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How to Clean the iPad Magic Keyboard and Smart Folio Keyboard

5:29 video

Today, two possible ways to clean your iPad Magic Keyboard or Smart Keyboard Folio. Both are great, but they share a negative: they’re made of a rubbery material that over time picks up finger grease and oils and is very hard to clean. Over the last few months, I’ve gotten comments asking how I clean them, and I’d resigned myself to saying that over time you just can’t. Today a commenter, TerSuz1, suggested trying Dawn dish soap, so I did.

The test

On the Smart Keyboard Folio, you can see exactly where the grease stains are when the light hits it. They’re on both sides, so I tried rubbing alcohol on one side and Dawn on the other.

First, I wiped it with a dry rag to see if anything comes off with no liquids or chemicals: the stains were still there.

  • 70% rubbing alcohol: I put some on a microfiber cloth, spread it over an area, and wiped it off with the dry side of the cloth. It did an OK job: the treated top side looked quite different from the bottom. On the left side, where the stain was more ingrained, it didn’t do as well, though you can definitely see a difference between where I used the cleaner and where I didn’t.
  • Dawn: TerSuz1 said to use just a few drops of the blue Dawn and some water. I dabbed a little water on a microfiber cloth with a drop or two of soap (some bubbles), rubbed an area, and wiped it off with a dry microfiber cloth (“don’t worry about wiping the soap off with water”). It helped a little; I repeated it with more water and a couple more drops. You can see more of a matte finish, less shiny, though I wasn’t sure at first that it got out more than the alcohol.

I hit both sides one more time with each.

Result

I think the Dawn actually did a better job than the 70% rubbing alcohol. I wonder if 80 or 90% alcohol would act differently, but the Dawn gives a cleaner finish on the rubber of the Smart Keyboard Folio and iPad Magic Keyboard. I’m actually pretty impressed: it does a fairly good job, better than I’ve done in the past with rubbing alcohol. Another shout-out to TerSuz1 for the helpful tip. (Later I found an even better fix, a skin: see my SopiGuard video.) You can find my iPad Magic Keyboard and iPad tips videos in the playlist.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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