With summer fast approaching, time is being taken up with the pool, beach and barbecues. But while you are soaking up the sun’s rays, so is your smartphone, and if your phone is damaged due to overheating, your wallet will pay the price. Last summer was the hottest on record, and this year it’s likely to be even hotter. That’s why it’s more important than ever to protect both you and your smartphone from the effects of excessive heat.
The ideal internal temperature for a phone is 0 to 35 degrees Celsius (32 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit), which is a fairly wide range. However, these are indoor temperatures, and even if the outdoor temperature doesn’t exceed this range, your phone’s internal temperature may exceed these values. A cell phone is just a small computer, and all computers generate heat during normal operation. However, dissipating this heat is essential to the functioning of the computer, as too much heat can damage components or cause system failure. In very rare cases, too much heat can cause a cell phone battery to catch fire, but more often than not, it simply shortens the battery’s lifespan and prevents you from getting the most out of your battery.
You’re probably taking precautions against the heat: wear sunscreen, drink plenty of water and avoid direct sunlight. Similarly, you can also prevent your phone from overheating. From keeping it out of direct sunlight to charging it carefully, here are some tips to keep your phone healthy and happy during the dog days of summer.
Keep your phone out of direct sunlight
The most important tip for anyone wanting their phone to survive the heat is to keep it out of direct sunlight. Basically, in the hottest seasons, your phone should follow the vampire rules, which means you should never leave it in direct sunlight or expose it to high temperatures. That’s because the inside of your phone is like the inside of a car on a hot day. It traps heat and becomes a mini oven for its internal components. In this comparison, your phone’s passive cooling system acts as the car’s air conditioning system, but on its lowest setting. That means that at normal temperatures, your phone can keep itself cool, but at high temperatures, it can’t withstand both the heat generated by the phone’s own operation and the heat coming in from the outside.
If you must use your phone outdoors in direct sunlight, try to keep it to a minimum. Text your partner or spouse, but then don’t check social media and put your phone away. There are other things you can do to prevent damage: If you’re at the beach or pool, keep your phone in a shady spot. Be careful not to cover your phone with a jacket or blanket as this can cause more heat to build up around it. When you’re in the car, don’t place your phone on the dashboard as this can generate a lot of heat, especially if you’re using your phone’s GPS navigation at the same time.
Don’t charge your phone in a hot location
For the same reason you wouldn’t leave it in direct sunlight, don’t charge your phone in a hot environment. Charging your phone heats up the battery, and in an environment that’s already hot enough to overheat your phone, the additional heat from charging can cause your phone to overheat. While it may be tempting to use the portable charger you brought to the beach, even if your phone’s battery is low, wait until you’re back in a cooler environment to let the battery recover. If you need to charge, be sure to use a manufacturer-approved charger.
Wireless charging is even worse than charging via a cable. That’s because wireless charging is incredibly inefficient. You may have noticed that even the fastest wireless chargers don’t charge that fast. There are two reasons for this. First, about 20-50% of the energy used escapes between the charging pad and your phone. Second, as those who paid attention in physics class may have guessed, this escaped energy gets converted into exactly what we want to avoid: heat.
One of the most common scenarios for battery-destroying heat is charging your phone in the car. We all know how hot our car dashboards can get in the summer. Many of the best car phone holders have built-in wireless charging pads. So, if you want to use the wireless charging feature, make sure it’s turned off before plugging in your phone. And of course, don’t plug it into a wired charger. Many smartphone owners have pulled their phones out of their car phone holders only to find that the battery has swelled up and damaged the rest of the phone.
Don’t use your phone for intensive tasks in hot places
Even in comfortable weather, there are many things that can cause your phone to heat up. Gaming, especially games with a lot of movement, is a sure way to boost processor performance. Video editing, local AI tasks, streaming high-definition video, and even using the camera for extended periods can make even the latest flagship smartphones sweat. Of course, doing these things when the air around you is already scorching hot can cause your phone to seriously overheat. Plus, these tasks drain your battery, causing it to drain very quickly.
If you plan on using your smartphone camera to re-enact the volleyball scene from Top Gun or play Genshin Impact while lounging by the pool, you might want to wait or limit your usage to a few minutes at a time. While strenuous work, even in the sun, doesn’t necessarily lead to overheating, it’s best not to take the risk.
You should also be mindful of your phone’s brightness level. Many phones with auto-brightness features default to maximum brightness in direct sunlight to make the screen easier to see. However, displays are one of the biggest power consumers on a smartphone or tablet. Powering all those pixels can make your phone heat up quite a bit, which can lead to overheating if the ambient temperature is high. If you must look at your phone, set the brightness as low as possible. If you have to turn the brightness up to maximum to see what’s on the screen, limit your use as much as possible.
How to Cool Your Smartphone
If you notice any of the following signs that your smartphone is overheating: for example, it feels warm, its performance slows, or you see an overheating warning, then you should first move it to a cooler place in your home out of the sunlight. If you don’t have the space indoors, keep it in the shade. Don’t cover it with a coat or blanket as this will cause more heat to build up around the device. Don’t put it in the refrigerator or freezer, no matter how tempting it may be. Sudden temperature changes from a very high to a very low temperature are also a sure way to damage your device.
Once you bring it inside, place it in front of a vent or fan. If your phone is in a case, remove it. This will give your phone the “breathing room” it needs, so to speak, to let heat escape from all sides. You can also close all running apps to reduce your phone’s current power consumption, turn on airplane mode to stop the heat generated by your cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS radios, or go into your phone’s settings and switch to low battery mode (how to enable battery saver mode may vary depending on your Android device, but here’s how to enable it on an iPhone).
However, if your phone is not just warm (for example, painfully hot), you don’t need to bother messing around with the software. It’s safer to just turn your phone off completely. Most cell phones will automatically shut off if they get too hot, but not all do. It’s better to miss a call than need a new battery or phone.
What to do if your battery pillows
One of the biggest dangers that can arise from an overheated phone is that the battery inside the phone can expand. This is often referred to as “swollen” due to the shape of the battery, and there’s even a Reddit community, r/spicypillows, dedicated to this issue. When this happens, there’s an excess buildup of naturally occurring gases that are released inside the battery while it’s charging. With nowhere to go, these gases start to fill the inside of the battery case like a balloon. In smartphones, this can be particularly damaging, as the battery expands, squeezing the front and back of the phone, damaging nearby components or shattering the screen or backplate.
A swollen battery is extremely dangerous and poses a high risk of catching fire. If your battery swells due to overheating, we recommend you turn off your phone completely and place it in a cool, non-flammable place. If you have the know-how, open the phone and take out the battery. Otherwise, take it to a local repair shop (Genius Bar for iPhones). According to experts interviewed by The Washington Post, you can throw the battery into a bucket of sand to avoid damage (only the swollen battery, not the whole phone, as the sand can further damage the phone). Then contact a battery recycling facility to properly dispose of the battery.