Why Phone Cases Turn Yellow & Remedies To It

Photograph: Suprakash Mishra

We have all faced this disappointment – our clear phone cases turning yellow in just a few months of being used. Here’s why it happens.

Flexible phone cases are made of silicone, an inexpensive polymer that turns yellow as it ages. The process is enhanced with exposure to heat, light, and chemicals.

Can I Remove The Yellow From Phone Cases?

The yellowing is not a stain, it is part of material degradation. While getting rid of the yellow is not easy, you can, however, prevent or delay it by doing the following:

1. Clean the case using soap and a toothbrush.
2. Scrub it with baking soda to remove all oil stains.
3. Disinfect with rubbing alcohol. Apart from cleaning the phone, it will kill bacteria and viruses like COVID-19.
4. Lastly, if everything else doesn’t work, scrub toothpaste using steel wool. Rinse the paste off and coat a paint thinner. Scrub again and rinse.

If that also doesn’t help, then it is time to buy a new phone case.