A hot cell phone can be uncomfortable to use. But before you learn how to stop phone from overheating, it’s worth knowing the causes. well, smartphones, often generate a moderate amount of heat under heavy use, which is quite normal.
But when your mobile phone starts overheating, it’s a red flag that it may be having software issues, malware, internal damage, or any other issue. But before we start speculating, let’s consider the issues causing phone overheating.
So why does your phone overheat, and how can you cool it down?
How to Stop Phone from Overheating Based on the Cause
1. Gaming or Streaming Content
Binge-watching on videos and gaming are culprits that will get your phone to overheat. When you can’t resist a particular Tetris knockoff or the Clash of Clans, you end up spending hours on it, and this is pretty taxing on your cell phone.
If the screen and processing power of the phone stay on for long hours, the temperature starts increasing and in no time, leading to overheating.
Some of the latest games are high-intensity gaming applications that consume high amounts of CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit) resources. When overworked, the cellphone will definitely start heating up.
Solution
Avoid streaming videos or playing your favorite games for extended periods. Give your phone time to cool down.
2. Too Many Apps Running in the Background
When you minimize one app to check out another, they’ll remain running in the background. As more apps run in the background, the system gets overloaded as it struggles to maintain all of them.
Solution
Before you open another app, make sure you close all the apps once you are done using them. Always shut down the apps you aren’t using, as leaving them on for long hours will make the phone overheat and drain the battery fast.
3. High Screen Brightness
Sometimes you want to increase your phone’s brightness when you aren’t able to see well in direct sunlight. But don’t leave it like that for long, because the phone will start heating up. The best way to go about this is to set the phone to adjust brightness automatically during ambient light.
Using sleep mode for a long time can be taxing on the performance of your cell phone too. With automatic brightness adjustment, you can see the screen without your phone consuming excessive power.
Solution
Remember to adjust the brightness to normal after using the cellphone in direct sunlight. You can also turn on the mobile’s adaptive brightness.
4. Presence of Rogue Apps or Malware
Both iPhones and Android phones are vulnerable to malware. The apps can carry out unauthorized tasks and consume a lot of CPU power, making the phone overheat.
The bugs in phone applications may make your smartphone misbehave or heat up. The operating system may get affected, too, because these apps usually run on different devices under different operating systems and configurations. They may function optimally on some phones, but not all.
Malware damages the phone, and malicious apps can hog its memory and CPU by throttling them and producing plenty of heat.
All these issues can cripple your phone’s functioning. `
Solution
Before downloading and installing an app on your mobile device, read its reviews first to know if it’s approved and reliable.
Download an antivirus to protect your phone from rogue apps that cause performance issues. Perform a virus scan to prevent infection from malware and spyware.
Keep apps updated to fix bugs and avoid phone malfunction. This will also optimize your phone’s performance and reduce overheating.
Clean up accumulated junk, turn off unnecessary phone settings, and trash all the apps you don’t need. If you aren’t using the phone, put it in airplane mode. This will not only minimize overheating; it will also save battery life.
5. Active GPS
Activating your phone’s GPS to find direction has consequences too. A lot of applications will request you to activate the GPS all the time. However, turning on the GPS for long sessions utilizes large amounts of processing power, causing the phone to overheat.
Solution
Once your phone starts overheating due to GPS activation, disable the GPS. Alternatively, deny a particular app’s permission when it asks to use GPS. Activate GPS only when necessary or put your phone on low battery mode to prevent the GPS from updating in the background.
You can also opt to turn off the app that is making the phone overheat.
6. The Charger is Faulty
Check your phone to identify the source of heat. If the heat is coming from the back, bottom part of the phone, it might be a problem with your charger. This often happens when you are charging your phone.
It only means two things; either the charging system is damaged, or your charger is faulty.
Solution
Get a licensed charger for your phone. This will keep the phone safe, with minimal risk of fire. If your charger is original, but the phone still overheats, you should consider replacing the phone battery.
7. Exposure to Direct Heat
Exposing your phone to direct sunlight makes it overheat quickly. Never leave the phone near the window or on your car’s dashboard under direct sunlight. The phone will overheat quickly, causing the battery to drain too. The touchscreen may stop working properly too, and if you’re unlucky, your phone will get fried.
If you introduce your phone to extremely high temperatures, the screen may crack, and your phone can have hardware issues too.
Solution
Cover your phone with something to avoid direct sunlight. Or you can move it to a cool place or have it in your bag to prevent damage.
8. Installing Too Many Widgets
Widgets are pretty amazing because they allow you to customize your smartphone with your personality. This way, you can display your favorite content to your liking. But having too many widgets affects your phone’s performance, making it heat up. This goes for animated wallpapers too.
Solution
Disable unnecessary settings on your phone and reduce the number of widgets to lighten the load on its CPU consumption. This will also prevent overheating.
Final Thoughts
Phones warm a little from time to time. But when temperatures soar higher, they start misbehaving. The phone CPU, screen, and battery are the major sources of heating. That’s why you should keep these areas healthy at all times. By now you know how to stop phone from overheating despite the cause.
If you try all the above and the phone is still overheating, contact a professional for help. You can call us at 347-450-7344.