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Best ways to keep your cellphone germ-free

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – It’s in your purse, in your pocket, or maybe on the counter next to you. It’s also one of the germiest things you own. 24-Hour News 8’s sister station, WFLA looked at the bacteria and viruses on your cellphone and the best way to clean it.

“Phones are objects that we handle all day. Most people tend to think of them as a necessity,” says Dr. Burt Anderson, professor or molecular medicine at the University of South Florida.

What’s not necessary are the germs, harmful bacteria and viruses found on your device.

“(We’ve) done a brief experiment in the lab where we’ve shown that bacteria are quite frequently found on the surface of the phone or on the touchpads,” says Dr. Anderson.

Not just him, but others in the lab are finding the need to sterilize their phones.

“I have a child, so she likes to go through my phone and I have to keep it clean,” says USF grad student Udoka Okaro.

In a perfect world, we would all have a bio safety cabinet with UV light to kill the unseen nastiness on our pocket-sized computers.

“Alcohol wipes are as good as a UV light. If you do work in a lab and you have a UV light, fine and well. But, if you don’t, then just wipe your phone with alcohol,” says Okaro.

Even a smaller box with a UV light that can be bought on Amazon isn’t readily available to everyone.

That’s why a second option is using rubbing alcohol or even a hand sanitizer. Bleach is best to clean, but worst for the hardware.

“Everything is going on right now. It’s flu season. People have a lot on their fingers, a lot on your face, so you want to make sure that your phone is clean,” says Okaro.

It’s a simple life hack for your phone that will keep you healthy throughout the day.