The Lowdown
Whether we like it or not, our devices are covered in germs. 15 minutes in the PhoneSoap HomeSoap gets the items you touch on a regular basis nice and clean and ready for action again!
Overall
Pros
- Easy to use
- Small footprint
- Can charge devices while they clean
- Fits larger items, including a 13″ Chromebook!
Cons
- A built-in handle for portability/travel would be fantastic
My son is very hyperaware of germs right now. He’s worried about things being dirty, and we spend an inordinate amount of time sanitizing everything. So when PhoneSoap brought their impressive UV light technology to a larger device called the PhoneSoap HomeSoap, I immediately volunteered to test it!
PhoneSoap’s devices work off the idea that UV-C light can kill bacteria on the surface of your devices. They have special lightbulbs that generate UV-C rays and operate in a fully sealed environment.
The upside is that it makes this easy to use-slap the phone inside, shut the door, and open it when the light indicates the cycle is done. The downside is that it’s hard to visually see those results unless you have access to a lab.
Luckily for us, PhoneSoap has a clip from Discovery where they put their UV-C technology to the test — you can watch it here.
I don’t have the ability to recreate any cool petri dish experiments, and it’s hard enough getting my child to navigate the world while fighting his germ issues. So we’ll have to take Discovery’s word for it, but the science is quite sound.
Largest hardcover I could find for scale.
PhoneSoap has made phone-sized devices for quite a while, but HomeSoap aims for bigger. It’s large enough to hold a tablet, so you can UV-C sanitize almost all your everyday carry items. My son can attest that it holds a phone, tablet, and Nintendo Switch with ease.
Officially, PhoneSoap says the internal dimensions are 13.18″ by 3.66″ by 11.5″, which for what it’s worth, is large enough for my son’s 13″ school-issued Chromebook to fit inside.
All you need to do to use it is open the door and pop the item you want to sanitize inside. PhoneSoap HomeSoap runs an automatic UV cycle to sanitize whatever is placed inside.
The ease of use is really key here. It’s helpful for a few reasons.
One, the idea here is that you could legitimately sanitize all your everyday devices when you walk into your home. Making it this easy to do means you can just drop in your phone, tablet, Kindle, etc., as you walk in the door, get settled and changed post-work, and there will be clean devices ready for you.
Second, it’s simple enough that I can trust my child to do this himself, and most importantly, he feels comfortable that one round in the HomeSoap is enough to sanitize his devices.
Action shot as it sanitized my phone in a UV-C tanning bed.
This alone is huge when dealing with an anxious kid with severe germaphobia! It’s so easy to use that we even took it with us on a weeklong visit to my parents.
The PhoneSoap HomeSoap clocks in at 5 pounds 14 ounces, according to my kitchen scale, and it’s 14.9″ by 5.96″ by 11.15″; it’s a little too bulky to toss into a backpack, but it easily fits in a tote bag full of games and books.
The size, in general, makes it easy to find a central location for the HomeSoap. In person, it’s only slightly bigger than a large hardcover book, and you really just need enough space to open the front door for access. I put it on a long cabinet, but you could probably store it on a bookshelf or one side of a desk and not feel like you’ve given up a major footprint.
Size and ease of use make this fantastic, and there’s one more feature to the HomeSoap that shows PhoneSoap gave the design significant thought.
Inside the device are two ports, USB-A and USB-C, and you can charge a device while it gets sanitized! This is a minor feature, but it shows they considered all your needs, like how a 15-minute top-off can maximize your efficiency while your device gets cleaned!
Whether we like it or not, our devices are covered in germs. Fifteen minutes in the PhoneSoap HomeSoap gets the items you touch on a regular basis nice and clean and ready for action again! Not bad for $199.95 (it’s on sale on the PhoneSoap site for $140 as of this writing).
The PhoneSoap HomeSoap sells for $199.95; it is available directly from the manufacturer and other retailers, including Amazon.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample
What I Like: Easy to use; Small footprint; Can charge devices while they clean; Fits larger items, including a 13″ Chromebook!
What Needs Improvement: A built-in handle for portability/travel would be fantastic