News

What to do if your iPhone overheats

The hot weather is causing more smartphone users to see Apple’s iPhone temperature warning.
The hot weather is causing more smartphone users to see Apple’s iPhone temperature warning. The hot weather is causing more smartphone users to see Apple’s iPhone temperature warning.

The recent hot weather in the UK is not just leaving people overheated, many are reporting their iPhones are on occasion struggling to deal with the heat.

Some iPhone owners have been taking to social media to report their encounters with a safety measure built into Apple’s iOS operating system which stops users accessing their phone when it gets too hot.

On the company’s own support pages, Apple warns that iPhone handsets can become overheated in a range of ways, including being left in direct sunlight for an extended period or in a car on a hot day.

Those who do encounter the temperature warning message are given a simple message by the tech firm: “To resume use of your device as quickly as possible, turn it off, move it to a cooler environment, and allow it to cool down.”

The warning message appears when the iPhone’s operating temperature is exceeded, which Apple says is an ambient temperature of between 0 and 35 degrees Celsius, while users are also encouraged to store the device in temperatures between minus 20 and 45 degrees Celsius to avoid overheating.

But when that temperature threshold is exceeded, the warning screen will appear – warning users they need to cool the phone before they can use it for anything other than emergency calls.

Another reason to take note is that the company also warns that using the device in “very hot conditions” can also permanently shorten battery life.

Even if that alert doesn’t appear, some devices will also cut down on some features to help regulate the temperature of a device that is starting to overheat, including slowing down or stopping charging as well as phone performance on some graphics-heavy features and disabling the camera flash.