a magnet in the vicinity of the sensor. So far, it’s the same, right? Except with TMR, this shifting magnetic field changes the resistance in the sensor instead of the voltage.

There’s a useful demonstration of a sensor in action here. Just like Hall effect joysticks, TMR joysticks don’t rely on physical contact to register inputs and therefore won’t suffer the wear and drift that affects potentiometer-based joysticks.

Which is better, Hall effect or TMR?

There’s no hard and fast answer to which technology is better. After all, the actual implementation of the technology and the hardware it’s built into can be just as important, if not more so. Both technologies can provide accurate sensing, and neither requires physical contact with the sensing chip, so both can be used for precise controls that won’t encounter stick drift. That said, there are some potential advantages to TMR.

According to Coto Technology, who, in fairness, make TMR sensors, they can be more sensitive, allowing for either greater precision or the use of smaller magnets. Since the Hall effect is subtler, it relies on amplification and ultimately requires extra power. While power requirements vary from sensor to sensor, GameSir claims its TMR joysticks use about one-tenth the power of mainstream Hall effect joysticks. Cherry is another brand highlighting the lower power consumption of TMR sensors, albeit in the brand’s keyboard switches.

The greater precision is an opportunity for TMR joysticks to come out ahead, but that will depend more on the controller itself than the technology. Strange response curves, a big dead zone (which shouldn’t be needed), or low polling rates could prevent a perfectly good TMR sensor from beating a comparable Hall effect sensor in a better optimized controller.

The power savings will likely be the advantage most of us really feel. While it won’t matter for wired controllers, power savings can go a long way for wireless ones. Take the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, for instance, a Hall effect controller offering 20 hours of battery life from a 4.5-watt-hour battery with support for a 1,000Hz polling rate on a wireless connection. Razer also offers the Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC, a near-identical controller with the same battery offering TMR sensors. They claim the TMR version can go for 36 hours on a charge, though that’s presumably before cranking it up to an 8,000Hz polling rate — something Razer possibly left off the Hall effect model because of power usage.

The disadvantage of the TMR sensor would be its cost, but it appears that it’s negligible when factored into the entire price of a controller. Both versions of the aforementioned Razer controller are $199. Both 8BitDo and GameSir have managed to stick them into reasonably priced controllers like the 8BitDo Ultimate 2, GameSir G7 Pro and GameSir Cyclone 2.

So which wins?

It seems TMR joysticks have all the advantages of Hall effect joysticks and then some, bringing better power efficiency that can help in wireless applications. The one big downside might be price, but from what we’ve seen right now, that doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. You can even find both technologies in controllers that cost less than some potentiometer models, like the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller.

Caveats to consider

For all the hype, neither Hall effect nor TMR joysticks are perfect. One of their key selling points is that they won’t experience stick drift, but there are still elements of the joystick that can wear down. The ring around the joystick can lose its smoothness. The stick material can wear down (ever tried to use a controller with the rubber worn off its joystick? It’s not pleasant). The linkages that hold the joystick upright and the springs that keep it stiff can loosen, degrade and fill with dust. All of these can impact the continued use of the joystick, even if the Hall effect or TMR sensor itself is in perfect operating order.

So you might not get stick drift from a bad sensor, but you could get stick drift from a stick that simply doesn’t return to its original resting position. That’s when having a controller that’s serviceable or has swappable parts, like the PDP Victrix Pro BFG, could matter just as much as having one with Hall effect or TMR joysticks.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 18, #513

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 18, No. 513.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has a fun yellow category that might just start you singing. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: I don’t care if I never get back.

Green group hint: Get that gold medal.

Blue group hint: Hoops superstar.

Purple group hint: Not front, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Heard in «Take Me Out to the Ball Game.»

Green group: Olympic snowboarding events.

Blue group: Vince Carter, informally.

Purple group: ____ back.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is heard in «Take Me Out to the Ball Game.» The four answers are Cracker Jack, home team, old ball game and peanuts.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is Olympic snowboarding events. The four answers are big air, giant slalom, halfpipe and slopestyle.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Vince Carter, informally. The four answers are Air Canada, Half-Man, Half-Amazing, VC and Vinsanity.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ back. The four answers are diamond, drop, quarter and razor.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Feb. 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword is a fun one, and it’s not terribly tough. It helps if you know a certain Olympian. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.