Does UV-C light kill germs? See the lab results.
Do UV phone sanitizers work? Here’s the proof.
Short answer: yes — and we have the lab reports to prove it. Independent, accredited labs have measured PhoneSoap’s UV-C phone sanitizers against the bacteria and viruses you carry around every day, with results up to 99.99%+ eliminated. Here’s exactly what was tested, by whom, and how.
UV-C light, optimized.
PhoneSoap isn’t just a bulb in a box. Every device is engineered around the three variables that decide how much germicidal UV-C actually reaches a surface: intensity, distance, and time. A UV-C-transparent quartz plate suspends your device between the bulbs, and a reflective interior wraps the light all the way around it — top, bottom, and edges.
The cycle length is then tuned to the intensity and distance of the bulbs so that even the hardest-to-reach point still reaches 99.99% disinfection — anything directly under the light is sanitized faster still. No heat, no chemicals; the same UV-C wavelength used to disinfect hospital tools and water, in a sealed, eye-safe chamber.
See it in this Discovery Channel feature, then dig into the lab results below.
Why these results hold up.
What each device is tested against.
The quick version — the full breakdown, with labs and methods, is below.
| Device | Sanitizes | Lab-tested against | Verified by |
|---|---|---|---|
| PhoneSoap 3, Basic, Go & Wireless | 99.99% | Salmonella, E. coli, MRSA, Staphylococcus, H1N1 (flu), Rhinovirus (cold), Rotavirus, Human coronavirus (229E) | BioScience (GLP), Microchem, Blackrock |
| HomeSoap | 99.9% | E. coli, Staphylococcus, MRSA, Salmonella, Human coronavirus (229E) | Blackrock, Microchem |
| PhoneSoap Baby | 99.9% | Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella Paratyphi A, Shigella flexneri | Independent laboratory |
| PhoneSoap Pro | 99.99% | Salmonella, Human coronavirus (229E), SARS-CoV-2 | Microchem, Blackrock |
| ExpressPro | 99.99% | C. difficile spores, S. aureus / MRSA, Salmonella, Candida auris, SARS-CoV-2, Human coronavirus (229E) | Microchem (GLP), University of Tennessee (SARS-CoV-2) + clinical studies |
| SurfaceSoap UV | 99.99% | Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Human coronavirus (OC43) | BioScience (GLP) |
Broken out by device, lab, and method.
PhoneSoap 3, Basic, Go & Wireless
99.99%†HomeSoap
99.9%†PhoneSoap Baby · Bottles & feeding gear
99.9%†PhoneSoap Pro
99.99%†ExpressPro · Healthcare
99.99%†SurfaceSoap UV
99.99%†How we test — and why we can say 360-degree.
Most “does it work” pages stop at a percentage. If you actually want to know how that number is produced — and why it covers your whole phone, not just the screen — here it is.
How a single device is tested
- Real device, multiple spots. Instead of dabbing germs on one convenient spot, the lab inoculates a measured dose of live bacteria or virus at several points across every side of an actual phone — the front glass, the back, and the edges.
- Dried into a film, often soiled. The inoculum is dried onto the surface, and for the tougher protocols it’s mixed with an organic “soil load” — proteins that mimic the oils and residue your phone picks up from real hands and faces.
- A real cycle is run. The device runs its normal UV-C cycle — nothing accelerated or idealized.
- Survivors are counted. Each spot is recovered and the surviving organisms are counted against an identical, untreated control device.
- Every point has to pass. The reduction is calculated per spot — so a device only earns its claim if even the hardest-to-reach point clears it, not just the face under the bulb.
All of this testing is performed on hard, non-porous surfaces (like glass, metal, and plastic) — the materials these devices are designed to sanitize.
The standards behind the numbers
Testing performed by independent, accredited third-party laboratories including BioScience Laboratories, Microchem Laboratory, Blackrock Consulting & Services, and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Regional Biocontainment Laboratory.
The design that makes 360-degree possible
UV-C only disinfects what it directly reaches, so a device only earns a whole-phone claim if the light gets everywhere at once. Two design choices make that possible — and the every-side testing above is what holds them to it.
See it for yourself: PhoneSoap vs. a lookalike
We set PhoneSoap next to a lookalike UV sanitizer and ran three quick checks you can watch: before-and-after swabs grown on petri dishes, a UV light meter reading of what each device actually emits, and UV-C indicator cards that change color wherever the light lands — on the front and the back of the phone.
This is an in-house demonstration, not a lab study. We made it so you can see how UV-C coverage works. Our official efficacy testing is run through independent, accredited third-party laboratories — those are the results shown on this page.
Read the video transcript
Today, we’re going to test PhoneSoap versus a potential “PhoneySoap.” For the first test, we’re going to swab two phones before and after to see what kind of stuff we can find growing on them.
Let’s check out PhoneySoap, after. A strange little growth — yeah, over here. Let’s see how PhoneSoap did. There you go. Yeah, I don’t think I can see anything on this one. 360-degree disinfection on here, but this one, not so much.
We’re going to do a couple more tests. I’ll be using a UV light meter to test exactly what kind of light is being emitted by each of these products. We’ve done the same tests on all of our products, including HomeSoap — and as you can see from these readings, HomeSoap also uses high-powered UV-C bulbs.
We’re going to be taking these QuickCheck UV-C dosimeters — they help visualize exactly where on the phone the light is hitting. That is a full disinfection on this side. Let’s see how it looks on the back: as predicted, evenly distributed across the entire thing. So if you want 360 degrees of disinfection, stick with PhoneSoap.
Why a lot of cheap “UV sanitizers” don’t work
If you’re comparing, watch for two red flags:
- It’s not real UV-C. Many knock-offs use cheaper UV-A or visible “blacklight” LEDs (that purple glow) that look the part but barely touch germs. Germicidal disinfection requires true UV-C.
- It only spot-cleans. Even some that use real UV-C put a single bulb or LED on top — so at best they sanitize one side, and often only the small patch directly under the light. The back and edges sit in shadow, and most of your phone never gets sanitized.
Why we don’t test against every germ.
There are millions of bacteria and viruses — no one tests them all. The good news is they don’t all need testing, because UV-C disables every microbe the same way: it scrambles the DNA or RNA at its core so it can’t function or reproduce. That makes susceptibility predictable, and it follows a known ladder of resistance.
Some germs are far tougher to kill than others. Bacterial spores sit at the very top — the hardest of all — followed by certain non-enveloped viruses, then fungi, then everyday bacteria, with enveloped viruses (like the flu and coronaviruses) the easiest to destroy. So labs test a representative spread across that ladder, and deliberately include the tough ones.
That’s the key: when a device clears a hard-to-kill organism, it’s strong evidence it also handles the easier germs that behave like the ones already proven. Our PhoneSoap 3 reduces resilient bacterial spores by over 99.9%, and ExpressPro clears C. difficile spores — some of the most stubborn microbes there are. If UV-C beats those, the everyday bacteria and viruses on your phone don’t stand much of a chance.
Sanitize what you touch most.
The lab results are in. Put hospital-grade UV-C to work on your phone and everyday essentials.
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