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Quick Question: Are iPhones Hygenic?

eawmp1 said:
Depend on where you put it before you brought it up to your face.

OP, you must not have been alive during the time of public pay phones. You would have had a stroke worrying about those handsets.
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And don't even think about public water fountains, restaurant and store door knobs, handrails at amusement parks, etc. The list goes on and on and on. I think your phone is the least of your worries.

Washing your hands frequently is still the best way to prevent from spreading and catching germs! My dentist also said to check your toothbrushes, something I hadn't thought of before. Now, I run my toothbrush through the dishwasher or get a new one after I have been sick.
 
There's a study here about the bacterial adhesion to glass and metal-oxide surfaces, http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/publications/2004-Li&Logan-CSB.pdf

And another about adhesion of pathogenic bacteria to food contact surfaces, http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijmb/2011/972494/

Um, they're kind of boring. I would honestly like too see someone using the iPhone as an actual phone in an Apple commercial, to see how I'm supposed to do it. It's crazy that that hasn't actually been demonstrated since 2007. Because it was widely believed that you would have to put the phone on your face. Imagine all that grease and grime and just plain nastiness that would be hitting your jaw area. Hello propionibacterium acnes.

But even touching someone else's iPad vs. a laptop or even a mouse- it's much dirtier. Much much dirtier. The guy who worked at Best Buy was afraid to touch the tablets when I went there with him, he didn't really want to demonstrate it, so he would poke it with the tips of his finger nails.

Here is a report in laymen's terms: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/15/report-iphone-ipad-glass-crawling-with-bacteria-and-viruses/
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B179 Safari/7534.48.3)

motoleo said:
From the web...
"Families who used glass or plastic cutting board surfaces were close to twice as likely to contact salmonella."

Oh, no...I'm going to wash my face right away!!
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From the web... Let's not forget what Honest Abe Lincoln once said about that, "don't trust everything you read on the Internet."
 
Do you remember a few years ago when we all had phones with keys and stuff. Every now and then I would strip my old Nokia and I'm sure there was something growing in there. By the way I hardly ever get sick and even less now I have an iPhone. Come to think of it the last sick day I had was when I through one to buy the thing!
 
motoleo said:
From the web...
"Families who used glass or plastic cutting board surfaces were close to twice as likely to contact salmonella."

Oh, no...I'm going to wash my face right away!!
Click to expand...

Are you cutting raw chicken on your iPhone? Do you understand why wood is the better surface for cutting boards and why likely that is what they are comparing glass too? After all, in your quote it says these families are "twice as likely". Well, twice as likely as what? It's not the same thing as saying that if you removed all glass objects from your life you would cut your risk of coming into contact with salmonella in half.

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cyks said:
From the web... Let's not forget what Honest Abe Lincoln once said about that, "don't trust everything you read on the Internet."
Click to expand...

The information actually is factual, when placed into context. Plastic and glass cutting boards are being compared to wood. Wood naturally has antimicrobial properties, so it has less of a tendency to facilitate microbial reproduction.
 
Bacteria is microscopic, but you don't even need a microscope to see all the gunk on your iPhone and iPads.

iPhones are slippery. That's no secret. But when compared with a Macbook Pro, or even a plastic laptop, those two things are going to be less nasty. The iPhone is going to be the most nasty.

I mean, the phone literally attracts bacteria because it makes your hands sweat. Warm sweaty dirty areas, this is where bacteria thrive.
 
motoleo said:
Maybe I've been doing this wrong all along, but how are you supposed to hold the iPhone? Is it supposed to touch your face when you're holding it to your ear? Or do you just hold it by the metal band, suspended in the air? iPhones look so clean in the commercials, but theyre actually very dirty items. What would happen to your face if the touch screen touched it?
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You would use it just like any other phone. Do you wipe down every surface before you touch it?
 
Jordan921 said:
You would use it just like any other phone. Do you wipe down every surface before you touch it?
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I used to wipe down my desk every morning in the last school I went to, and this was a private school, so I was the only one sitting in it.

But I guess it doesn't matter what other people do. It's not my body.
 
Shrink said:
Ah, yes..and do you find that you wash your hands 15 or 20 times a day??:eek: :rolleyes:
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You agree that the iPhone gets dirty quick, right?

This was a pretty serious matter to me because I gained an ear infection from the extremely brutal cold, (had me in bed for a whole week) it was terrible.

But if you guys are just going to laugh about it, then I'll just go elsewhere.
 
Considering that a number of people don't properly wash their hands after using the bathroom or sneezing/coughing, it depends on the person using the phone. Not washing one's hands or not washing after coming into contact with contaminated surfaces accounts for most of the illness that affects people.
If you are really concerned about the transmission of germs from your phone, do like they do in some of the commercials. Use either the supplied headphones or another hands free head set. You still have to keep your hands clean, but you may not have to wipe down your phone as much.
Also, there are sanitizing wipes out there, if you're really that paranoid.

I don't know why some people have to to be so over-dramatic. :rolleyes:
 
motoleo said:
This is odd, because I can't find a single advertisement of the iPhone with a person actually talking on the phone. That is so strange.

My question is this: Are iPhones hygenic?

How are you supposed to hold the iPhone? Is it supposed to touch your face when you're holding it to your ear? Or do you just hold it by the metal band, suspended in the air?
Click to expand...

When I'm on a phone call I usually hold my phone to the ear and touching my face. After I'm done, I just put my phone in my pocket and my pocket does it's job cleaning off the greasy stuff.
 
motoleo said:
iPhones are slippery. That's no secret.
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So is Snooki. I'd rather hold my iPhone.

OP, the human species has, an in some places currently, existed in far less hygienic conditions. The act of bringing your hand up to your face carries more bacteria and viruses up than are on your phone. That having been said, I wouldn't lend your phone out or place it on a nasty surface, then use it without a wipe off. Worrying about it more than that is not good for your health.
 
I critique the iPhone, not to put it down, but because I like the iPhone, and I want it to be even better.

If Corning makes antibacterial glass and the iPhones are already being supplied by Corning, then why don't they just use it? Looking back on all the phones I have had, the iPhone is made to be held. But every phone I see, it's actually very greasy. Of course this is a minor complaint.
 
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My phone ain't very greasy. Like others already posted, just wipe the screen on your pants. I've borrowed others phones leaving a lot of my sweat on it afterwards. Out of curtesy, I'll wipe it off before handing it back over, usually with an apology.
 
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