Phone Battery Too Hot to Charge: How to Fix?

Here’s what to do when you can’t charge your cell phone battery because the temperature is too high:

Overheating and extreme temperatures can do more to your phone than make it temperamental until it cools down.

It can cause long-term damage that will cost you money and destroy data such as contacts and photos.

You can cool down your phone in a variety of ways, from closing all apps to the removal of the cover.

So if you want to learn all about what you need to do to charge your phone battery at high temperatures, then this article is for you.

Let’s dig right in!

Cell Phone Battery Too Hot to Charge? (11 Tips)

What About a Phone Battery That Is Too Hot to Charge?

Upset woman looking at her phone at home.

An overheating phone is an annoyance, inconvenience, and sometimes expensive.

When outside temperatures rise, so do the chances of a too-hot phone battery.

Let’s start with what you want to know the most, quick fixes.

Then, we will hit the high notes of how to reduce the chances of an overheating phone battery.

How to Avoid an Overheating Phone Battery? (11 Ways)

#1 Phones Need Shade Too

Leaving it poolside or on the beach will heat the battery so much faster than if you were to throw a towel over it.

Even in the cooler months, direct sunlight can zap a phone’s energy.

Don’t put your phone in the freezer, though.

#2 Close All of Your Apps

Your phone works overtime to keep up with open applications.

Make it a habit to close them all, maybe before bed.

And, after you use an app that you rarely use, make it automatic that you just close it out.

Here’s how to close apps on an iPhone and here on an Android.

#3 Don’t Hoard Apps

Take out the trash, and delete the ones you don’t use, including functions.

Disabling location services and push notifications will keep you from overworking your cell.

It helps to prevent overheating and killing batteries much sooner than they would normally die.

#4 Use Anti-glare Screens

One of those automatic things we do is turn up the brightness of our phones.

Anti-glare screens help out to keep the sharpness without having to crank up the brightness.

But, turning the brightness down not only helps the battery temperature, but you will also save an awful lot of battery power too.

#5 Update Your Phone and Apps

Keeping your phoned apps updated can clear up issues before they even start.

Glitches and bugs can lead to overheating, and the fixes will sometimes fix it.

#6 Turn Bluetooth off When Not in Use

Turn the Bluetooth capability off when you’re not using it.

Auto-pairing sucks the life out of a battery and adds to the overheating issues.

#7 Use Anti-Virus Software

Viruses can hit phones as easily as they hit PCs.

Antivirus software is available to protect you from invading malware that can cause irreversible damage to your phone.

#8 Go Easy on Phone Games

Our phone games are remedies to boredom and help reduce our stress.

But constantly playing your favorite puzzle game can overheat your phone and pretty fast.

And remember, close them when you’re not playing them, too.

#9 Remove the Phone Cover

Yes, phone covers protect them from cracking and crunching the first time we drop them.

But, when it is super hot outside, or you’re not using the phone for an extended amount of time, take the cover off and let it cool down the old-fashioned way.

#10 Check Your Charging Cable

Sometimes the problem is not with your phone.

It is with the charging cable.

Swap it out and see if it clears up the overheating issues.

#11 Shut off the Phone Camera

And finally, it could be your camera.

We want to share our lives with our friends and family, but did you know a five-minute video can put so much strain on your phone that it will overheat it?

Android and Apple forums are full of people asking about phones overheating because of cameras.

You need to stop filming, close the camera app, and in some cases, shut your phone down to let it cool down.

How Does an Overheating Battery Affect Your Phone?

Woman with a sad expression while holding her phone and powerbank.

Frequent overheating and extreme temperature can do more to your phone than make it temperamental until it cools down.

It can cause long-term damage that will cost you money and your saved information like contacts and photos.

Lithium-ion batteries are the best and most common phone batteries. But, they do degrade over time.

Overheating problems speeds up a process that happens naturally.

It will stop charging effectively and store energy efficiently.

A system on a chip (SoC) is one of those things we don’t think about because we don’t really know what it is.

It is what combines all of the electronic circuits into one integrated chip (IC).

Once the chip goes bad, it goes terribly bad to the point where your phone because usable because of just how slow it gets.

Something we don’t think about is what holds our phones physically together.

Without adhesives, our phones will fall apart.

Extreme heat will eat away at adhesives, and as they degrade, the components shift.

The gaps allow dirt and dust and increase the chances of irreversible water damage.

What if Nothing Cools Down Your Phone?

When you’ve tried it all and your phone continues to overheat, the problem is going to be more than a lack of shade or too many apps.

Replacing phones is expensive and inconvenient, but a damaged phone is, too.

You can always take it to a repair shop first.

They can diagnose the problem, and in some cases, replace the battery and save the phone.

When it is beyond all hope, you can still get a few bucks for a broken phone.

Kiosks and even phone repair shops will buy it from you so you can put that extra cash into a brand-new phone.

Recycling is good for the environment and makes a broken cell hurt a little less.

What if the Temperature Is Too Low to Charge Your Phone?

Okay. Now you know what to do if your phone’s temperature is too high.

What about if the temperature is too low, though?

A faulty sensor or a damaged charging port could be to blame. However, there are other less drastic causes:

Phone’s operating system is not at the latest software release
Phone is in need of a reboot
Bad wall charger
Dirty charging port
Bad app
Bad battery
Phone’s OS is corrupted

Learn all about what you need to do to charge your phone battery at low temperatures with this in-depth article.

Author

Theresa McDonough

Tech entrepreneur and founder of Tech Medic, who has become a prominent advocate for the Right to Repair movement. She has testified before the US Federal Trade Commission and been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, helping influence change within the tech industry.
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