With COVID-19 (coronavirus) officially being declared as a global pandemic, people are doing everything they possibly can to avoid being infected. Samsung has also felt the pinch since the company has had to shut down a phone factory multiple times in South Korea due to confirmed coronavirus cases.
It's now important more than ever before to be mindful of hygiene, particularly related to our personal devices that spend the better part of the day in our hands. Samsung's Galaxy Sanitizing Service aims to help out by trying to rid your phone of bacteria, germs, and viruses.
The Galaxy Sanitizing Service is currently available in 19 countries
The Galaxy Sanitizing Service is being offered for free through official Samsung Service Center and Samsung Experience Stores in select countries currently and the service is being expanded continuously. It simply sanitizes the phone with UV-C light, no harsh cleaning chemicals required. These devices can be used to sanitize Galaxy phones, the Galaxy Watch and the Galaxy Buds.
The company advises against using abrasive materials or harsh chemicals to clean your phone as that may scratch the screen or damage the oleophobic coating that prevents fingerprints from smudging the display. Using liquid chemicals on devices that don't have an IP rating will also lead to water ingress that could potentially kill the device.
Samsung says that it has tested the sanitization devices carefully to make sure that the UV-C light doesn't affect the phone's performance. The UV-C devices it's using are made by third-parties so it cautions that the effectiveness of this entire process will depend on the market and model. It also cautions that results may vary and not all bacteria, germs and viruses might be eliminated. The company adds that while the devices it's using won't affect the phone performance, Samsung cannot guarantee the same if you were to try and disinfect your phone with an unapproved UV sanitization device at home or elsewhere.
The Galaxy Sanitizing Service is currently available for free in Samsung Service Centers and Samsung Experience Stores in 19 markets across the globe. They include Argentina, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United States, Ukraine and Vietnam.
Samsung will soon expand the service to Australia, Austria, Canada, Czechia, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Panama, the Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
This is a great service that Samsung is offering for its customers. We are rarely mindful of where we're setting our phone down, be that on the table at a restaurant or on an open seat beside us on the subway. That's a cause for concern in this environment given how this virus transmits. It wouldn't hurt to get the phones disinfected, after all, they're devices that we place against our faces multiple times a day.
