How To Fix Macbook Screen Coating

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I'm fighting with a macbook air screen, same problem, a endless number of attempts with different day use chemicals and some solvents, but no real solution here either. Some parts of the screen are easily removed even with isopropyl alcohol, others seem to be hard as granite, awful coating. I've had some success with harder parts with some hardwood ashes plus alcohol, leaving screen in a pretty good shape, but it's a time consuming, I must have already wasted a couple of hours on it probably.

Couldn't find anything really useful around the net unfortunately.

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My MacBook screen has been getting progressively worse - total staingate! I have used mild "screen" wipes available in our office - no help. After watching a YouTube video of a guy removing the coating with Listerine, I opted to try an anti-bacterial all purpose wipe (this was a no-name brand) similar to Lysol. I had nothing to lose! It worked. Screen is 99% better than it was. I reckon one more treatment will do the trick. It took about 5 minutes to clean it.

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Me again. Just tried ACETONE and BE CAREFUL… Although it seems like it does not do any bad for the glass, eventually it does, after like a minute or so with constant contact to the glass. It then starts to bite into the screen itself creating small but noticeable dents in the glass which results in a far worse condition than the staingate issue. Learn from my mistake guys… :/

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I didn't have any alcohol so I tried a hand-wipe (Purell brand), which I thought was alcohol based, but in fact is benzalchronium chloride 0.13% as active ingredient. It worked easily - about 4 wipes and 15 minutes. I followed with a bit of water and a microfiber cloth.

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Baby wipes removed the anti glare coating on my MacBook Pro in about 5 minutes flat! Ever tried wiping yourself with the things - Lord knows why we use them on our kids! They are slightly abrasive which makes them perfect for this job.

The coating on my 2014 MacBook Pro had come away already around the edges of the screen (about 20 mm in all the way around) with the usual "key marks" in the centre.

Applying gentle pressure with about 4 baby wipes was good enough to produce a perfect result in about 5 minutes.

In my opinion, the screen looks better than new — I prefer the Retina display without the anti-reflective coating on. Mac feels like new again :)

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Recently purchased a 2013 MacBook retina with significant delamination. I thought I would try to take it off. First I used 91% rubbing alcohol. After a lot of rubbing, I had made very little progress. Next, I used 409 cleaner, seemed less effective than alcohol. I tried Clorox cleaner. It was better than alcohol but smelled horrible and I thought it might damage the rubber seal around the glass. Even tried Meguiar's finishing polish. Finally went with a roll of Bounty paper towels and Windex. I quit after an hour of intense rubbing. I was able to removed all the film except around the edges. I should be able to finish this in another 30-40 minutes. So I would use Windex.

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Thanks for all the comments - I used dilute toilette bleach with a soft dishcloth and it brought the coating off in two minutes, with zero damage to the screen, which now looks brand-new!!

I'm very please with this :-)

Cheers, Dave

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I had the same problem with my MacBook Pro 2015. Apple would not fix, program no longer available. Did some searching and found a solution and it's really easy! Listerine mouthwash! Use a soft towel and put the Listerine on it. Rub gently on the screen. The anti reflective coating will start to come off. Then use a Windex on a towel to clean off the residue. Finally buff screen with a soft towel. My screen is beautiful!

Tried to upload before and after, not sure it worked

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Another confirmation for Lidl W5. Works well, an easy job <10 minutes.

The patient: MBPR13, late 2013

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kajer

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Great thread, so like everyone here I'm affected by this Apple MESS, but like most of you guys, Apple won't clean up their MESS, so I'm desperate to make my 2013 MBP at lease usable outside my desktop setup and i think "Clorox Disinfecting Wipes" is the best bet to do the job.

Can anyone please post a picture of the exact Clorox Disinfecting Wipes used with their MBP or any link to the said product.

Thank you all and btw iFixit rocks!!

v/r

Jerry from Germany

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I just finished mine in about 30 minutes. Macbook pro Late 2013 (bought in 2014 so outside the 4 years). I used Lysol Disinfecting wipes (lemon smell, not sure if it makes a difference). Turned off and unplugged. Wiped the whole screen, then started in an area that was most severely stained. Wiped with some pressure but not too hard, in small circles. Every few minutes wiped with a different wipe to remove the residue. Just kept working across the screen, around the edges, etc. Wiped everything down with a last unused wipe, then used a coffee filter to wipe up the excess liquid. Once done, wiped with a microfiber towel to polish. Planning on getting a screen protector and keyboard dust cover from Amazon for protection.

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Updated method 2019 in Canada.

Fantastik All Purpose Spray Cleaner with Bleach.

Paper towels.

5-10 minutes.

Spray cleaner on and rub for a couple of minutes. Clean off with water and NOT alcohol!

I can confirm this works on a mid-2014 13" MBPr!

Brad

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Just cleaned the screen whit "Johnson´s babe hipoalergenic towels" in 15" and all the anti glare coat gone (im from Argentina)The screen is like new.

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Model: MBP 13' Retina Display Early 2015

Before:

After:

Used this to wipe:

***Alcohol free @_@ with apple scented

You might experience green-tinted screen after cleaning/removing the coating, here's the answer:

Thank you guys, I almost contacted Apple Support for screen replacement until I saw this post!

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2014 15" MacBook Pro. Using Lysol Disinfecting Wipes, it works… but it is taking forever. The edges came off so easily. Simply wiped off with no effort. I was pretty excited to get going on the project.

Listerine doesn't work any better in my experience. I've got about 3 hours of work invested in this so far and I'm ~ 60-70% finished and it seems to be getting harder and harder the further you get from the initial delaminated areas. The areas where i've got the coating off do look great.

This is my progress on a small region in the top right corner. Took about 40 minutes…

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When I started to clean the screen of MacBook Pro 13" Retina display late 2014 model.

Using the below wet wipes.

End Result in 5 minutes of cleaning and then using a facial tissue to do the final round of cleaning. It worked and I am very much satisfied.

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W Ulrich

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I have a late 2013 15" MacBook Pro.

I've read and wondered over a lot of proposed solutions, but I was fearful of using chemicals… then, my wife suggested silver infused cloths from Norwex. I tried that, dampened by ordinary water. It was like magic. In ten minutes I had turned my screen from a cloudy, difficult-to-read, mess to like-new beauty. The first pic taken about two thirds through, the other after I finished.

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On my company MacBook Pro 2014, just few months after the purchase I noticed the infamous anti-glare degrading .

Every time I was gently and carefully cleaning the surface, the degraded areas extended.

On april 2019 , after months not cleaning the display, worried about the bad consequences, it was so dirty that I had to clean it. I used a soft towel with pure water, as Apple recommends.

It instantly became so bad (completely crackled and greenish) that I take the decision to remove the remaining of the antiglare film.

I used some disposable soft paper towels with 3% Hydrogen Peroxide medical solution (2 euro here in Italy) + a little bit of toothpaste (very little…) . 15 minutes after a careful cleansing & polishing, I finished using a non aggressive home window glass cleaner, and now the display is glaring as "new" - but , of course, perfectly GLOSSY.

Anyway, much better than the last two years of crackled and stained surface.

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I have read through and tried just about every method listed here. I am still struggling with a few spots on my screen. I did 95% of it fairly easily with alcohol wipes, but this last bit seems impossible. Any thoughts?

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Clorox or Lysol disinfectant wipes. The active ingredient is the same. Contains no chlorine. I tried. Windex, alcohol, and this worked better.

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missed the recall/fix deadline for my MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch, Mid 2014 (A1502).

Used "Johnson's antibacterial towelettes"; took 10 minutes - start to finish to clean off the

coating-light rubbing only. towelette ingredients: benzalkonium chloride, water,

disodium lauroamphodiacetate, disodium EDTA, fragrance.

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I confirm W5 from Lidl. It worked for me. 5 minutes was enough to clean my 15" screen

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Sainsbury's Antibacterial Multi-Surface wipes work well. I have cleaned off 98% of the coating in 20 minutes of work. 6 wipes were sufficient with moderately firm polishing for the stubborn bit so the coating.

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Listerine with a micro fiber cloth works but with a lot of work. I have about three hours into it and about a quarter of the anti-glare coating removed. I will try an all-purpose cleaner tomorrow and update.

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I called the Apple Support and ask screen replacement for my 15.4" 2012 Macbook Retina. They gave me for a $ 800 screen replacement fee. Than I used Mr. Wipes bioHomes and clean coating layer carefully. After 10 minutes, all coating layer gone. For finish, I use Meguiars Glass Cleaner for shining. Now my screen is perfect! After I replace my semi-died battery, I will be more happy.

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Think I've posted here before regarding a reasonably fast fix - I used a set of buffing wheels on a drill with glass/metal polish. It was pretty fast. The buffing wheel kit I got had two cloth and one fiberous one. The fiberous one is fast but can scratch the glass. Probably best to be patient with the cloth wheels and use the polish. Yes, the middle is hardest.

Just focus on some small area and polish away, then move to the next small area. Good luck. My screen looks great, but doesn't have anti-glare. I can't say I'm missing it.

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I tried them all as well, but purchased a small bottle of 3M 60150 Glass polish from a auto paint store and used a scouring pad and it took some time, but it came off 100 times faster. Just keep rubbing till the polish is gone and the anti glare.

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The antibacterial wipes solution mentioned a couple of times above looked dubious but I decided to give it a try anyway by stealing some of my girlfriend's "cucumber" flavoured facial wipes and.. OMG the coating came off INSTANTLY!! ..

It literally took me 10minutes and just three wipes to remove ALL the coating, corners included!! I hardly had to apply any pressure too!

This was seriously so much easier than I thought it would be, and I'm a bit shocked that a skin product meant to remove make up worked so well.. (my girlfriend was not impressed).

Now I have a new problem: my Macbook looks so good without that sh***y coating I don't want to sell it anymore

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99% rubbing alchool, synthetic cloth, 15 minutes of time and a little dose of patience… result : AS NEW! :)

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I used about 5 Boots moisturising facial cleansing wipes, and then wiped off the residue with a water-damp kitchen towel. Took about half an hour. Good as new

I can't believe how s*&t Apple are on this one. Imagine putting a screen 'protector' on that isn't protected from the most innocuous of face wipes. Do they not test these things? Do they not understand that people clean themselves and then touch their computers?

Perhaps most unbelievable was after I had my first screen replaced (by Apple) and then I asked the Genius Bar guy if the same problem wouldn't just happen with the new screen. He said, yes, and that if I closed my laptop and put it in a bag it would be worse, so best to leave it open on a desk. HELLO???!! It's a laptop! The computer that sits on a desk is called a, er…, what it is…?

WTF!

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I used Clorox wipes and they worked great! Probably took 15 minutes.

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can buy this product on eBay

https://youtu.be/E18PUg9z2zw

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April 2020 update:

I had a pretty bad case of staingate and used Scope mouthwash (didn't have Listerine so I figured I would give it a shot) and it worked like a charm. It took a bit of rubbing with a small hand towel but my screen now looks as good as new!! Hope this helps someone as the previous posts helped me :)

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Have used a few different compounds on several MacBooks. Oven Glass cleaner seems the most consistently good. Have done quite a few with this.

Annoyingly the last one I did the screen was fine before (but with bad delamintation) but although the screen looked spotless afterwards the Mac now has a strong green haze on the screen which slowly disappears after about 10 minutes only to reappear when it restarts. I don't know if this is a coincidence or not as there is some stuff online regarding the green screen issue that is separate from the stain issue.

Any thoughts?

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Hola Estimados. Espero que estén muy bien! La información que contiene esta pagina ha sido muy útil para muchas personas, pero algunas como yo, continúan con el problema, específicamente para los MACBOOK 15 PULGADAS DE FINES DEL 2013. Al parecer este equipo tiene un recubrimiento más resistente que el resto de los Macbook. En mi caso, yo ya intente con Listerine, toallitas de Clorox, y otras toallas multiuso, pero nada ha funcionado. Ahora ultimo compre POLYWATCH por Aliexpress, para ver si esto resulta. Los usuario que tenga el mismo problema, por favor respondan por acá la posible solución. De antemano muchas gracias! Saludos desde Chile!

Hello dears. I hope you all are okay! The information on this page has been very useful for many people, but some like me, continue with the problem, specifically for the MACBOOK 15 INCHES FROM THE END OF 2013. Apparently this equipment has a more resistant coating than the rest of the Macbook . In my case, I already tried Listerine, Clorox wipes, and other multi-purpose towels, but nothing has worked. Now last I bought POLYWATCH by Aliexpress, to see if this works. Users who have the same problem, please answer the possible solution here. Beforehand thank you very much! Greetings from Chile!

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Figured I would add my experience just in case it would be helpful for anyone in the future.

I bought a used Macbook Pro a couple of weeks ago with quite bad Staingate. At first, I used the Listerine and that worked a treat. Got about 90% of the screen in like 5 minutes. But then, like many others, I was left with a really robust part of the coating in the upper region of the screen. I tried Listerine, the W5 wipes, cleaners, Polywatch, and a lot of elbow grease for 1 hour - not any improvement.

I was close to giving up but then I tried a mixture of 1 part vinegar to 2 parts baking soda, and this did the trick. If you're like me and have this part of the coating that doesn't want to give, I recommend this. Use a microfiber cloth, and I actually recommend rubbing the vinegar/soda paste into the cloth (the abrasive baking soda grains is what removes it I think), before applying it with medium pressure to the screen in small circles. That way you pretty much a slightly abrasive cloth, which removes the coating. Took me about 45-60 minutes, so have patience, but you will see it starts wearing away bit by bit.

I've added some photos. Left is after the Listerine, where I have the robust, impossible to remove, remaining coating. Middle and Right are one after 30 minutes of me rubbing with the baking soda, and then a perfectly clear screen after 45-60 minutes, respectively. It should be quite clear which is which.

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Lysol with micro scrub beads will remove 100% of the coating. Have done it on a handful of macs with no issues, no scratches. I use the purple one with citrus. Just apply medium to light pressure in a circular motion. It will take about 30 minutes to remove all the coating, just be patient. Use a new wipe for about every 5 square inches to avoid scratches caused by reflective coating on the wipe.

On a 15 inch I use about 5 wipes so a 13 inch should use about 3. More is better.

Here is a link to the one I use

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lysol-Citrus...

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In my experience, the effectiveness of each technique varies from machine to machine, which means there is no universal solution which will work every time. The best performing removal tool I've used was an anti-bacterial Clorox wipe. On some machines it would allow complete removal of the anti-glare coating within 30 minutes, but on other machines there were blotches that it couldn't remove.

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I used a mixture of about 1 part water 2 parts baking soda with a cloth and was able to rub off all the film in under 5 minutes. For me it was very easy, but as posted above your milage may vary as to how easily it comes off.

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I was considering removing the coating on my MacBook Pro 15 but instead I put a 'tempered glass' screen protector over mine and surprisingly it has totally solved the main issue as no staining or distracting marks are visible now when the screen is on, even when the brightness is all the way down .

It also looks much better when the screen is off and is virtually invisible. The one I got has an oleophobic coating too

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How have I only just found this! Just spent 30 minutes with W5 glasses cleaners and I have a screen like new. Ordered a new filter from Amazon and spent a bit of time freeing up memory space and upgrading to Big Sur. no longer feel the need to spend a couple of grand on a new one for the sake of an hour and a couple of quid! Thanks guys.

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