The first decision you need to make is whether glare is a concern for you because if you are going to be using your phone outdoors or in brightly lit places, then you should consider an anti-glare screen protector. These can reduce the overall visibility of the screen when out of direct sunlight, so think about whether and for how long you will be using your mobile phone in bright places. After that, you can select between anti-glare and non-anti-glare or standard screen protectors.

The anti-glare screen protector not only reduces glare on your LCD screen with a matte finish coating, but also reduces fingerprints left on the screen. Your screen will stay clean and like new at all times and requires little cleaning. As with any protector, the anti-glare version also comes with an anti-scratch coating and a non-adhesive backing. An anti-glare screen protector has its own good and bad points. Reduces glare, diminishes fingerprints, provides an anti-scratch layer, provides a matte finish, requires only little cleanup, and the non-adhesive backing leaves no sticky residue. As for the downsides, an anti-glare screen protector decreases clarity.

As for standard or crystal clear screen protectors, they are the basic type of screen protectors designed to be as invisible as possible to maximize the clarity of your screen. When looking at them they will appear very transparent. Clear ones are generally a bit thinner than others (for example, anti-glare ones) and their surface is usually shiny or smooth, meaning your finger doesn’t ‘stick’ when moving across the screen. This is beneficial on touch screen mobile phones where the ideal is for the finger to move in all directions with as little difficulty as possible. On the downside, they don’t usually reduce glare much in direct sunlight. Also, fingerprints can be more noticeable than with other protectors. Privacy screen protectors are made so that screen content is only noticeable when viewed from the front. If the phone is tilted at an angle, the screen content is hidden. The purpose of this is to hide the screen content from prying eyes or people looking over your shoulder. They are especially useful for business users who may be reading or writing personal email, or anyone with personal privacy in mind.

Anti-glare capability eliminates reflections and glare from bright light. This allows operators to use their devices more easily as they don’t need to squint or tilt the device to see the screen clearly. Using an anti-glare screen protector can help reduce eye strain, which can be vital for people using devices in a lot of bright light. Should the user need to replace the screen protector, it should be easily removed without leaving any residue.

Durability is also important when choosing an anti-glare screen protector. You’ll usually want to avoid reapplying protectors, as this can damage your screen and could cost you quite a bit of money. Various companies have developed models that are more expensive than others but much more durable, some lasting as long as the life of your LCD.