If your iPhone is heating up during normal use, you’re not alone. Overheating is a common problem that can affect your device’s performance, battery life, and overall health. The good news is that most overheating issues can be fixed with a few simple changes.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to fix iPhone overheating issues step by step.
Remove the case while charging
Phone cases can retain heat, especially when charging. If your iPhone feels warm, remove the case and let it cool down.
These simple steps can quickly reduce the temperature and prevent overheating.
Avoid using your iPhone while charging
Using your iPhone while charging can generate additional heat. Activities like gaming, streaming, or video calling can significantly increase the temperature.
Try to charge your phone without heavy use for better heat management.
Close Background Apps
Apps running in the background can use processing power and generate heat.
To close apps:
- Swipe up from the bottom and close unnecessary apps.
- This can help reduce the workload on your device.
- Lower the screen brightness
- High brightness levels can increase heat and battery usage.
- To reduce stress on your device, lower your screen brightness or enable automatic brightness.
- Disable Background App Refresh
Background processes can increase CPU usage and cause overheating.
Go to Settings → General → Background App Refresh
Turn it off for apps that don’t need frequent updates.
Keep your iPhone up to date
Software bugs can sometimes cause overheating. Apple releases updates to fix these issues.
To update:
Go to Settings → General → Software Update
- Always install the latest version for better performance and stability.
- Avoid direct sunlight
- Leaving your iPhone in direct sunlight or in hot environments can cause it to heat up quickly.
- Try to keep your device in a cool, shaded place whenever possible.
- Turn off location services for unused apps
- Continuous location tracking can use power and increase heat.
- Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services
- Set apps to “While Using the App” or turn them off completely if they are not needed.
- Reset settings (if necessary)
If overheating persists, resetting settings can help fix hidden system issues.
Settings → General → Reset or Reset iPhone → Reset → Reset All Settings
This won’t erase your data, but it will reset system settings.
Battery Deterioration
This is the most underrated reason for chronic iPhone overheating, especially in phones two years old or older. Lithium-ion batteries are electrochemical systems. As they age and cycle through charge and discharge, the chemistry inside changes — the battery’s internal resistance increases, meaning it has to work harder to deliver the same power output. More work equals more heat.
A battery at 70% of its original capacity generates significantly more heat energy, charged and discharged, than a battery at 100% of its original capacity. The compounding effect is significant: An aging battery heats up the phone, the heat accelerates further battery degradation, and the degradation generates more heat. It’s a cycle that gradually gets worse without intervention.
Fix: Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. If your maximum capacity is below 80%, a battery replacement will almost certainly significantly reduce overheating – often eliminating it if the battery is the primary drive.
Our MacBook Battery Replacement Signs Guide covers the battery degradation process in detail (the same electrochemistry applies to iPhone batteries), and our iPhone battery replacement service in Melbourne offers same-day replacements that restore both thermal performance and battery capacity.
Check Battery Health
A damaged or old battery can cause overheating issues.
To check:
Go to Settings → Battery → Battery Health
If the battery health is very low, consider replacing it.
A rogue or poorly optimized app
A single misbehaving app is often the cause of sudden, unexpected overheating that occurs after installing something new or updating an existing app. A coding bug, memory leak, or an app stuck in an error loop can cause it to continuously consume CPU resources – even when you’re not using it and the screen is off. This type of problem can be difficult to identify because the phone won’t show you, in any obvious way, that a specific app is consuming 40% of the processor’s capacity while you’re doing nothing.
The phone is getting hot. Solution: Once the phone has cooled down, go to Settings > Battery and scroll down to see battery usage by app over the past 24 hours and the past 10 days. Any app that shows disproportionately high background activity compared to how much you’re actually using it is suspicious.
Force close it, and if the phone runs cooler afterward, update the app (a bug fix may be available) or delete it and reinstall it fresh. If overheating occurs after an iOS update, the same logic applies: there may be a background task related to the update. Check Settings > Battery for any apps showing unusual background usage. If it’s related to the update itself, it usually resolves within 24-48 hours as the background re-indexing completes. For persistent iOS update-related issues, our blog on iPhone update issues covers what to do when an update causes persistent device issues.
Environmental heat and direct sunlight
This is simple but often underestimated, especially in Australia’s climate. Your iPhone has no active cooling – it dissipates heat passively through its chassis. As ambient temperatures rise, the temperature difference between the device and its environment shrinks or disappears completely, so the chassis can no longer effectively dissipate heat. A phone left on the dashboard or seat of a parked car on a summer’s day can be exposed to temperatures exceeding 70°C inside.
Direct sunlight on a beach or in an outdoor setting can raise the surface temperature to 50°C or more. In these cases, the temperature warning screen is the right way to recognize that the phone has reached an unsafe operating temperature. Beyond the immediate thermal shutdown, repeated exposure to very high ambient temperatures accelerates battery degradation.
An iPhone left in a hot car will have a battery that degrades faster than one that is not. The fix: Remove your iPhone from direct sunlight and never leave it in a closed vehicle in hot weather. When using your phone outdoors in the summer, find shade wherever possible and avoid maximum screen brightness, which adds to the heat load. If the temperature warning screen appears, let it cool to room temperature – do not put it in the refrigerator, as condensation from cold environments can cause moisture damage.
Final Thoughts
An iPhone overheating can be frustrating, but it’s usually easy to fix. By reducing background activity, avoiding heavy usage while charging, and keeping your device up to date, you can maintain a safe temperature.
Taking care of your iPhone not only prevents overheating but also improves performance and extends battery life.