What Does Vinegar Do To Electronics Screens?

In housecleaning, vinegar is often used due to its effectiveness and wallet-friendly nature. Practically every household has it, and there are many useful cleaning tips and tricks involving vinegar. However, it's not an ideal solution for some things and is outright bad for others. For instance, it can be both good and bad for washing machines, but don't ever use vinegar with car engines. Using vinegar is also a bad idea when it comes to cleaning electronic screens, as these come with components that can be damaged by vinegar.

Because of its acidic nature, vinegar can cause issues with touchscreens and make them less responsive. Additionally, it can remove a screen's protective coating and damage its anti-glare properties. 

However, some electronics manufacturers, like Acer, suggest mixing equal parts warm distilled water and vinegar for hard-to-remove stains. Samsung suggests the same mixture for cleaning Samsung monitors. Neither manufacturer recommends using undiluted vinegar for cleaning electronic screens. Apple advises against using any household cleaners on its products. So, to be on the safe side, you can dampen a clean microfiber cloth with a safe screen cleaner or distilled water.

While vinegar is bad for electronics screens and any sort of electronics in general, not every household liquid shares the same properties. As much as alcohol can be bad for the human body, it can be quite useful in cleaning certain electronic devices. The emphasis here is on "certain", since using alcohol would be a mistake when cleaning your TV.

Alcohol won't automatically destroy electronics, but you have to be careful. Several electronics manufacturers recommend 70% isopropyl alcohol (or 75% ethyl alcohol) for cleaning purposes. Apple says that it can be used to clean the hard, non-porous surfaces of an Apple device, like the screen or keyboard. It shouldn't be used to clean Apple Vision Pro headsets because it could damage them.

Dell recommends dampening a microfiber cloth with a mix of 70% isopropyl alcohol and 30% water to clean display screens and keyboards. The important thing to remember here is to do this in moderation and not use too much liquid, which can seep into openings and damage the electronics. When it comes to electronic screens, alcohol isn't as bad as vinegar, but you have to know how to use it and where.