Cleaning A Touchscreen

History

In the past, it was important to be very careful with touch screens as they were easily damaged by any sort of solution or cleaning product. Initially, they were not actually touched but used with a stylus. Cleaning them was much easier, a gentle wipe was all it took, but things have changed a lot.

Until recently, the recommendation was to use warm soapy water to clean a touch screen. This helped the screen to stay clean without use of any harsh chemicals. However, with tremendous improvement with the technology the question arose of why more thorough cleaning methods were not recommended. Screens these days are waterproof, shock resistant, and able to take quite a beating.

During COVID, some manufacturers suddenly changed their recommendation and stated that it was now acceptable to use a mild-moderate alcohol/water mix for cleaning the screens but not all of them did. Certainly, the screens are durable enough to handle it, so what’s behind the resistance to adopt effective sanitization methods? The answer is:

Oleophobic Coating

Oleophobic coating is a special compound touch screens are treated with which resists oil at the chemical level. Since fingerprints are tiny pools of skin-oil, it is an effective way to help keep the screens from showing fingerprints and other smudges.

This coating naturally wears off over time, but alcohol will dissolve it more quickly. This is the reason why it is preferred not to use an alcohol-based cleaning solution on a touch screen if it can be avoided. However, the good news is that a moderate strength alcohol solution won’t damage the screen itself, just wear away the coating. So, if you need to sanitize your touch screens, go right ahead. Just keep in mind that they are likely to show fingerprints more often afterwards.

If you only sanitize your touchscreen occasionally, there’s even better news. You can buy oleophobic coating fairly easily these days to re-treat your touchscreens. I get mine on Amazon for about $4 per treatment.