How To Keep Your Phone Cool When The Weather Heats Up
As the weather heats up outside, it is important to keep your phone as cool as possible. Electronics naturally produce some warmth, however when they get too hot there can be long-term consequences. Understanding the reasons for why your phone gets hot is the first step in knowing how to keep it cool.
Preventing your phone from overheating can improve its longevity and its long-term performance. Processors and lithium batteries have shown to have a longer and more productive life when they are kept at lower temperatures. In addition, extreme heat can also cause physical damage to your phone such as warping and cracks in your screen. Here are some reasons that your phone can overheat and what you can do to keep it cool.
It’s Ridiculously Hot Outside
When it gets hot and humid outside, it becomes even more difficult to keep your phone at a cooler temperature. Avoiding direct sunlight to your phone and keeping it in a shaded area will help. You will also want to avoid leaving it in areas like a hot car for extended periods of time.
An App is Running Inefficiently
Sometimes apps on your phone can cause overheating because they are running inefficiently or they have a bug in them that causes them to overuse your phone’s processor. You can prevent this by regularly closing out of apps or simply restarting your phone when you notice that it is getting too hot. You can even turn the phone completely off to give it a chance to cool down more before you turn it back on.
Making sure your apps are updated with the latest patches and updates will help ensure that these types of bugs are kept at a minimum.
Improper Ventilation
Cases are great for keeping your phone safe and for personalizing them to suit your tastes, however some cases lack ventilation. Using “bumper” style cases or cases that have holes for air movement in the back can help prevent your phone from heating up too quickly.
Putting your phone in your pocket for extended periods can also cause your phone to get very warm.
Heavy Usage for Apps with HD Graphics
Apps that use high definition graphics or videos can cause your phone to work harder than normal. If these apps are used for extended periods, your phone may struggle to keep up and get hot. If you use these types of apps frequently, it may be a wise idea to give your phone a break periodically.
Display Brightness
Out in the bright sunlight, it is tempting to set your brightness even higher on the phone so that you can see the screen. Unfortunately cranking your brightness up can also cause your phone to heat up. If it is in the hot sun already, turning the brightness up compounds the problem. One alternative to turning the brightness higher would be to put an anti-glare filter on your screen in the summer months.
Too Many Apps
It is a smart habit to occasionally go through your apps and remove the apps that you haven’t used in awhile. You may not realize that even though you haven’t used an app in a while, they could still be running in the background so that they can do things like send you push notifications while you don’t have the app open.
Poor Signal
If your phone is struggling to find a signal, it will cause your phone to work harder and lead to higher temperatures and a drained battery. If you are in an area where you will not get much use out of your phone anyway, you could consider turning it off until you are back in a place with a stronger signal.
So there you have it. Your phone and heat may even be a worse combination than orange juice and toothpaste, but with bigger consequences. Hopefully using these methods can keep your phone cool, especially in the summer heat.