A dirty keyboard is never a good thing; so if you want it to look like new again, here’s how to clean your Mac keyboard.
Apple’s keyboard is one of the best looking keyboards on the market, with its aluminum design and glossy white keys that contrast nicely with the aluminum color. However, dirt and grime look incredibly good on white surfaces, meaning your Mac keyboard can look a lot dirtier than most other keyboards.
Dirty keyboards look disgusting and your keyboard has a sewage for all kinds of germs to start with. This means it’s a good idea to clean your keyboard frequently to keep it germ-free, so it’s also free of dirt and grime so it always looks brand new.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot you can clean up as you can’t completely disassemble a Mac keyboard, but you can remove the keys to get rid of anything festering underneath.
Without further ado, here’s how to clean your Mac keyboard.
Materials
Before you start taking your MacBook Pro apart, you’ll need a few supplies to get started:
Compressed air is to blow the dust accumulated under the keys. The microfiber cloth is for wiping the keys using water and dish soap. The Spudger (or fingernail) is for lifting keys and removing them from the keyboard, and the Q-Tips are for removing stubborn dirt from the keyboard that compressed air can’t.
Now that you have the supplies you need, let’s finally start cleaning your Mac keyboard. Make sure you unplug the keyboard or if it’s wireless, turn it off and remove the batteries.
Quick Erase
Before you remove anything and start tearing apart your Mac keyboard, dampen your microfiber cloth using water and mild dish soap. You don’t need to use a lot of dish soap – a single drop will do.
Start wiping the outside of the keyboard to get rid of dust, dirt and grime. You may need to pay more attention to the keys, especially if they look very dirty. Don’t be afraid to rub the keys with a little force, but make sure your cloth is very wet as you don’t want too much water dripping into the cracks.
Remove Keys
Once you’ve cleaned the outside of the keyboard you’ll want to dig inside to get rid of any residual grime and grime. This means you will need to remove the keys.
To do this, take a spudger or your fingernail and insert it into the crack between the keyboard body and the switch. From there, carefully lift the key to remove it. Do this for all keys if you really want to.
Brush Inside
After removing the keys, take your compressed air and gently blow out any dust or dirt that has accumulated in the key slot. If there is any stubborn dirt or grime, you can use the damp Q-Tip to scrub. However, allow the area to dry thoroughly before reinstalling the keys.
To reattach the keys to the keyboard, simply insert a key into its slot and press firmly until it clicks into place. Some keys, including the spacebar, are a little more complex, but it takes a little more effort to snap them into place.
