How to Fix an Overheated Mobile Phone

What Causes A Smartphone To Overheat?

Smartphones are getting smarter and more powerful day by day. With all of this power, they are also heating up.

One of the reasons for a smartphone to overheat is because it has been running for a long time without being given an opportunity to cool down. This is why it's important to take breaks from your phone and give it some time to cool down. This will help you avoid any future problems with overheating, like a crash or even worse, an explosion! Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to why a phone is overheating. Sometimes, phones get hot due to battery issues or too many background apps or some other reason such as malware and viruses. Below are some common causes of a smartphone heat up:

Bad Phone Case/Cover

Some Mobile covers and cases are built from plastic or contain a large amount of plastic. Phone covers sometimes trap the heat generated by mobile phones resulting in mobile phones overheating. Even some leather cases have also seen overheating the phone. Phone becomes warmer when it performs high-performance tasks, it needs to release heat by radiating. If you have an insulated case around it, radiated heat will not escape and the phone would struggle even more.

Heating while Charging

Overcharging or a defective battery could also lead to overheating of the mobile phone. Cheap Android phones are often seen overheating during charging, but some old iPhones can also be seen overheating. Unfortunately, one cannot do much if the issue is happening for a new phone. However, in order to prevent overheating during charging, you can avoid charging your phone overnight or till 100%, charging till 90% should be fine.

Excessive Camera Use

Avoid using your phone's video camera for long periods of time; this can also lead to overheating. This doesn’t happen in all situations and depends on factors such as:

• High Resolution Recording such as 4K.
• High Frame Rate such as 120 FPS.
• High Screen Brightness.
• Long video recording under sun.

To avoid this happening, don't record with your phone camera for too long and make sure you only use it when necessary. As a general rule of thumb, it's best not to shoot in 4K resolution for more than 15 minutes at a time. Recording in super slow motion mode can also cause overheat of the device.

Malware

Malware on your Android device may also cause it to overheat. After all, malware developers are primarily interested in getting your data, not keeping your device healthy. Malware might attack Android devices through mischievous ads or risky apps from unknown sources. It can be difficult to know when and where a malware could attack. However, one should know how to spot dangerous apps and remove them. You can also file reports with Google Play Store to have the app blocked from the store.

You are Playing a lot of heavy games!

We know you very well. You play a lot of heavy games for long hours. It's understandable, even we can't resist. Gaming on mobile devices has become more popular than ever with massive growth year over year. It is no surprise that these devices are being pushed to their limits, which causes the CPU and GPU to generate a lot of heat. Playing occasional games on a phone is a fun way to pass the time, but it can cause some wear and tear on your device if you don't take care of it. Hence, it is recommended to take breaks every half an hour of gaming, just long enough for your phone to cool down.

Too Many Background Apps

What you might not know about your minimised app is that it is still running in the background. The more apps you open and minimise, the more resources they take up on your device. This can be particularly heating and draining your battery as well as your data plan if you are constantly uploading, downloading, and streaming in the background. It's not uncommon for background apps to cause some stuttering and affect the performance of your applications, also modern mobile operating systems manage resource consumption of such apps very well. However, one should always close resource-hungry apps when not in use to increase the life of their device’s battery.

Under Direct Sunlight

How would you feel if you were left under the scorching sun for long hours? You would be uncomfortable and exhausted, right? This is exactly what happens with phones too. Leaving your phone in direct sunlight can be problematic. If, for example, placed on the dashboard of a car during the day, it is likely to get too hot and need cooling at some point. One solution is to use the air conditioning in your car and position your phone where it doesn't get so much exposure to the sun rays.

What Is The Best Way to Prevent Your Smartphone From Overheating?

Keep your Phone Updated

Some application or OS updates include bug fixes which makes your phone efficient resulting in less battery consumption than before.

Avoid heating because of the Sun

To lower the chance of your phone overheating, try and avoid having it in direct sunlight. This will reduce heat & light from the sun on the device reducing the temperature. The device may shut down if kept for too long.

Remove the Apps you no longer use

If you notice your phone getting hot and think it might be a result of some of the things you have installed, consider removing them so your device will perform better. Modern phones are known to overheat due to the heavy workload that they have to take on every day. The best way to avoid this issue is to make sure you don't have any unnecessary items or downloads that can add unnecessary stress onto your device. To make sure you have the right balance of work and play, consider removing any games, live wallpapers, or other apps that are unused for a long time.

Put you device on flight mode

Flight mode is a great way to preserve your battery life by simply turning off non-essential communication functions. This will allow you to use basic functions of your device, but still preserve the battery life of your phone for more important tasks.

Remove your mobile phone cover/case

If your phone is overheating and you are using a case, take the case off to see if this helps. Cases can block the phone’s heat vents which can increase the time it takes for the phone to cool down.

Keep your devices at separate locations

Keeping your phone, tablet, and laptop separate from each other in a bag can help to safeguard their long-term functionality by avoiding overheating. By keeping them in a bag with enough space to breathe and avoid any direct contact, your devices will be protected from any potential heat damage that could occur if they were all placed inside each other.

Always keep the screen brightness reasonable

Turning your backlight brightness up has a similar effect to running multiple background programmes, they both make your battery push harder and heat up more. Fortunately, there is a low-cost and simple solution to it, i.e. to opt for an anti-glare screen guard. It assists one in viewing their screen in direct sunlight.