What is the "oleophobic coating" made of?

We don't necessarily know. That document applies to all potentially hazardous materials that Apple uses across all of its products. To my knowledge they've never specifically said what goes into the oleophobic finish for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, or other Apple devices with touchscreens or with glass surfaces. It's like the discussion of whether or not Apple uses Corning's "Gorilla Glass". We know that Corning makes Gorilla Glass and that Corning is listed as one of Apple's suppliers. It would seem likely that Apple uses Gorilla Glass, but that's only conjecture. Whatever Apple uses for its oleophobic finish on iPhones is only conjecture. Heck - they could use something different depending on model or any number of different factors including multiple manufacturers of the touchscreens using different materials.

At least in California we get the "Proposition 65" warning that there might be some hazardous materials, but again we don't necessarily know what they are.

You should note too that there is no legal requirement to provide an MSDS for consumer products. The legal requirement to provide them applies to chemicals used in the workplace. So even producers of self applied oleophobic coatings, like the brand liquipel, are not required to provide to consumers an MSDS of their product’s components.

You can find an MSDS for PTFE (Teflon) online though, since it is used extensively in industry.

You never mentioned PFAS in your original post so I had no idea that was specifically what you were asking about. If that was your concern, you could have just have said so up front. An oleophobic glass coating does not necessarily need use any PFAS compounds as there are several alternative classes of compounds that could be used for application of coatings to glass.

Even if used, note that the reporting threshold is indicated, and below that, no company has to disclose it in a consumer product.

I have no idea if any PFAS compounds are used in Apple device oleophobic coatings. Apple does not say, so presumably they are either not used or are used at such a low concentration they are not required to be disclosed.

Either way, users here in the users forum only know what Apple discloses publicly. We have no inside information on Apple products. So if you have further questions of such specificity, you’re going to have to write to Apple Corporate for information.

burke1219 wrote:

Michael, PFAS is not the only one I'm interested in, but it *is* one of the few Apple has highlighted in their environmental commitment disclosure.

There are thousands of PFAS chemicals so I'm not sure how that would have changed your response if I had specifically asked about PFAS; it would be like me asking if you have a human working at Apple. The answer will most likely be yes.

I would love to hear your ideas for the alternative classes of compounds besides PFAS that can be applied to glass surface (not in between the metal and the glass), reduces fingerprints and exhibits oleophobic properties.

Course of action-wise, testing the iPhone on our own should probably resolve the issue accurately and without a black box situation.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, to bring it back to your first reply - my rights to ask as a consumer are not superseded by any claims related to legality of disclosure. The public has the right to ask these questions on a forum, and the companies themselves should be the ones to tell me that they will not be providing details because they are not legally required to do so. Rather than taking on that role yourself, in the future you could just say you don't know the answer. I also recommend not speaking on matters that are outside your realm of expertise (e.g., pointing me towards the MSDS for Teflon, a PFAS, which you've now stated you do not know if it is the oleophobic coating on the iPhone). I hope this message carries through to your future interactions. Thanks for your consideration!

Nobody is saying you cannot ask any question on these forums. But there are user forums, not Apple Corporate support forums. Apple Corporate will not respond here. And as Apple does not publicly state the specifics of the oleophobic coating on their products, nobody here on the public user forums will know the answer to your query.

All anyone here knows is what Apple makes publicly available to us all. Since you came here because you had not found your answer in what was publicly available, I am merely pointing out that these forums won’t get you any other answer.

So to get specific answers to your questions, you will need to address them to Apple. Contact information for Apple Are provided on their web site -> Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

And PDMS films, as one example, do provide for alternative nonperfluorinated Oleophobic coatings for glass surfaces. They have their own pros and cons, as any chemical does.

You should print your questions and them mail them.

Apple

One Apple Park Way

Cupertino, CA 95014

(408) 996–1010

What Apple uses is proprietary, but many of these coatings are similar to Teflon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipophobicity

burke1219 wrote:

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, to bring it back to your first reply - my rights to ask as a consumer are not superseded by any claims related to legality of disclosure. The public has the right to ask these questions on a forum, and the companies themselves should be the ones to tell me that they will not be providing details because they are not legally required to do so. Rather than taking on that role yourself, in the future you could just say you don't know the answer. I also recommend not speaking on matters that are outside your realm of expertise (e.g., pointing me towards the MSDS for Teflon, a PFAS, which you've now stated you do not know if it is the oleophobic coating on the iPhone). I hope this message carries through to your future interactions. Thanks for your consideration!

Depends. I won't necessarily say it's about Apple per se, but if someone were to file a lawsuit against a manufacturer for selling a toxic product that led to health effects it would be possible to subpoena the company for a list of materials used. It might be possible to quash such a subpoena on the grounds that it would be violating a company's right to maintain a trade secret, or it might even be restricted to disclosure behind closed doors.

Also - this forum is Apple's property and not a public square as such. Interpret what you will from that.

However, you're specifically asking about trade secrets. All we have when it comes to trade secrets is conjecture. It's not that hard to understand. Even though some people might be allergic to one of the ingredients, food companies can hide their trade secrets with language such as "natural and artificial ingredients" or just "spices". That's come up in the past before when McDonald's eventually disclosed that they used natural beef extract as one of the "natural flavoring" ingredients in their fries.

Sure. Whatever Apple uses is still proprietary, but this technology isn't unique to Apple