How to Fix Overheating iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

Your iPhone will normally get warm while you use it or charge it. If you play a graphics intensive game, stream high quality audio or video, or use processor intensive apps, your iPhone may even get hot. If your iPhone is so hot it feels like it burns your hand or doesn't cool off when you let it rest you may have an issue with your battery, case, or CPU.

If your device gets too hot you'll notice these changes:

  • Charging, including wireless charging, slows or stops.
  • The display dims or goes black.
  • Cellular radios enter a low-power state. The signal might weaken during this time.
  • The camera flash is temporarily disabled.
  • Performance slows with graphics-intensive or augmented-reality apps or features.

This guide will help you cool off your iPhone or determine if you need it repaired.

iOS temperature warning

2. Cool Down

  • The ambient temperature in the area could cause your phone to overheat.
Hot temperature clip art
  • Avoid having your iPhone in direct sunlight.
Do not put in direct sunlight.
  • Your iPhone's bezel is designed to dissipate heat. You may need to remove the case to help that.
iPhone case.
  • Your iPhone will warm up while it charges. To extend the lifespan of your battery, if the battery gets too warm, software might limit charging above 80 percent. Your iPhone will charge again when the temperature drops.
  • Your iPhone will heat up from regular use.

3. Power Off Until Cool

Turn off your device until it cools down. Go ahead and take the case off as well so it cools down faster. If your device does not cool down while it is off, there could be a hardware issue.

To turn off your device:

iOS devices showing how to turn it off

Turn off your iPhone X

  1. Press and hold the Side button and either volume button until the slider appears.
  2. Drag the slider to turn your iPhone X completely off.

Turn off your iPhone 8 or earlier, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the slider appears.
  2. Drag the slider to turn your device completely off.

With iOS 11 or later, you can also turn off your device by going to Settings, then General, then Shut Down.

4. Power On

To power on your device:

iOS devices showing how to turn them off

Turn on your iPhone X

  1. Press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo.

Restart your iPhone 8 or earlier, iPad, or iPod touch

  1. Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until you see the Apple logo.

5. Configure to Reduce Heat

If you aren't using a particular feature on your iOS device, it makes sense to disable it either temporarily or permanently in order to reduce the amount of heat that is generated.

Pick an option to be guided through the process, or pick "All done" once you're all set.

6. Still Concerned About Temperature?

If your device is still overheating or you are concerned about temperature, it may be time to contact the OEM or provider about the issue.

7. What's next?

8. Disable Location Services

  1. Open Settings on your iOS device.
Settings.
  1. Select Privacy.
iOS Settings menu highlighting the privacy option.
  1. Select Location Services.
iOS Privacy settings highlighting location services.
  1. Make sure Location Services is turned Off at the top. 
iOS Location services menu highlighting the toggle switch.

9. Disable Background Processes

To turn off Automatic Downloads:

  1. Select Settings.
iOS Settings.
  1. Select iTunes & App Store.
Settings with iTunes and App Store highlighted.
  1. Turn off ALL automatic downloads.
iTunes and Ap Stores settings ith Automatic Downloads highlighted.

To turn off Background App Refresh:

  1. Select Settings.
iOS Settings.
  1. Select General.
Settings with General highlighted.
  1. Select Background App Refresh.
General settings with Background App Refresh highlighted.
  1. Select Background App Refresh again.
Background App Refresh settings with Background App Refresh highlighted.
  1. Background App Refresh can be completely turned off.
Background App Refresh options with Off highlighted.

These processes do not need to be going on in the background and may gain you a noticeable increase in performance if you stop them.

10. Disable Visual Effects

  1. Select Settings.
iOS Settings.
  1. Select General.
Settings with General highlighted.
  1. Select Accessibility.
General settings with Accessibility highlighted.
  1. Select Increase Contrast.
Accessibility settings with Increase Contrast highlighted.
  1. Turn Reduce Transparency ON.
Increase Contract settings with Reduce Transparency highlighted.
  1. Select Accessibility.
Increase Contrast settings with Accessibility back button highlighted.
  1. Select Reduce Motion.
Accessibility settings with Reduce Motion highlighted.
  1. Turn Reduce Motion ON.
Reduce Motion menu with Reduce Motion highlighted.

These options turn off the parallax effect of icons and alerts and reduces see-through background effects which can also slow things down on an older iPhone.

11. Disable Bluetooth (Swipe)

  1. Swipe up on your device from the main screen.
iOS screen showing green arrow to swipe up

  1. Tap the Bluetooth icon.
iOS swipe up menu showing bluetooth
  1. Bluetooth is now turned off.
A gray bluetooth icon

12. Disable Wi-Fi

  1. Swipe up from the bottom of your device.
  2. Tap the Wi-Fi icon while it is blue.
iOS control panel Wi-Fi icon
  1. The Wi-Fi icon will be faded.
iOS control center with Wi-Fi off
  1. A pop up will alert you to turning off Wi-Fi.
iOS wifi disconnecting pop up

13. Enable/Disable Airplane Mode

Depending on which model iPhone you have and which version of Apple's iOS your device is running, what you see on your screen may differ slightly from these photos. However, the steps outlined in this process should be very similar.

  1. With Control Center open, tap the Airplane mode icon. This will turn Airplane mode on.
iPhone control center highlighting the airplane mode icon.
  1. The Airplane mode icon will light up and all other communication buttons will dim to demonstrate that they have been disabled because Airplane mode is now on.
iPhone control center highlighting the airplane mode icon being engaged.
  1. To turn Airplane mode back off, tap the Airplane mode icon again. The button will dim once again, and other communication buttons will light back up to show that they are back on.
iPhone control center highlighting the airplane mode icon being disengaged.

14. What's next?