How to check phone temperature 2024

Given that your phone is essentially a small computer that you carry around in your pocket, you must know how to check the phone temperature and prevent overheating before it becomes a problem.

Regardless of whether you're using the newest iPhone 15, the Samsung S24, or any other model, all smartphones are susceptible to overheating, which can adversely impact the battery health of both your iPhone and Android devices.

By keeping tabs on your device's temperature, you can take proactive steps to maintain its health and longevity. With that being said, let's find out how to check the phone temperature.

How to check phone temperature

Checking the temperature of your phone is a proactive step to ensure it operates within safe limits, preventing overheating issues that can impact performance and longevity.

Here’s how you can check the phone temperature on both iPhone and Android devices:

iPhone

Apple does not provide a direct way to view the temperature of the iPhone via the iOS interface. However, there are indirect methods to gauge if your iPhone is overheating:

• System Alerts: iOS will display a temperature warning if the device becomes too hot. This is a clear indicator that your iPhone needs to cool down.

• Battery Health: Overheating can affect battery health over time. You can check your battery’s health by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. This won’t show the current temperature but can indicate if your phone has been experiencing excessive heat.

Android

Android devices, depending on the manufacturer and model, might offer more direct ways to check the phone temperature:

• Built-in Features: Some Android phones have built-in ways to check the temperature. This can usually be found in the battery or device care settings. For example, you might go to Settings > Battery > Battery Usage to see if there’s a temperature reading.
• Third-party Apps: The Google Play Store has several apps designed to monitor your phone's temperature. Apps like Cooler Master, CPU Monitor, and AIDA64 can give you a real-time look at your device's temperature.
• Dial Codes: On some Android devices, you can get information about your battery by typing the following code: *#*#4636#*#*. If your handset has this feature, it will open a menu, from which you can select Battery Information. One of the options within this menu is Battery Temperature.

For those seeking precision, infrared thermometers can be useful. By pointing the infrared thermometer at your phone, you can get an instant reading of its temperature.

How to cool down your phone

If you need to cool down your phone, there are a few different measures you can take:

• Either switch the phone off or put it into flight mode, to disable many of the features that are battery-hungry - such as a data connection.

• Close all the apps you have open. We can often find a situation where we inadvertently have all the apps we've opened left running in the background. Once you've finished with an app, close it.
• Turn down the screen brightness. A screen needs a lot of power to stay on, especially if the brightness is turned up. A dimmer screen will therefore make fewer demands.
• Try battery saver mode. This will reduce the number of background processes the phone is running.

What increases a phone's temperature?

There are a lot of possible reasons that your phone may be getting hot. You've probably noticed your handset feeling warm if you've been using it for a long time, or have lots of power-hungry apps running.

But typical reasons include the following:

• Streaming content - whether you're watching YouTube videos or streaming your favourite TV shows, loading video data and having the screen on for long periods is a surefire way to increase your phone's temperature.
• Gaming - this will work your phone's GPU as well as its processing cores.
• Software updates can also be quite power-hungry, so you may well notice a warmer handset during an update, or just after it has finished.
• Batteries are often the focal point for increased temperatures in your phone. A faulty battery was behind the issues with the Samsung Note 7 that we highlighted earlier. So if you overcharge your phone, or drop it, and damage the battery, it may lead to the temperature rising.
• High ambient temperatures. Phones, like many electrical devices, have an optimal operating window. So if you leave your phone in the sun on a hot day, this can also make your device overheat.
• Issues with malware, viruses, suboptimal settings and background apps can also contribute to temperature increases.

Why you should try to avoid overheating your phone

Going back to that Note 7, there is a small chance that a phone that overheats too much could actually explode. On that particular occasion, it was so serious that these handsets were banned from flights.

While the vast majority of handsets are not going to explode on you, an overheating handset can lead to damage to the handset, reduced battery performance, and reduced functional performance. In short, it isn't ideal.

It's well worth checking your phone temperature if you feel it is beginning to get warm. And if it does, then take the steps we mentioned earlier, to help bring the temperature back down again.

That's everything you need to know about how to check your phone temperature and why you should avoid overheating it in the first place.

Read our guide on when you should change your phone battery if you're looking for more phone tips.