After years of telling customers that they should not clean their iPhones with alcohol wipes, Apple has reversed course as the world deals with the coronavirus outbreak.
Apple recently updated its "How to clean your Apple products" website to say that Clorox Disinfectant Wipes are now safe to use on the exterior of its products.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple previously warned that using cleaning products and abrasive materials would "diminish the coating and might scratch your iPhone."
But in recent days, Apple has amended its website to say that Clorox wipes are safe on their products.
"Using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, you may gently wipe the hard, nonporous surfaces of your Apple product, such as the display, keyboard, or other exterior surfaces," Apple's website says.
According to the Wayback Machine, a website that archives pages across the internet, Apple added the message to the page sometime between 11:58 a.m. and 2:54 p.m. ET on Monday.
Apple's update comes after the Wall Street Journal wiped the screen of an iPhone 8 more than 1,000 times to see if Clorox wipes were safe to use on the phone — representing a daily cleaning for three years. The Journal reports that the screen was still in good condition after 1,000 Clorox wipes.
It's not a bad idea to clean smart phones if given the chance. In 2011 , researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found fecal matter on one of every six smartphones they tested.
