If you’ve owned a PS Vita for any length of time, you know it is a fantastic portable gaming system. Unfortunately, just like controllers, the Vita can get quite grimy over time – especially the analog sticks.
If your Vita is overdue for a cleaning, keep on reading below.
How to clean PS Vita analog sticks
Using a microfiber cloth, some rubbing alcohol, and a small brush gently scrub your PS Vita analog sticks. A toothbrush is a great tool for this job, able to clean around the entire analog stick. When the cleaning is finished, allow the analogue sticks to dry before powering on the PS Vita.
You will need:
Other areas to clean:
- D-pad
- Buttons
- Cracks
- Grips
- Other surfaces
Working in small sections is helpful, so we recommend choosing a starting point like the D-pad or analog sticks and working left to right.
- Unplug your controller (you don’t want there to be any power on when you get it wet)
- Take your compressed air and give your controller a thorough spray. This removes loose dust and dirt easily.
- Run the compressed air along every crack and around every button to remove as much dust as possible.
- Take your brush of choice and wet it with rubbing alcohol. Gently scrub along any hard-to-reach areas like the buttons, D-pad, and analog sticks. Move the analog sticks in a circle to clean the hard-to-reach areas. Remember to be gentle during this process.
- Wet your microfiber cloth with rubbing alcohol and clean the surfaces, such as the grip area and any other easy-to-reach areas. Massage the controller surface until all the dirt is wiped away.
- At this point, take a look at your controller. If there is any dirt or grime left, wet your microfiber with rubbing alcohol one more time and gently massage those dirty areas.
- Finally, grab your pick tool, or even a toothpick, and run it along the cracks of your controller.
- Give your controller a final wipe down.
- Now your PS Vita should be looking brand new!
Other cleaning methods
This method above is tried and true. You can clean any handheld device with the same method. But if you are concerned or want to go above and beyond, this is what we recommend.
- Buy alcohol wipes. With these, you can skip the microfiber and just wipe down your PS Vita. These are GREAT for the maintenance of your controller. We like to wipe our controllers down once per week with alcohol wipes.
- Q-tips are also a great cleaning hack, especially for buttons and other small areas. Use the same steps above but using a Q-tip will give you great results.
How do you keep your controller clean?
Now that your Vita is clean, how do you keep it clean?
- Use alcohol wipes and wipe your controllers down on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. When you game, dirt and oil from your hands can make a the PS Vita extremely dirty in a short amount of time.
- To avoid this, consider washing your hands before playing. Again, the dirty oil from your hands will slowly make your controller dirty.
- Keep food, snacks, and drinks away from your controller when gaming. Cheeto dust and controllers do not mix!
- If you know yourself and want to be cautious, consider buying a skin or cover for your controller.
With these tricks, you should be able to keep your controller looking clean for much longer.
Keeping your PS VitaPS Vita controller clean is not hard, but if you do some regular cleaning it will make it even easier to have a clean controller. We hope this helps you keep your PS Vita clean for longer!
More cleaning problems?
How do you clean sticky buttons on the PS Vita?
- If you’ve spilled something sticky on your controller, slowly dab a microfiber with rubbing alcohol in the impacted area. If it is too small for a microfiber, try soaking a Q-tip and dabbing the area. The rubbing alcohol will slowly loosen up the grime. If it seems wet, don’t worry because rubbing alcohol dries on its own.
How do I avoid stick drift?
- Stick drift is a result of unwanted particles lodging themselves around the joystick housing of your controller. To avoid this, it is important to pay attention to the environmental contaminants around your PS Vita. When possible, keep the controller away from salty snacks, pet fur, or just plain dust. All of these may cause contaminants to enter unwanted areas. It is also recommended to keep raging to a minimum as that can quickly destroy the joystick housing.
My PS Vita is clean but doesn’t work, what do I do?
- At this point, we recommend talking to a professional.
Checkout our other console cleaning guides