This isn’t a problem peculiar to a particular brand or a specific mobile OS. From my experience using different phones from several OEMs over the years and switching between Android and iOS, I’ve come to realize that any phone can overheat. Yes, iPhones do overheat, same with Samsung, Tecno or any other brand you can think of.

There are times when this is cause by poor software or hardware engineering. A half-baked firmware can cause this, so can you, the user. There are several reasons why a smartphone can overheat and for every case, there are things you can do.

1. Cut down the processes

If you’re running several applications at the same time, you may be putting quite a lot of work on the processor and this can make your phone overheat. Playing a graphic-intensive game while Facebook, WhatsApp and others run in the background may be putting a lot of pressure on your device’s little brain. Cut the the number of processes by launching the app switcher and getting rid of running apps you can do without at the moment. This may have a significant positive impact.

2. Don’t use while charging

While a lot of us use our devices while charging, this can actually make the temperature hit the roof. This can even potentially make your battery swell. It should be avoided.

3. Take the case off

Your phone case may be suffocating your device. If your device needs to dissipate some heat and your protective case blocks this, the temperature may go higher than normal. It is advised you remove the cover for a while if you notice an increase in temperature.

4. Turn down the brightness

Lowering your screen brightness can go along way to help with your smartphone’s insane temperature. You see, the brighter the screen, the higher your phone temperature is likely to go.

5. You might have a problematic app

There was this particular time I jailbroke my iPhone, installed a particular Cydia tweak, and overheating set in. I had to remove that particular Cydia tweak. There are times when a single app may be causing excessive overheating and battery drainage. In this case, you need to remove such apps.

6. A simple reboot works magic

Sometimes, all you need to do to reset things back to normal is a simple restart.

7. Upgrade!

When there’s an issue with a particular firmware, OEMs often issue out fixes. Bugs in your outdated operating system might be the problem. Upgrading to the latest firmware version might be of help.

Additional tips to combat phone overheating

You should already know by now that it’s wrong to leave your phone on your car’s dashboard where it gets hit by direct sunlight. You should also consider trimming the number of apps you have on your phone. Uninstall those you can live without. One more thing: always update your apps.