How To Clean Apple Nylon Watch Band

Home » How to Clean Apple Watch Band – Full Guide

How to Clean Apple Watch Band – Full Guide

By Josh | Published On: October 16, 2021 |

The Apple Watch is the ultimate personal assistant, elite fitness tracker, and an extension to our everyday life. With regular wear, these devices tend to accumulate dust, germs, and any liquid other than water like sweat, lotion, and sunscreen, which overtime can increase the chances for skin irritation.

Keeping your Apple Watch clean is important for both your comfort and the longevity of your device. Here is a guide that will walk you through the steps needed to clean your watch without damaging it.

What You'll Need

Nonabrasive, lint-free cloth
Freshwater
Mild hypoallergenic hand soap (only on non-leather bands)
Wait 15 – 25 mins until the bands dry (almost double that for nylon bands)

Important:

It is imperative that you dry your Apple Watch and band after cleaning. Leaving these items wet can cause a variety of issues such as skin irritation, poor odor, and in the worst case a malfunctioning Apple Watch. You can use a paper or regular towel to dry all the moisture from the strap and watch. You can also leave your band for a few hours to dry at room temperature before wearing it.
Before you begin, turn off your Apple Watch and detach the band from the watch
You should always wait for the bands to fully dry before re-attaching them to your Apple Watch
Apple does NOT recommend using cleaning products such as hand soap, or using abrasive materials, or drying your device with hot air, because it could damage your device
Apple Watch Series 1 owners should NOT get their Apple Watch wet. Instead of water, use a damped piece of clothing or microfiber cloth.

How to clean your Apple Watch

How to clean Apple Watch Digital Crown

If the Digital Crown is stuck, there's a chance that excess dirt is getting in the way of the Crown. Examine the Digital Crown, check around for debris and by-products like lotion or sunscreen, and if you find any, this is how you clean the Digital Crown:

Make sure your device is fully turned off and the band is detached
Hold the Digital Crown under a light stream of running water (tap water is fine) for about 10 – 15 seconds
Turn and press the Digital Crown to let water in-between the crown and the rest of the watch
Using a soft, lint-free cloth, dry your watch thoroughly.

Clean the Mic on the Apple Watch

The microphone and speakers are more susceptible for deposits over time, so make sure you clean them thoroughly.

Make sure your device is fully turned off
Using a q-tip, or a tooth brush, gently wipe/brush away any dust or oily residue that you see
(optional) Hold your Apple Watch under a lightly running tap water for 10 -15 seconds. Dry afterwards with clean, lint-free cloth.

How to clean Apple Watch face

Make sure your device is fully turned off and the band is detached.
Lightly dampen your non-abrasive, lint-free cloth with fresh water and gently wipe away any sticky residue or oily substances that you see.
(optional) Hold your Apple Watch under a lightly running tap water for 10 – 15 seconds.
Using a soft, lint-free cloth, dry your watch thoroughly.

How to clean an Apple Watch band

After you have cleaned the Apple Watch itself, it is essential that you wear it with a clean band as well.

There is a wide variety of materials for Apple Watch straps that you can get for the Apple Watch. Each material has a different method for cleaning, but the basic principle remains the same.

If you don't know what material your Apple Watch band is made of, you can look at the pictures below to see if any match or are similar to the band you have.

Silicone bands

Silicone bands are flexible and water-resistant. There is little chance of corrosion or damage when cleaning, especially if your band is genuine Apple. However, if you have an aftermarket band from China, certain chemicals may remove the color from your band. The safest way to wash your silicone strap is by using warm water with hand soap to wash and clean them.

Strong chemical agents, such as Clorox, can ruin a silicone band. If you wear your band to the gym, you may want to disinfect it with ultraviolet light (UV). You can learn how to disinfect your Apple Watch and all bands with UV light below.

Leather straps

You should be extra cautious when cleaning your leather strap, especially if you're dealing with genuine leather.

Wipe the leather strap with nonabrasive, lint-free cloth. If needed, lightly dampen the cloth with freshwater.
Gently wipe-away any dust, oily substance, or other sticky residue that you see. Rinse the cloth at least once to avoid spreading dirt or stains around your strap.
Dry using nonabrasive, lint-free cloth.

Tips:

Don't use products containing bleach, hydro peroxide, or other harsh chemicals. Harsh chemicals like bleach can damage the leather's natural finish and leave it discolored.
Do not soak your leather strap in water – they're not water resistant. Leather absorbs water and could lead to discoloration or deformation.
Wait for your leather strap to dry entirely before attaching it back to your Apple Watch. If you try to dry leather with a hairdryer, you may end up causing cracks and loss of strength of the leather.
You can use a leather cleaner or balm on your leather band, which will prolong the life of the leather but this will not disinfect any germs you may have on your band.

Nylon bands

Nylon is a fiber, and you can quickly clean it under running water or in a washing machine (depending on the metal hardware on the band). The water won't affect the color and life of the band in most cases, but there is a chance that the band doesn't get dried and water will stay inside the fiber which may cause mold to grow and an awful smell. It is best that you stick with a wet cloth and a soft-bristle brush (such a toothbrush), if necessary.

Braided Bands

Use warm water and hand soap or dishwashing soap to clean your braided band. Dry with paper towel or piece of soft cloth, then leave it to dry for 1.5 – 2 hours.

A picture of a floating Apple Watch in black

Stainless Steel loops and straps

Stainless steel bands can be washed with warm water and soap, though avoid using harsh chemicals as they may degrade the protective coating around the band, which could also affect the color of the band.

Zinc-alloy straps

The majority of Apple Watch metal bands are zinc-alloy coated with paint. To be on the safe side, you should not use any abrasive chemicals to clean zinc-alloy bands, instead stick to wash, hand soap and a toothbrush if necessary.

If you want to disinfect your zinc-alloy band and remove 99.9% of bacteria you should use an ultraviolet (UV) light for disinfection. You can learn more about cleaning with UV light below.

Hybrid bands or straps

Hybrid bands are made with a combination of two or more material. For example, a band which has leather and nylon, or leather and metal.

In these scenarios, you should use the method above that is safe for the more sensitive material.

For example, if you have a leather/stainless steel band, you should follow the instructions under leather as this material is harder to clean compared to stainless steel.

Once again, to disinfect these types of bands are remove 99.9% of germs using UV lights.

Disinfecting

Apple Watch and straps are exposed to pretty much every germ you touch with your hands. Thus, they are as dirty as your hands but are not washed as frequently as your hands. We do not recommend you clean or disinfect your Apple Watch or its accessories with Clorox or Lyson as these chemicals could cause damage to your watch or strap or both.

For the majority of people, washing your Apple Watch with warm water or damp cloth and hand soap should be sufficient.

If you want to disinfect your bands of 99% of germs you can use Ultraviolet (UV) light as a viable option. Here are some products which we recommend to disinfect your Apple Watch, straps, bands and accessories:

Homedics UV-Clean Portable Sanitizer

Homedics UV-Clean Sanitizer kills up to 99.9% of germs, viruses and bacteria. UV light is environmentally safe and the bulb in this product is mercury-free. According to Homedics, you can clean your items such as Apple Watch and accessories in one-minute. We recommend that you prolong the disinfection process to 15-30 minutes.

UV Light Sanitizer

This is a handheld UV Light Sanitizer which can be used for Apple Watch or anything else around the house that wouldn't normally fit into the Homedics pouch. Again we recommend that you extend the manufacturer's recommended disinfection time from 20-seconds to at least one minute.

Author: Josh

Josh Preston was born in New York and raised in Palm Beach, FL. He is a writer, animal lover, and freelancer based in Boca Raton, FL. Josh joined the Limitless Bands team in 2021.

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