iPhone 14 Pro What happens if you never take your phone out of its (silicone) case?

[mebehere]

iPhone 14 Pro. I slapped the Apple silicone case on it on day one. Will the phone sustain damage from grit or whatever if I don’t take the case off regularly and clean everything? Can I leave the case on for three years straight without worries?

This is my first iPhone with stainless steel sides.

 

[Splitrail]

iPhone 14 Pro. I slapped the Apple silicone case on it on day one. Will the phone sustain damage from grit or whatever if I don’t take the case off regularly and clean everything? Can I leave the case on for three years straight without worries?

This is my first iPhone with stainless steel sides.

I'd clean it regularly.
Sand and dust can be very abrasive, and unless you can eliminate its ingress entirely (almost impossible to do), there's always that risk.
Some contaminants are more abrasive than others.
I live in a mountain/desert environment with abundant wind, so I have to keep after that stuff continuously.
I take the phone out of the case weekly and clean both thoroughly.
That said, I'd think that softer material cases are safer in this regard than hard material cases simply because dragging the phone out of a hard case is more likely to scratch the finish than a soft case would.

 

[Fluttershy462]

There will be lots of build around the speaker and charger ports, it’ll get gross.

 

[Thoradin]

Launch day 12 Pro user.
My phone has been in a case since around 2 minutes after it left the box.
ESR clear case until the Apple leather ones launched. It lived in the leather Apple case for just over a year and was only removed to replace with an Apple silicone case, no cleaning.
Removed from that after 7-8 months and went back in the original leather case until using a wired charger that wouldn’t fit with the case on, yesterday afternoon. Again no removing for cleaning.
I did check the phone over whilst out of the case yesterday and found it to be in pristine condition, other than 2 very small marks around the lightning connector.
So almost 2.5 years of not very careful usage with my first stainless steel iPhone and I’d say it’s held up pretty well using the Apple cases.

 

[Apple_Tiger]

iPhone 14 Pro. I slapped the Apple silicone case on it on day one. Will the phone sustain damage from grit or whatever if I don’t take the case off regularly and clean everything? Can I leave the case on for three years straight without worries?

This is my first iPhone with stainless steel sides.

Potentially yes. Since if you keep it in the case and never take it out, foreign particles will still make it's way in and may sustain damage and scratches. You won't necessarily need to worry about it. I'd say maybe once a week or every other doesn't hurt. I typically take mine out of the case once a week to clean out the phone and any particles that may linger inside the case.

 

[nburwell]

YMMV, but I take my 14 Pro out of it’s slim Peel case once a week to wipe it down with a microfiber cloth (both the phone and the case) to remove any dust/dirt. I’m sure you probably don’t have to clean it as often as I do though, but maybe once a month at least.

 

[barkomatic]

The Apple silicone cases are lined with microfiber which tends to stabilize any particles that get inside. That being said, I take mine out of its case every once in awhile to wipe away anything.

My friend took his iPhone out of its case for the first time since he bought it when he went to the Apple Store to trade it in. When he did so, the iPhone had significant wear and there were small areas where the paint was entirely gone but he had a hard case. Then again, he really didn't care as the case was there to protect against catastrophic damage and not cosmetic damage.

 

[bodonnell202]

Yeah, I'd take it off regularly and clean out the stuff that tends to get in there. I didn't do it on one of my iPhones for a few months (it had an Apple leather case) and it was all scratched up around the camera from sand ingress. Now I tend to pop off the case every few days and clean off the materials that ingress with a microfiber cloth.

 

[e1me5]

I had my 6s from the dy I got until the day I bought my 13pro, in a white apple silicon case. The case eventually turned brown due to dirt, and dirt accumulated around the camera and the ports, but the back of the phone still looks like new. Having a screen protector as well makes a 7 year phone to look like it just came out of the box.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Good chance it will scuff the exterior of the phone at the edges of the case.

Is there a problem with taking it out of the case once a month? It only takes a few minutes to clean things up. When you do remove it you will see how “crud” is gathering along the side and where holes and ports are.

 

[StellarVixen]

What happens is that filth gets inside and rubs against your phone, ruining it like you didn't have any case at all.

Those cases are not 100 tight, stuff gets inside. Remove it from case every day and clean up.

 

[Andeddu]

If you don’t want to have any upkeep whatsoever and still wish to keep your phone in a perfect condition, use something such as a Lifeproof Fre which is water and dust proof. I might purchase one a year from now as I don’t want my phone to sustain any damage, cosmetic or otherwise.