(MBP M4) Can I touch the nano-texture glass with my fingers?

MartinR wrote:

The Apple polishing cloth is just an expensive cloth that feels good to the touch and has an Apple logo on it. It's not even that good at removing dust from the screen. IMHO you would be better off with a decent, inexpensive microfiber cloth. It's not going to damage your screen.

Curious to know if you've personally cleaned your nano-texture Pro XDR Display for the past five or so years with a clean t-shirt or regular microfiber cloth and evaluated the surface macroscopically or microscopically? Or perhaps your iPad Pro with nano-texture display for the past several months?

I can't say for sure that the Apple Polishing Cloth is not just their current version of snake oil. It costs $19, and maybe Apple will soon launch the Polishing Cloth Pro with 40% larger surface area for $49 and the Polishing Cloth Max with 83% larger surface area for $99.

But Apple has instructions about cleaning Apple-manufactured displays where they discuss using the included cleaning cloth or another soft, dry, lint-free cloth (your t-shirt material):

Clean your Mac computer’s screen or display - Apple Support

Then they have separate instruction on how to clean a nano-texture display where they indicate only the included polishing cloth should be used:

How to clean your nano-texture Apple display - Apple Support

In that second kbase, they specifically state, "...follow these important guidelines to prevent damage when cleaning the screen."

So if you are correct, Apple is bamboozling people into buying $19 pieces of fabric and lying about potential damage from using something else to clean the display surface that they designed and for which they specify the manufacturing process.

At the risk of being overly confrontational, I'd like to know what evidence you have that using a clean t-shirt or similar material to clean Apple's nano-texture display has no risk of causing damage to the surface.

Again, to be fair Apple could be making these statements out of an abundance of caution. In the first kbase I linked above, they state, "1. Shut down your Mac and disconnect its power cord and any connected devices," and really...does anyone do that before wiping the display? I certainly don't.

But in the meantime, I'll keep using the plethora of regular microfiber cloths laying around my house to clean most of the Mac laptop displays we have, but I plan to use Apple's polishing cloth to clean the nano-texture display of my new 16" M4 Pro MBP display, and I'd recommend that others follow Apple's advice to do so.

@MagJ_, the first part of what D.I. Johnson stated is correct – the surface is not a coating (unlike previous versions of Apple's anti-reflective displays, including the one that was prone to delaminating), but an etching into the glass surface to scatter reflections. Since the iPad Pro screen has the same surface, it will clearly tolerate being touched regularly. But touching means fingerprints, and fingerprints mean time spent cleaning. But I would not worry about your fingers damaging the surface, nor would I worry about needing to clean the surface using Apple's special cloth.

You should not touch the screen. Your fingers always have some amount of oils and dirt on them (even after just washing), and your nails could eventually scratch the screen. It's just good practice to keep your hands & fingers off the screen.

Even so, eventually you will need to clean the screen. For this, use a damp (warm damp, not wet) soft cloth like a microfiber or clean t-shirt cloth to gently wipe the screen from one side to the other. Do not use a circular motion, go from one side directly to the other. I even advise slightly rotating the cloth as you wipe so dust/dirt is lifted off the screen and not dragged across it. Use a dry cloth similarly to remove any moisture that may be on the screen.

The nano-texture of the glass is not a coating that can be worn off. The texture is created with a process that etches the glass.

Consider that the iPad is a touch device and has this feature. I don't believe the occasional cleaning of a MacBook screen that is nano-textured will present any problem. Take the same care that you would when cleaning any other fine glass surface. The advice give earlier by MartinR is right on.

OK, clean cotton t-shirt material if you prefer that wording. I certainly did not mean some "random" t-shirt that was crumpled up in your closet. My wording was "microfiber or clean t-shirt cloth."

The Apple polishing cloth is just an expensive cloth that feels good to the touch and has an Apple logo on it. It's not even that good at removing dust from the screen. IMHO you would be better off with a decent, inexpensive microfiber cloth. It's not going to damage your screen.