How to clean a MacBook screen and keyboard safely

Before cleaning your MacBook

This is physical cleaning: fingerprints, dust and crumbs. If you meant deleting caches, removing apps or clearing storage, use how to free up space on a Mac. Software can't remove a mark on the screen or dust from a port.

Set the Mac on a stable surface with good light. You need a clean, soft, lint-free cloth and a little water. Inspect the cloth first: a trapped grain of grit defeats the point of using something soft. Keep the liquid away from the computer while you dampen the cloth.

1. Save your work and shut down. On macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 Golden Gate, choose Apple menu › Shut Down. Let it turn off completely.
2. Disconnect power and accessories. Remove the charger, hubs and other cables. Apple tells you to unplug external power sources before cleaning.
3. Check the display type. A MacBook Pro ordered with nano-texture glass needs the guidance in its own section below. A matte screen protector is a separate accessory; follow its maker's instructions.
4. Use moisture sparingly. The cloth should be damp, not dripping. Never spray the screen, keyboard or case directly.

Apple warns against abrasive cloths, towels and paper towels, along with bleach, hydrogen peroxide, aerosol sprays and abrasives. More pressure or a stronger chemical isn't a sensible next step when a gentle pass hasn't worked.

How to clean a MacBook screen

For the ordinary display, Apple's laptop instructions start with water on a soft, lint-free cloth. Gently wipe the affected area, using a clean part of the cloth rather than dragging collected dirt back across the glass. Avoid pressing hard on the panel.

For stubborn smudges or fingerprints, Apple allows a cloth moistened with 70% isopropyl alcohol on a Mac laptop's display or exterior. That specific permission doesn't make every household glass cleaner suitable. Check the ingredients and avoid an unknown mixture advertised merely as a “screen cleaner”.

Don't pour or spray alcohol onto the computer, and don't use enough that it runs to the display edges. Stop once the mark is removed. Repeated scrubbing at a scratch or damaged coating won't make it disappear; get advice if the mark looks like damage rather than surface dirt.

Clean Touch ID and an older MacBook Pro's Touch Bar as Apple describes for those surfaces: with the Mac shut down and unplugged, use a soft cloth dampened with water. Avoid pressing buttons unnecessarily, and let surfaces dry before reconnecting accessories.

If the screen has nano-texture glass

Apple updated its nano-texture cleaning guidance on 22 October 2026. It now allows a clean Apple Polishing Cloth, another microfiber cloth made for electronic displays, or a fabric made from a blend of cotton and Elastane or SPANDEX. Older advice saying only the included Apple cloth is permitted is no longer the complete current guidance.

Use a clean approved cloth to remove dust or smudges. For infrequent cleaning of a stubborn mark, Apple permits moistening the cloth with 70% isopropyl alcohol. “Infrequent” matters: don't turn the stubborn-mark exception into the default daily treatment.

Apple also explains how to maintain the polishing cloth: hand-wash with dish soap and water, rinse thoroughly and air-dry for at least 24 hours. A cloth that still carries old dirt isn't ready just because the display needs cleaning. Keep a spare clean cloth if you need to use the Mac while one dries.

Clean the keyboard and trackpad

For ordinary surface dirt, wipe gently with a soft cloth and keep moisture out of gaps around the keys and trackpad. Apple's general disinfectant guidance allows a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe, a 75% ethyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes on hard, nonporous exterior surfaces such as keyboards. Avoid products containing bleach or hydrogen peroxide, and don't soak a wipe or allow liquid to pool.

Cleaning the key tops isn't the same as repairing a sticky mechanism. Don't pry off a keycap as the next experiment. If a key is still unresponsive after cleaning, it may need service.

Apple publishes a specific compressed-air procedure for a MacBook from 2015 or later, or MacBook Pro from 2016 or later with an unresponsive or unusual-feeling key. That article does not name the MacBook Air or Neo, so don't treat it as a universal model-specific repair procedure.

1. Use the can's straw. Keep its end about half an inch from the keyboard and keep the can upright; don't invert it while spraying.
2. Hold the laptop at 75 degrees. Apple describes this as not quite vertical.
3. Spray left to right. Cover the affected keys or keyboard.
4. Rotate onto the right side and repeat. Then rotate onto the left side and repeat the left-to-right pass.
5. Stop if the key remains faulty. Apple's next step is an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider.

This compressed-air instruction is for the keyboard issue Apple names. It is not an instruction to blast air through every opening or spin an internal fan.

Ports, vents and fans: keep it external

Wipe the outside of the enclosure gently and keep the cloth clear of openings. Don't insert a wet cloth, metal tool or cleaning liquid into a USB-C port, headphone socket or MagSafe connector. A connector that won't seat properly needs inspection, not extra force.

For this routine clean, leave the bottom case in place. The general Apple cleaning guidance doesn't provide an internal fan-cleaning procedure. Don't extrapolate the keyboard air-can steps into a teardown, and don't try to remove visible debris with a sharp object.

If you suspect blocked internal airflow or dust inside the machine, arrange a model-appropriate inspection. Tell the service provider whether the problem is heat, a rubbing sound, visible obstruction or a charging connection that fails. Those observations are more useful than a guessed internal cause.

Warmth alone doesn't prove that the Mac is dirty. Apple says a laptop can become warm in normal use. A sustained workload, a soft surface or a warm room also changes the thermal situation. Put the Mac on a firm surface with ventilation before deciding that it needs internal cleaning. See why a MacBook gets hot and what loud fans mean.

If liquid got inside

A spill isn't a normal cleaning job. Apple's cleaning page says to get help from an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider as soon as possible when liquid gets inside. Don't keep adding cleaner or reconnect a cable just to see whether the port works.

Stop if you see damage, if a key remains stuck, or if a port seems obstructed beyond what a gentle exterior wipe can address. Cleaning should end with a usable surface, not with the case opened or an improvised tool inside it.

Where Tend fits

Tend's free CPU-temperature display can help you compare the same workload before and after a clean, but a temperature change alone can't prove dust was the cause; no app cleans hardware or detects a blocked vent.

Questions

Related guides

Sources

Sources checked 23 October 2026. These are documented steps and specifications; no repair, installation or performance test was run for this guide.

• Apple, How to clean your Apple products
• Apple, How to clean your nano-texture Apple display — updated 22 October 2026
• Apple, How to clean the keyboard of your MacBook or MacBook Pro
• Apple, Keep your Mac laptop within acceptable operating temperatures

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