The Easiest Ways to Clean Your Smartphone, Because It’s Gross

Neglecting to clean your cell phone is a nasty tech habit to break this year. Cell phones have been proven to carry bacteria, germs, even feces. (Yes, ) If there's one new routine to create for yourself, it's keeping that smartphone shiny and clean. Your health will thank you.

Check out a few of our tech-friendly tips to clean that gadget, below:

• Cleaning your touch-screen smartphone is kind of like cleaning your LCD monitor — you don't want to use any harsh chemicals or, even more damaging, water. Using a tried-and-tested cleaner like iKlear ($21) will ensure you won't damage your phone's sensitive bits. Use the included microfiber cloth (or one of your own) and shine that baby up.

• If you don't want to spring for a special formula, a 40/60 alcohol-to-water mixture on solid phone parts and keyboards should be OK for your devices (use a damp cloth and/or cotton swab for small and hard-to-reach places). However, you do not want to use any sort of alcohol, ammonia or harsh cleaning agent on touch screens.

• If you're in a pinch and want to quickly rid your phone of dirty crevices and smudges, use a piece of Scotch Tape to peel away dirt and dust in between keys, and rid your phone of fingerprints. Perfect for when you're at the office (without a microfiber cloth), but unfortunately it won't help the germ situation.

• Serious germaphobes can ensure a clean device with the PhoneSoap Charger ($60), which cleans, sanitizes and charges your device all at once. Just drop it in once a day for germ-free surfing and calling.