The phone can actually become warm at times be it while playing a game or having a long phone call. There is no issue unless your phone becomes too hot frequently. The phone overheating is an alarming situation and can permanently damage your phone regardless of its operating system.

The reasons for the sudden increase in phone temperature are endless and unpredictable as well. And yes, there is no one way of cooling down your phone! You will see different reasons for overheating of your phone and also ways to prevent and fix it. However, before this, it is important to know if your phone is overheating or is just warm.

What Temperature Should Your Phone Be?

People often mistake a warm phone for an overheated one. The normal temperature of mobile phones can be 98.6 to 109.4 degrees Fahrenheit (37 to 43 degrees Celsius). Anything above or beyond that is not normal and can cause issues with the mobile phone.

The phone temperature may increase when you are into some outdoor activities or using the phone for quite a long time. In such scenarios, it is normal for a phone to get warmer than usual. However, if the phone gets hot to the point that it becomes difficult to hold it, something needs to be done to bring it to a normal temperature.

Why is my Phone Overheating?

As mentioned above, there is not a single reason your cell phone can get overheated. Your battery, processor, and screen can release heat when used beyond the stipulated time, which causes the phone to heat up.

The reasons can depend on the use as well as the device configuration you are using. We have still found some common reasons that can cause phone overheating on the iPhone as well as Android mobile phones.

Overusing the Mobile Phone 

Gaming cause phone overheating

One of the most common reasons for overheating is the overuse of the phone. If you play games for hours, your phone can heat up faster. The processor and battery are forced to overwork even if you stream movies and videos for a long time.

If your cell phone’s processor is not that great and you are habitual of using WiFi on your phone for long periods of time, you can experience overheating issues. In brief, spending a continuous amount of time on your mobile device can cause trouble with the processor, battery, and display as well.

Settings Issue 

Some settings can put a load on processors. If you have screen brightness set to full, too many widgets, and animated wallpapers, the processor is too busy handling altogether.

App Hoarding

The apps on your mobile phones keep running in the background sometimes, even if you don’t use them regularly. Such apps need to be forced stop or uninstalled to avoid draining the battery and heating the phone.

Environment

Even the environment plays a major role in the cell phone’s temperature. If you are out in the sun, taking pictures or listening to music with your phone directly exposed to sun rays, then the phone can heat up really fast. Not only the sunlight, even if you expose your phone to water or rain directly, it can also internally damage your phone, causing overheating problems.

Phone case

Some phone covers are made up of plastic, which can heat the back of your phone. You need to make sure that the case is purchased from an authorized source; otherwise, it can damage your phone.

Outdated Applications on the phone

The outdated applications have bugs in them, which can cause heating issues on your phone. You need to have updated applications to avoid any issues.

Software Updates

Sometimes, the manufacturers roll out faulty operating system updates for the phones, which can cause processors and phones to misbehave and heat up. The stabilized version is released soon in such cases.  

Many Apps running in the background

We open many apps together and forget to close them. These apps keep running in the background, using up the battery and putting the load on the processor, thus creating phone overheating issues.

Many devices stop responding and shut down when they cross the temperature limit so that they can cool down on their own.

Virus or Malware

The virus or malware residing inside the Android phone can cause it to overheat. Your phone can get infected when you install apps from untrusted sources. Well, the chances of viruses and malware are too less on the iPhone, as you cannot have harmful apps on your phone.

How to Stop Phone Overheating?

Phone Overheating

Now, we know the possible causes of the phone overheating problem. And therefore, it is easy to know the fixes to cool your phone down. Make sure you don’t put the phone inside the fridge to cool it down. You can follow the different ways given below to bring your phone to room temperature.

Avoid Using Mobile Phone when in Charging

If your phone is overheating while charging, chances are you tend to use your phone a lot when in charge. And this can heat the phone. So, leave your phone as it is when it is charging.

Check the Charger and Charging Cable

Phone in charging

The damaged charging plug and cable can also affect your phone in many ways. In such cases, the battery is affected, and the other hardware of the phone is damaged. If your phone is overheating when charging, the reason can be the damaged cable and charger.

You can replace it with a new one and check if this cools down your phone. The accessories should always be purchased from genuine sources.

Remove the Phone Case

As mentioned above, some phone cases can cause your phone to release heat. You can temporarily remove the phone case and check if the phone temperature comes down. If it does, you need to get a new phone cover, which can stop the phone from overheating.

Close All the Apps

The applications you open on Android and iPhone devices run in the background even when you stop using the phone. Thus, putting too much stress on the phone’s processor and battery. You can close all the apps running in the background and keep the phone aside for some time. The phone temperature will reduce and come back to normal after this.

Change the Settings

Turn on airplane mode

Some setting changes can cool down your phone in no time. So, you can decrease the phone brightness, turn off mobile data, and WiFi. You can also turn on airplane mode for some time.

Remove the Junk from your Phone

Many apps save the temporary files on your phone, which can fill it up with unwanted junk. Well, in rare cases, even this situation can heat the phone. So you need to get rid of the junk as well as the apps you don’t use. As mentioned above, some apps keep running in the background, so make sure you don’t have any unwanted apps on your phone. You can also use cleaning apps to remove the junk files.

Keep your Mobile Phone Away from Direct Sunlight

If you are outdoors, keep your phone in the shade or away from the sun’s rays. As direct sunlight can heat the phone quickly. Also, avoid keeping the cellphone in the car when the car is parked under the sun. These small steps can cool down your phone.

Stop Camera and Music on your Cell Phone

Camera in cell phone

The android phones get frequent updates, which fixes the bugs in the system. There is also a security patch in these updates. Make sure your phone is updated with the latest version of OS from your manufacturer.

The apps have more frequent updates to fix bugs, issues, and introduce more features. Therefore, you need to keep the apps updated as well for better functioning of the phone and avoid overheating issues.

Keep your Phone Operating System and Apps up-to-date

The android phones get frequent updates which fix the bugs in the system. There is also a security patch in these updates. Make sure your phone is updated with the latest version of OS from your manufacturer.

The apps have more frequent updates to fix bugs, issues, and introduce more features. Therefore, you need to keep the apps updated as well for better functioning of the phone and avoid overheating issues.

Keep the Phone in front of the Cooler or Fan

If phone temperature is not decreasing even after trying all the above ways, keep it in front of the cooler or fan. This will cool down the phone’s processor and battery and thus reduce the overall temperature of the phone.  

Visit the Local Repair Shop

If your phone is not coming to a normal temperature even after trying all of the above, the final option is to visit the local mobile repair shop. In such a situation, the problem can be with hardware or some other faults which require technical expertise.

And if your mobile device is in warranty, you can take it to the manufacturer store to get it fixed for no or minimal cost.  

How to Prevent Phone Overheating?

You may now have a phone at a normal temperature. However, it is important to prevent overheating of a cell phone in the first place. You can avoid all the causes mentioned above that can cause phone overheating. The games and streaming using the phone should not be for a long period of time.

One must use the accessories provided by the manufacturer or from genuine stores only. As duplicate accessories can damage your phone’s hardware beyond repair. You should also avoid using applications from unauthorized sources as it can cause overheating.  

If you take good care of your mobile phone, it will give you less trouble and repair charges.

Conclusion

Mobile phones are in constant use nowadays, be it attending online webinars, streaming videos, or playing games; you need your cell phones. And due to the overuse, the phone can start heating beyond normal temperature. Well, not only the overuse, there are many different factors that can lead to the phone overheating issue.

The above guides explain it all about phone overheating – right from the causes to fixes, you can know everything. With the above guide, you will learn how to protect your phone from overheating issues in a simple way.