Trending: See how Paris’ self-cleaning public toilets work

If you shudder at the thought of germs hiding on the toilet seat or faucet handle, you’ll definitely spend less time in public restrooms. And even if you muster up the courage to go into the bathroom, you may have to run the water through your shoes, risk squatting on the toilet seat without touching your bare skin, or use your elbows to pry open the bathroom door. You may end up doing it. However, there are some countries where self-cleaning public toilets are becoming increasingly common. Recently, a video of such a self-cleaning toilet in action was uploaded to X, putting an end to our collective public restroom fears.

The first scene in the video, recorded in Paris, is of an automatic toilet closing. Then, when the toilet folds up into a room, water spills onto the floor. Once the toilet is completely clean, the water will stop flowing and the door will open again.

The post has received over 26 million views since it was shared. That being said, not everyone in the comments section was thrilled. Some expressed gratitude, while others expressed concern about other issues they had raised.

Users commented, “It’s refreshing to watch.”

Another user wrote: “Simple but effective.”

“I love how the water cleans all the floors,” said a third user.

But another section of users who weren’t happy with this said, “That’s great, but why do we have cameras recording this?!?”

Another user pointed out that “the water doesn’t reach the toilet side.”

Yet another user said: I was expecting more fireworks. ”

How do automatic toilets clean themselves?

Most self-cleaning public restrooms combine weight sensors and timers to ensure the area is properly cleaned between uses, without leaving visitors soaked.

Some self-cleaning toilets are equipped with a robotic arm that comes out from the wall behind the toilet seat and cleans the surface. In some cases, the seat itself rotates 360 degrees twice, purifying it on the first pass through a squeegee-like device at the rear, and wiping away excess water on subsequent rotations.

The process will take between 40 seconds and 2 minutes to complete. Wet floors in public restrooms are not desirable, but in this case it is a positive thing as it indicates that the surfaces have been cleaned and disinfected using disinfectant cleaners.