8 Tips you Need to Stop Your Phone From Getting Hot: Works with Android and iPhone

Heat – heat by definition is the transfer of energy between systems with different temperatures

Why does your phone get hot?

If a device is producing heat, unless it is a blanket warmer, that heat is wasted energy which could be going toward the normal operations of your phone. This is why, if you find your phone is overheating, it is quite often followed by battery draining.

Everything boils down to your phone battery. If we are discharging or charging the battery too fast this will generate heat. Let alone doing both at the same time.

The list below is ordered from most beneficial to least. Meaning that the effect of the topmost item should have the largest impact on reducing your phone’s heat output.

Please read the complete writeup and by the end, you will know how to stop your phone from overheating and prevent it from happening in the future.

Table of Contents

1. Why is your phone hot
2. Do not use your device while it is charging
3. Why is my phone hot and losing battery (see the last tip as well)
4. Phone overheats when charging
5. When third party charging adapters cause a problem
6. Unused device Services
7. Phone screen becomes Hot
8. Why is my phone is overheating while playing games
9. Restart it!

1. Why does your phone overheat when charging?

Avoid using your device while it is charging

This step is very hard for us to do, even for me! But it is necessary. We want to reduce the strain on the phone battery as much as possible. To do this we need to let it do one thing at a time meaning either discharge or charge. Ideally, the best way to charge your device is with it off. It will charge faster and generate less heat. Once again this is very hard to do so the next best alternative is to leave the device while it is plugged in until it has finished charging. Go here for more tips on how to make your phone battery last longer.

2. Phone overheating and battery draining?

Avoid fast charging your battery

This might be a bit of a controversial topic as fast charging has become the new norm, but in reality, fast charging applies more strain on your battery than normal charging. That’s why in most cases this type of charging has to be regulated by your phone in an attempt to reduce battery damage and overheating. Many devices only support fast charging up to the first 50% and actually warn you that fast charging will generate extra heat output. If you touch some charging adapters in fast charging mode they can be quite hot! This heat is also transferred to your phone via the charging cable. Secondly, using a charging adapter that is not designed for your device can result in an output higher than what the phone was designed for and this can cause even more internal overheating.

3. Is it normal for your phone to heat up while charging?

Use the charging adapter that was made for your device

There are many charging options available for each mobile device out there. Because of this, it may be tempting to just plug your device into any old charger that fits. While this works, it is best to use the charger that is recommended by the manufacturer or a high-quality third-party one. iPhones by default ship with a very low wattage charger and even though this can be quite inconvenient as they charge rather ‘slow’, comparatively speaking, this will ensure far less heat generation and even longer battery life. Even though other fast charging chargers are available through the manufacturer (Apple, Samsung, etc), we recommend using the default.

The cable used to charge your device is just as important as the charger. A high wattage charger paired with a low wattage cable is just as hazardous to your device.

Look at the cable as a garden hose and the charger as the tap. If you have a thin hose no matter how much you turn on the tap the hose will limit the amount of water flow dramatically. Not only that, but the water pressure in the hose will be quite strong and it might not last as long. Alternatively using a wider hose, one that is more compatible with your home water pressure equals lower pressure and more flow through the hose. Leaving you with a longer-lasting hose.

4. Phone getting hot when not in use?

Close background apps not in use

This is arguably one of the most important steps. Even though the modern OS is incredibly optimized we still have to help it along to some extent. Memory is used for running apps, meaning the apps you have actively opened. Apps open in the background take up phone memory (not to be confused with phone storage). Over time if we do not close these apps the number of open unused apps will start to fill up your device memory. It is like having a 17-lane highway but cars are stopped in 12 of the lanes indefinitely. This will reduce the throughput of the highway not to mention increase the probability of accidents. Each of these apps needs a bit of power to stay in ram and when the number of apps increases so does that power and….you guessed it! So does heat as the battery has to supply that power.

iPhone getting hot when not in use?

Close apps on iOS

• Double-tap or hold the home button on your device ( this depends on your iOS version).
• Swipe the app up to close it.

Why does my Android overheat when not in use

Close apps on Android

• Select the multiple app icons (normally one of the three icons at the bottom of your device).
• Swipe up to close the app.

5. The Phone gets hot when just using it?

check your screen settings

Even though phones now feature adaptive screen brightness, these default settings can still be too bright, especially at night. As you know, light is a form of energy, and the more we can reduce the energy output of your device the cooler it will run. Many third-party apps can control screen brightness for you if the default settings aren’t enough.

Enable adaptive screen brightness if not already enabled and turn the settings to low. This will not only reduce heat output but save your phone’s battery life and most importantly, your eyes!

6. Phone Overheating when using hotspot / camera / data / GPS?

Turn off unused services

Services/features such as GPS (location), Bluetooth, infrared, or even your phone’s radio can all dramatically drain your battery. Therefore when not in use, turn off these services! We tend to have multiple services enables and once because when we needed them from before we never bothered to turn them off.

7. The Phone gets hot when using certain apps?

Be wary of using certain apps for a prolonged time

Some applications are quite power-hungry, and prolonged use of any of these will result in your devices running hot. You may have noticed that your phone gets hot when playing games and high-definition streams. They generally force the screen to stay on at the highest refresh rate possible while using as much processor power to keep things running smoothly.

All you can do to try to minimize the overheating effect when using certain apps is to avoid using your device while it is charging. Yes, these types of apps kill your battery faster hence why you might want to keep it plugged in, but the combined strain on the phone will definitely be detrimental in the long run.

Phone overheating and slow?

reset your phone

Sometimes your device can just be outright playing the ass (excuse my French) and needs to be reset (turned off and on). As optimized and smart as these smart devices are today we still need to help them along. Every now and again ( weekly or sooner ) just turn your device off fully and turn it back on again.

Notice: I did not say to select restart or factory reset!

1. Turn it OFF fully by holding the power button until the prompt comes up.
2. Turn it OFF.
3. Then turn it back ON.

This forces your device to do a soft reset (once again not restart nor factor reset) which basically starts everything fresh.

This fixes a multitude of issues some not even related to overheating and is one of the most surefire ways to keep your phone running snappy and cool.

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