Apple
15 Things Your Apple Watch Should Never Touch
The Apple Watch is not waterproof and while it is water-resistant Apple is very specific about where you shouldn’t wear it. We also learned about 15 things that you should make sure never touch your Apple Watch.
Sweat is fine, but if you love to lather up with lotion, spray on bug repellent and constantly wash your hands you will want to be careful about what touches your Apple Watch.
Apple outlines the care that the company went through to select skin friendly materials for the Apple Watch design, but with stainless steel, aluminum, leather, gold and other metals in the mix there are specific items that Apple says you should minimize the exposure to.
Read: Why to Buy Apple Watch AppleCare+
To be clear, if you get a little bit of one of these items on your Apple Watch it isn’t the end of the world, but prolonged and repeated exposure could damage your Apple Watch or the things it touches.
Before you wear your Apple Watch here are 15 things you should do your best to keep it from touching, straight from the Apple Watch User Guide.
- Soap
- Detergent
- Acids or acidic foods
- Salt water
- Soapy water
- Pool water
- Perfume
- Insect repellent
- Lotions
- Sunscreen
- Oil
- Adhesive remover
- Hair dye
- Cleaning solutions and liquids
- Key cards and credit cards
Apple doesn’t state what can happen with the first 14 items on this list, but the magnet could cause problems for credit card and key card magnetic stripes.
If you do let some o these items come into contact with your Apple Watch the company recommends cleaning it quickly. Here’s how you should clean the Apple Watch.
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Turn off Apple Watch. Press and hold the side button, then drag the Power Off slider to the right.
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Depress the band release buttons and remove the band.
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Wipe Apple Watch clean with a nonabrasive, lint-free cloth. If necessary, you can also lightly dampen the cloth with fresh water.
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Dry Apple Watch with a nonabrasive, lint-free cloth
Do not use cleaning materials, just the cloth and a small amount of fresh water if needed. The Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport should handle exposure to these items better than the Apple Watch Edition. Apple specifically warns to, “remove surface oil, perfumes, lotions, and other substances, especially before storing Apple Watch Edition.”
If you are trying to clean the Apple Watch you should not spray it with canned air or try to dry it or the bands faster with a hair dryer or other external heat source.
One other thing that you should try to avoid is hot and cold weather. The Apple Watch’s temperature range is 32° and 95° F (0° and 35° C). When used outside these ranges the heart rate monitor may not work as well, the display may dim, there might be a temperature warning screen and some apps may close.
From a water exposure standpoint you should not submerge the Apple Watch, but it is OK to wear while working out and while washing your hands. The pressurized water from the shower or from water sports like waterskiing can weaken the water resistance.
Notgivingyou Name
05/31/2015 at 6:56 pm
Your information is incorrect especially about performance issues. Should be “Volume UP” not down
esther
02/21/2016 at 1:10 am
Hi I love my (white) apple watch . I think I have a high amount of acidity in my body and slowly over time, I have noticed that there is a green stain on the white strap. I have tried washing with the magic white sponge and warm water, but unfortunately, no joy. Im a bit nervous to use bleach, but as it is my only other option, do you think I could use diluted bleach in warm water. many thanks. Esther
hawonnguyen135
04/01/2016 at 10:31 pm
After reading about the known issues on Apple Watch https://www.cupertinowatch.com/apple-watch-problems-fixes/ and then this list, I don’t want to use it anymore