iKlenz vs. eScreen: Battle for the best iPhone and iPad cleaning solution!

By Georgia
last updated

"Both iKlenz and eScreen removed fingerprints, smudges, oil, and grime with a minimum of effort and left my iPhone and iPad with clean, clear, gorgeous-looking screens."

Whether you're rocking an iPhone 4S or iPad 2, or a previous generation iPhone, iPad or iPad touch, there's just no getting around one simple truth -- they're fingerprint magnets. What's more, since fingerprints come with oil, food, dirt, and who-knows-what-other substances all over them, you're device's screen can often turn into a sticky, icky mess. Enter iKlenz cleaning solition and eScreen flat panel cleaner, both contenders to the title of best iOS device cleaning solution. But which one is the best?

iKlenz and eScreen are specially engineered cleaning solutions for exactly the types of large, glass displays found on iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, and other, similar gadgets. (Including your computer's display.) These aren't glass cleaners either, and eScreen, for example, states that it's ecofriendly and silicone, ammonia and alcohol free, so you don't have to worry about it damaging the oleophobic (oil repelling) coating of your iPhone or iPad. iKlenz also says it works as a disinfectant to destroy bacteria and germs.

Both come in small squirt bottles so they're easy to store or even carry around with you, and both iKlenz and eScreen include micro-fiber cloths, though eScreen's is both larger and more plush. eScreen also comes with a nice cloth carrying pouch while iKlenz comes in a cardboard box.

To put them to the test, literally side-by-side, I dirtied up my iPhone 4S as best as possible -- fingerprints galore! -- and then divided the screen right down the middle. I applied 2 squirts of iklenz on one side and 2 squirts of eScreen on the other, and then compared how many wipes it took to get each side spotless, and the quality of the cleaning when it was done.

Both iKlenz and eScreen come with micro-fiber cloths, though eScreens is bigger and more plush

The good

  • Cleans better than a dry cloth
  • Dries faster and is safer to use than a damp cloth
  • Provides better, streak-free, finish
  • Includes micro-fiber cloth

The bad

  • More expensive than plain cloth

The bottom line

In my tests, iKlenz and eScreen performed equally well. Both iKlenz and eScreen removed fingerprints, smudges, oil, and grime with a minimum of effort and left my iPhone and iPad with clean, clear, gorgeous-looking screens. The full retail price for both is also the same (though at the time of this writing the iMore Store is offering a better sale price on eScreen).

So it comes down to the extras to break the tie, and with a bigger, softer micro-fiber cloth and the bonus carrying pouch, this time eScreen comes away with the win and the title. eScreen is currently the best cleaning solution for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

iKlenz - $14.95 - Buy now

eScreen - $17.95 - Buy now

Georgia
Georgia

Senior Editor at iMore and a practicing therapist specializing in stress and anxiety. She speaks everywhere from conferences to corporations, co-host of Vector and Isometric podcasts, follow her on Twitter @Georgia_Dow and check out her series at anxiety-videos.com.

17 Comments
  • ZAGGFOAM.
    ZAAAAAAGGGGGFFFFOOOAAAMMMM!
  • I recommend staying away from Zaggfoam. It left a cloudy, streaky residue all over my iphone and iPad and I couldn't get it off without using a wet cloth and rubbing hard. Zagg foam was awful.
  • Crazy expensive. I use Wipe 'n Clean eyeglass & lens cleaner. Purchased at a Wal Mart for $2.50 (8 oz.) It's safe for eyeware that is anti-glare coated so will not harm iDevice screens. Been using it for 4yrs, works great.
  • I use Clorox or Lysol wipes. My screen is fine.
  • I vote best cleaning solution: "hot breath" + "shirt wipe."
    For heavy duty jobs: "warm saliva" + "fingernail" + "shirt wipe."
  • How about some water on the cloth, as recommended by Apple?
  • Light cleaning: Lenspen Sidekick
    Heavy cleaning: RadTech's OmniCleanz
    Antibacterial cleaning: Zaggfoam
    Your phone is one of the grossest things you come into contact with on a daily basis. For me, iKlenz would win the battle for being a disinfectant.
  • waste of money
  • So wait... I shouldn't be using Comet and a scouring pad?
  • i use my 50/50 alcohol water mix.
  • Just a post to bolster sales on a 15-17$ wasteful product... Shame on you guys for pretending it's a shoot out on which over priced cleaner you should buy from the iMore store...
  • At least the appropriately named themselves iMore...as in more money!
  • Btw I posted the same comment before, nice to see Freedom of speech is non existent In canada
  • I've tried the damp soft cotton cloth route. It cleans all the visible stuff off of my ipad / iphone screen jus as well but the bottle of iKlear that I got a year ago (same stuff as these products) does leave the screen a lot more glide-able. The comparision is like washing your car with soup and water only versus waxing your car after the same washing job. I just wish that "glideablness" last as long as the wax job!
  • Inexpensive eye glass cleaner (Costco, Sams Club, etc) spiked with a few tablespoons of Sparkle glass cleaner. Microscope sales person told me his company (Nikon) recommends Sparkle to clean lenses, especially the oil immersion lens, without loosening the glue holding the tiny objective lens glass.
  • I have a 22 month old who loves to play with my iPad. She'd be on it all day long if I let her (and vice versa, but she won't share). If I try to put it out of reach, she finds it...often with sticky fingers from her banana or a peanut butter cracker. Yesterday she scribbled on it with crayon!!! I clean my screen multiple times a day. Usually I use a paper towel with a few drops of water on it, because that's what's handy. If I'm upstairs in my office I'll use the giant bottle of Monster ScreenClean with included microfiber cloth that I got for free with a TV ages ago. I really see no benefit of one over the other, except that the Monster stuff dries a few seconds faster. Both leave my iPad shiny new.
  • Also, I just checked a certain popular online store. Monster is cheaper than either of the products mentioned in your article, and the bottle is much bigger (200 mL or 6.76 fl oz). Still not as cheap as water and a paper towel, but there you go. Contains deionized water and "proprietary polymers" according to the water, and it's made in the USA.