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5 Gadgets That Clean Your Smartphone For You

These sanitizers give your smartphone a blue light bath, killing 99-percent of germs.

tech roundup Simplehuman

By Tucker Bowe

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You probably aren’t cleaning your smartphone as often as you should, even during this current pandemic. It’s not difficult, only requiring a cloth and some rubbing alcohol, or even some disinfectant wipes (which Apple deemed “OK”), but it still can be tough to remember to do it — and doing it often.

Fortunately, there are devices that specialize in sanitizing your smartphone and other gadgets for you. Instead of using disinfectant or some other liquid to kill your harmful bacteria and germs, they use UV light. They’re essentially tanning beds that bathe your smartphone, but they bathe it blue light to sanitize it over time.

Casetify is promising that all of the proceeds generated from sales of its UV Sanitizer will go to the coronavirus relieve effort, which is awesome. The neat thing about this model, which is why its more expensive, is it actually works as a wireless charger (with a USB-C input), so it can charge and clean your smartphone at the same time.

Simplehuman is best known for its excellent and well designed (and yes, expensive) trash cans, and the company has taken that same ethos and integrated into its first-ever UV smartphone sanitizer. The Cleanstation works kind of like a toaster; you place your smartphone into the top, it automatically lowers, sanitizers and (30 seconds later) rises up a clean smartphone. Its UV light chamber sanitizes all around the smartphone, so you don’t have to sanitize each side separately. And it’s available in three aluminum finishes: brushed, slate or white.

PhoneSoap makes a variety of different UV sanitizers for all your different devices. The PhoneSoap 3 is unique because it has UV light bulbs on both sides of the case, so it simultaneously cleans both sides of your smartphone — no need to flip it. There’s also a slot for you to fit a charging cord into the device, so you can charge and clean your smartphone at once.

Like most phone sanitizers, Mophie’s entry into the space takes about 5 minutes to clean your phone with UV rays. But unlike it’s competition, the Mophie UV sanitizer can also wirelessly charge your phone. The only catch is that the unit’s wireless charger is on the top of the device, not inside the cleaning space, so it cannot clean and charge your phone at the same time. Still, it’s an extra feature that will make it extra worth the space on your desk.

The UV Clean has a unique pop-up design that makes it more compact than other alternatives. It promises to be compatible with any-sized smartphone, plus it’ll clean it in just a minute (30 seconds per side).