Can An IPhone Overheat? Hint: Yes, And Why It’s Dangerous

It seems that every couple of years, some piece of technology has a recall or requires a warning because of issues like overheating. The iPhone is no stranger to this kind of issue that leads to long-winded new reports. If you’re doing things to cause your iPhone to overheat without knowing it, you have to find a solution as soon as possible.

Overheated phones breakdown faster, so make sure you follow our guide to understanding what to do.

How Hot is Too Hot?

The fact of the matter is that electronics get hot when they’re in use. The power used to send data to a satellite or cell tower, convert it into something meaningful, and then display it to a screen isn’t minimal. The fact that they’re not all 1,000 degrees all of the time is due to the miracle of engineering.

If you’re streaming video or gaming, the phone is likely to get warm. However, it should never be too hot to handle at all. Downloading and converting a lot of apps or data is going to use a lot of energy but it should be able to fry an egg.

Heat is a problem because it can do a number on your battery. When it’s hotter, batteries can’t store energy efficiently or perform the way that they otherwise should. Be mindful of ambient temperature either indoors or outdoors when asking your phone to do a lot of work.

iPhones work optimally between 32° F and 95° F. Hotter or colder than that, the battery is going to struggle, displays might fail, and performance will be less than optimal. While a cold iPhone can recover, an overheated phone could suffer permanent damage to critical components.

If you think your phone is too hot, put it in a cooler space. Make sure that your case isn’t hindering your phone from staying cooler.

Cooling a Hot iPhone

Start by toggling off unnecessary features. If your phone is using Bluetooth services and you don’t actively need them, turn them off. If your location services are turned on and you don’t need them, turn that off because you could be feeding data into a dozen different apps at once.

There’s a little known feature called “background app refresh” that doesn’t need to be on if you’re not actively using apps. This is meant to optimize usability, but most users don’t need their apps refreshed when they’re not using them. This gives you notifications for email, texts, and social media but keep them off if your phone is warm.

A hot phone shouldn’t be plugged in to charge. If it’s plugged in, unplug it.

Disable iCloud and close all of your apps. If you’ve never done this, it’s time to learn, because it means you’re constantly using too many resources.

Double-click your home button and all your open apps will pop up. Swipe up on each one to close them.

Another issue is that your phone needs to be updated to use your resources more efficiently. Go to General under the Settings app and then choose “Software Update”. It will fix many of the issues you’re facing with your iPhone.

Four Tips for Keeping Temperatures Down

1. Use a Legit Charger

If you’re not using the original factory-issued phone charger, it might not be working right. Using an off-brand charger means that you’re using lower-quality components. While this might not matter in all cases if it’s causing your phone to overheat, get yourself an Apple produced charger.

2. Turn Off Spotlight

Spotlight searching allows you to have quick and easy access to all of your data and apps. You can search through with just a few taps and find that deeply buried email or song.

However, Spotlight search uses a lot of resources and processing power. This leads to interest battery drain and will subsequently heat up your phone. Turn it off by going into your Settings app and under the General heading, finding Spotlight Search.

Turn it off and limit it only to your most vital apps.

3. Limit Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Use

If Wi-fi and Bluetooth aren’t being used, they’re going to still consume a lot of power. On any kind of device, this is a problem that you need to deal with.

Thankfully, iOS allows you to reset your network settings to keep endless cycling from running in the background. Go to Settings then under Reset, select Reset Network Settings.

Get access to your Wi-Fi data in advance so that you don’t lose connectivity.

4. Beware of Runaway Apps

Every second, you could be using up data, battery power, and resources because of a problem with an app. Most often, this occurs with third-party apps. However, it’s been known to happen with Apple-produced apps as well.

Go to Settings then find your General tab. Under iPhone storage, you can see all of your apps. You’ll see how much storage they’re consuming at all times. If something looks out of hand, you can delete and reinstall the app.

See if your favorite apps need to be updated as well. Incompatibility with new iOS versions are usually fixed in app versions but a software update doesn’t automatically update your apps.

Avoid Allowing Your iPhone to Overheat

Getting tuned to when your iPhone is having problems is the key to avoiding iPhone overheat issues. If you’re not aware of your phone becoming too hot, you should still follow the above suggestions for a longer life to your phone.

For solutions to other common iPhone issues, follow our guide for more troubleshooting tips.