How to Clean a Phone Case
Take the case off the phone first. Everything below assumes an empty case and a dry phone somewhere else on the table.
The method that works on almost everything
- Warm water and a drop of dish soap in a bowl.
- Soft toothbrush around the camera cutout, the buttons and the charging port — that is where the grit collects.
- Rinse, then dry fully. Inside as well as out.
- Leave it open to air for an hour before the phone goes back in.
That handles the marks a case actually picks up: pocket lint, desk dust, bag scuff, a thumbprint on the back.
What not to use, on any case
Nothing with alcohol in it
Hand sanitizer, surface spray, disinfectant wipes, nail polish remover. On a printed case, high-alcohol liquids lift the print off — not stain it, lift it — and the pale patch where the design used to be does not come back. On a clear case, they cloud the plastic permanently.
No bleach, no abrasive paste, no magic eraser
They all work by removing a layer of the surface. On a print that is the print. On clear plastic it is the polish, and the case goes hazy instead of yellow, which is not an improvement.
Printed hard cases
Soft damp cloth, wipe in one direction, air-dry. The print is under the surface finish rather than on top of it, so it does not scratch off in normal use — but alcohol will still lift it, so keep sanitizer away from it.
Matte finishes hold a little more in the texture than glossy ones. A dry pass with the cloth first, then the damp pass, saves going over it twice.
Clear cases, and why they turn yellow
Here is the part most guides will not tell you: the yellowing is not dirt, and it cannot be cleaned off.
Clear cases are usually TPU. TPU reacts to UV light, body oils and heat, and the polymer itself changes color all the way through the material. There is nothing sitting on the surface to remove. Scrubbing a yellowed case makes it a clean yellowed case.
Baking soda, vinegar, toothpaste and hydrogen peroxide are all recommended online for this and none of them reverse it. Some appear to help briefly by taking off a surface layer, which makes the case cloudier as it re-yellows.
Wash it if it is dirty, by all means. But if it has gone amber, it is finished — and it will happen to the next clear one too, usually within a year.
Silicone cases
Silicone attracts lint and holds it. Warm soapy water and a soft brush, then dry completely — silicone traps water in the corners and the phone should not go back into a damp case.
For lint stuck to the outside, sticky tape lifts it off better than washing does.
The inside of the case
The bit everyone skips, and the bit that causes fine scratches on the back of the phone. Grit gets trapped between the liner and the device and gets ground in every time you set the phone down.
Lift the phone out every few weeks and wipe the inside with a dry cloth. That, not the case itself, is what protects the finish underneath.
How often
Once a month for most people, more if you cook, exercise or garden with your phone nearby. It takes about four minutes.
Our cases are a rigid polycarbonate shell over a cushioned black TPU liner, printed edge to edge and MagSafe compatible — the print is fade-resistant dye sublimation, so a monthly wipe is the whole maintenance routine. See the range.