Don’t Use a Magic Eraser on the ESR Rebound Keyboard
Eight months ago, I switched from the Apple Magic Keyboard to the ESR Rebound Keyboard for my iPad Pro and declared it the superior choice. I stand by that. The typing feel is excellent, the folio design is clever, and—this part surprised me—the white palmrest has proven more stain-resistant than Apple’s equivalent over the months I’ve been using it. Eight months of daily use, and the thing still looked presentable without much effort.
Then I got ambitious with the cleaning. And this is where the story takes a turn.
If you own a white Apple Magic Keyboard and have never used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on it, you are leaving a tool on the table. A few passes of that white melamine foam block and the keyboard looks factory-new—it is one of those satisfying cleaning moments that makes you want to find other things to scrub. Naturally, when I decided to give the ESR Rebound Keyboard a more thorough cleaning after eight months, I reached for the same trusty Magic Eraser.
Long story short: I should not have done that.
It took a few passes with moderate pressure before I noticed something was off. The palmrest area—previously a clean, uniform white—had developed a pink tinge. Not a dramatic hot pink, but an unmistakable blush, the kind you’d expect to find on a flamingo or a Valentine’s Day card, not on the wrist rest of your keyboard. More scrubbing did not fix it. More scrubbing made it worse.
My working theory: Apple’s uses silicone that is a homogeneous white all the way through, so the Magic Eraser—which works by acting as an ultra-fine abrasive—simply removes the surface layer to reveal more of the same. ESR, by contrast, seems to use a spray-on white coating over the silicone. Once the Magic Eraser abrades through that coating, whatever lies beneath is distinctly not white.
The ESR Rebound Keyboard is otherwise easy to keep clean. Water alone handles light dust and smudges. Soapy water takes care of anything more stubborn. For grease or tougher grime, isopropyl alcohol on a microfiber cloth works well and leaves no discoloration—I tested all three myself. The keyboard responds well to gentle treatment; it just does not respond well to a cleaning product that operates more like extremely fine sandpaper.
So: for an Apple Magic Keyboard, feel free to use a Magic Eraser. For the ESR Rebound, stick to water, soapy water, or isopropyl alcohol with a microfiber cloth, and it will stay looking as good as the day it arrived.
The keyboard is still worth every bit of praise I gave it in my original review—just treat it with a little more gentleness than you’d extend to a Magic Keyboard, and you’ll be fine.
What if you’ve already ruined your keyboard case like I have? You can always cover the discoloration with a vinyl skin. I may try that using my Cricut vinyl cutter. If I do, I will be sure to post a photo here.
Or, considering how inexpensive the ESR Rebound Keyboard is, you can always simply buy another one for, say, $40 open box on eBay. Or even brand new for $80-120 on Amazon. This is one of the great advantages of the ESR Rebound Keyboard over the $350 Apple Magic Keyboard.