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iPad Air iPad screen looks always dirty
- Thread starter Sensamic
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How long have you had the iPad? The oleophobic coating wears off. My own experience and reports from others indicate the coating is effective for about six months to about two years. The durability depends upon usage and cleaning, materials and frequency.
www.ifixit.com
An older thread.
This lasted a couple of weeks to a couple of months — consistent across at least a few reviews.
How to Restore or Apply an Oleophobic Coating
Use this guide along with an oleophobic coating kit to restore the oleophobic coating on your device, or to add an oleophobic coating to your...
www.ifixit.com
An older thread.
OLEOPEL Oleophobic Coating Wipe On Kit 4ml Anti Fingerprint Liquid for All Smartphones Tablets Smart Watches Glasses Camera Lenses and Touch Screens
OLEOPEL by ProofTech is a cutting-edge, transparent coating that bonds to the glass of your device offering enhanced smudge and fingerprint resistance. This extremely thin and invisible coating replenishes and improves the oleophobic properties of the glass surface by improving it’s water and oil...
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The coating may reduce the smudges but as a touch-oriented device, it can't be avoided if you use your fingers.
You should put a screen protector on it, as using it without one will probably make the screen dirtier and is risky as well.
That is how the oleophobic layer is supposed to behave... if not, then every single iPad that I've owned with an oleophobic layer was defective.
That is why I use matte screen protectors in my iPads. Sure, clarity suffers slightly, but fingerprint smudges don't happen, glare from overhead lights are diffused, and my finger and smoothly and consistently slide across the screen. (without a matte screen protector, my fingers would drag on clean spots but glidely quickly where finger oils were present)
Yes it looks dirty all the time. Unless you use it with the Pencil exclusively and don't ever accidentally touch the display with your fingers out of habit it's going to show fingerprints.
Your phone will also have these but unless you hold it at an angle and look for them you won't notice them as much. On the bigger iPad screen it's more easily noticeable.
It's worse on the iPad's nanotexture display as the smudges interfere with looking at the content in direct sunlight. The sun will reflect off the fingerprints strongly and the exceptional brightness of the Tandem OLED doesn't quite cut through that.
Only way to avoid is to use the Pencil...
Your phone will also have these but unless you hold it at an angle and look for them you won't notice them as much. On the bigger iPad screen it's more easily noticeable.
It's worse on the iPad's nanotexture display as the smudges interfere with looking at the content in direct sunlight. The sun will reflect off the fingerprints strongly and the exceptional brightness of the Tandem OLED doesn't quite cut through that.
Only way to avoid is to use the Pencil...
The only way I can use these glassy devices is with a matte screen protector. Since 2017? I've been using the iCarez matte protectors on my iPads, Watch, and Phone (no relation to the company) - and it's surprising how many people ask me to put one on their devices after they see mine (family/friends/etc).
Even with a screen protector, when I had an iPad, I had to use a tiny little cloth to keep my hand from smudging up the screen while writing with the Apple Pencil - especially in the summer.
Even with a screen protector, when I had an iPad, I had to use a tiny little cloth to keep my hand from smudging up the screen while writing with the Apple Pencil - especially in the summer.
The coating makes it easier to clean the smudges off, in my experience. Once it becomes hard to simply wipe them off is when you know the coating's shot.