Smartphone Overheating: Common Causes And Solutions

When a phone becomes too hot to handle (literally), you can call it an overheating problem that needs immediate attention. Without proper intervention, overheating may lead to permanent issues with the device, performance issues, charging issues, and even battery leaks and explosions in the worst cases. 

We are here to let you about the most common causes of smartphone overheating and its solutions. So, the next time your phone goes into the reading mode you will be able to cool it down. 

What are the Signs of Smartphone Overheating?

Smartphones are one of the most integral parts of modern society. Everything from handling office affairs, studies, entertainment, communication, and banking, to gaming all happens through the small rectangular box called the smartphone.

Though a smartphone is an engineering marvel that continues to evolve, it sometimes runs into certain problems and issues. One of the major issue that plagues almost all smartphones these days is the overheating issue. However, if the heating is localized to a certain area, it can be hard to notice. Here are some of the ways you can identify if your smartphone is overheating: 

• The phone becomes unusually warm to touch: While it is normal for the phone to get a bit warm when running resource-intense applications. However, intense heat is a problem. 
• Battery draining: When overheating, the battery works more intensely and it drains your battery significantly quicker than usual. So, if you encounter battery draining, check if your phone is overheating. 
• Sluggish performance: To compensate heating issue, the processor deliberately reduces its performance. So, if it is taking your phone too long to respond, or if you’re encountered with freeze screens, check if your phone is overheating. 
• Heat Warning: Many modern smartphones can detect overheating itself and notify the user to take precautions. 

Also Read: Common Myths About Smartphone Charging

Smartphone Overheating Causes and Solutions 

Here are some of the most common causes of smartphone overheating issues and their solutions:

1. Prolonged Sunlight Exposure

We often leave our smartphones exposed to the sunlight when lying on a sunny beach side, leaving the phones near the sunlight, or on a car’s dashboard. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight can overheat your smartphone, and it can even be harmful to the internal components. 

Solution 

• If your smartphone overheats from sunlight exposure, immediately move it to a shaded place and switch it off till it cools down. 
• You may also use tempered screen protection glass and heat retardant cases to avoid overheating from sunlight. 

2. Overworking CPU

When processing resource-intensive applications such as high-resolution video recording, and gaming, the process may overheat. In certain cases, even the apps running in the background can overheat your smartphone. 

Solution

• Close all the running applications including background running apps. 
• Put your phone in a lower screen refresh rate. 
• Take breaks between gaming.

3. Charger Issue 

Smartphones may overheat when charging, causing slow charging and immediate battery draining. It can happen possibly due to a faulty or non-compatible charger. 

Solution

• Make sure that the charger is in its best condition, replace if needed. 
• Check if you are using the manufacturer-approved standard charger. 
• Only use compatible power banks and adaptors. 

4. Presence of Malware

Overheating can be also caused by the presence of underlying malware or viruses. They overwork your processor and can even result in hacking, and file hijacking. To prevent malware, stay away from clicking on links that you find on unauthorized sources and never install untrustworthy applications. 

Solution

• Keep your smartphone Operating Systems and security patches updated to the latest version. 
• Use trustworthy antivirus software that has a good track record. 

Common Solutions for Overheating

In the above segments, we have seen some effective overheating solutions you may use in specific situations. Now let’s see some of the common solutions for overheating you can use regardless of the cause: 

• Close Apps: Opening multiple applications at the same time can result in overheating. So, close all the running applications to cool your smartphone down.  
• Turn on Airplane mode: Turning on Airplane mode can disable battery-draining features such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. When the phone overheats, try switching the airplane mode on. 
• Clear Cache files: Clearing cache files from your smartphone can go a long way in improving battery life and tackling overheating
• Restart: If your smartphone is overheating, you can try restarting your device. 
• Fan your phone: This is the oldest trick in the box. Just take the case out and provide a proper aeration to cool down your phone. 
• Switch on battery saving mode: While battery saving mode can slightly reduce the performance of your phone, it is better phone enhanced battery life and overall health of your phone. 
• Factory reset: If none of the above-mentioned tricks works for you, try factory resetting your phone. As this would erase all the files and applications in your phone, only use this as a last resort. 

What Happens if a Smartphone Overheats?

Many smartphones including iPhones and new Samsung phones nowadays have internal sensors to detect overheating. If notice a high temperature that can damage internal components, it may notify the user and may try adjusting the performance of the service to counteract this. However, no method can be 100% foolproof, and sometimes overheating may lead to: 

1. Charging including wireless charging may slow down or completely stop
2. The display freezes, dims, or goes blank
3. Wifi, Bluetooth, and GPS connections may weaken
4. Some features such as the camera, flashlight, and screen mirroring may be disabled 
5. Smartphones may forcefully reduce the performance, graphics, and frame rate of the games
6. Persistent overheating may result in battery degradation 
7. In the worst-case scenario, the battery may leak and cause an explosion

So, overheating is a serious issue, that needs your immediate attention. If no solution we have covered in this article works for you, get the help of a professional, or send your phone to the manufacturer for repair. 

Explore More: Common Software Issues In Smartphones

Conclusion 

Smartphones may get a bit warmer when running demanding applications. However, excessive heat can be a problem that needs your intervention. In this article, we have explored the most common causes of smartphone overheating and solutions.

Since overheating can cause permanent issues and even explosions in the worst cases, you need to take quick action to protect yourself and your device.