TechRadar stands by its audience.When you make a purchase through links on our website, we may earn an affiliate commission.These are the reasons why you can trust usBy Antonio Romero Contributions by Tom Bedford Posted 16 June 22Cell phone overheating is a problem that many people experience on hot summer days, and it can be a pain if you want to take photos, check directions, or call people on your smartphone when you're away from home.However, you don't have to resign yourself and live with it, as there are ways to keep your phone cool, or simply prevent it from getting too hot, without having to turn it off and go without it for a while.And no, we don't mean immersing it in water, that sure ends badly.So, to help you survive the hot summer season without your phone dying, here are some tips on how to stop your phone from overheating and keep it cool in hot weather.On a hot day you will seek shade to avoid the heat.Your phone wants the exact same thing.Do your best to avoid leaving it in direct sunlight, as it can cause it to heat up very quickly.If you are at home, for example, do not put it by the window.Also, if you are having a picnic on the beach, put it under a towel or other opaque cloth to protect it from the sun.Likewise, don't leave your phone in your car or in a greenhouse, or anywhere else where heat builds up on a sunny day, as it will roast your phone as fast as an oven.By doing this, you will prevent the device from heating up quickly.If you have a case on your phone, it will keep it warm and comfortable in the winter months, but toast it in the hot months.Take off his coat!A case can act as an insulator, so if your phone gets hot, it will keep that heat inside – you need to take it off so the heat dissipates as quickly as possible.Sure, if you have a nice case that's useful beyond protecting your phone, like one with credit cards or a power bank, you might want to leave it on.But if you're just relaxing at home or lounging in a shaded park, it wouldn't hurt to remove the case for a few minutes.The devil is in the details, so if you want to keep your phone cool, there are some useful settings you can change to make sure it doesn't get too hot.First of all, lower the brightness of the screen as much as possible;This might make the screen harder to see, but it will use less battery power and keep your device running cooler.If your phone has adaptive brightness, this might automatically set the brightness to maximum if you're away, so you should turn it off.Second, turn off data if you're not using it, and maybe you should put the device in airplane mode if you don't need to talk to anyone for a while.Like screen brightness, turning these features off can save battery life, which is largely related to the phone's temperature.Some phones, particularly gaming phones, have overclock modes to improve phone performance while consuming power more quickly.Naturally, you should also turn this off.If you don't know if your phone has this type of mode, it probably doesn't as game modes are added only on certain niche devices.Whether it's hot or not, there are things we do that heat up the phone: playing games, editing videos or photos, or fast charging the battery can increase the temperature of the phone.If the heat of the day heats up your phone no matter what you do, it would be wise to avoid doing certain things that make it even hotter: two heat sources at once could make it heat up super fast.So if you can avoid messing around a bit, load it at normal speed, and leave retouching your images and videos for later, your phone will thank you.Your pockets can be very hot for a phone: they are almost always close to your skin, absorbing all the heat from your body.Take your phone out of any tight pants or shirt pocket, where it's warmer.In winter, we would tell you to preferably use the pockets of your jacket or coat, but on a hot day you are unlikely to wear one.If you're out and about, maybe it's better to carry your phone in a bag, because at least it's further away from you.And if you're sitting still somewhere, you can take your phone out of your pocket and leave it somewhere where you can see it.Most of the time, tricks to make your phone cool could end up doing more harm than good.First of all, we do not recommend you to submerge your phone in water or put it under a tap, even if your phone has IP68 resistance.It could fall off because it's slippery, or stay submerged too long, or you may even have confused its water resistance rating.On top of that, these methods don't always have much of an effect.Don't leave your phone in a fridge or freezer, either: the rapid cooling of smartphones can cause condensation to form inside the device, damaging it and voiding your warranty.Phone coolers are peripherals designed primarily for gamers.They mainly use heat dissipation technology and can keep your phone cool when it would normally be hot.You can buy one of these on Amazon for a fairly low price and it should last a long time, so it could be a good investment if you have frequent issues with your phone overheating.We haven't tested many of the phone coolers out there, so we can't vouch for the quality of all of them.But we've used enough of them to know that they can be quite useful.If you don't think a phone cooler is right for you, then maybe go for classic tech resources: just turn on your fan at home and place your phone somewhere nearby where it can get some airflow.This should cool your phone at a slow enough rate that it doesn't damage itself, while also mitigating some of the heat that could build up from the high temperatures of the day and from the phone's running internal processes.If you combine this method with some of the other tips, and make sure that the air from the fan is reaching the phone well, you can probably prevent your device from overheating.Editor at TechRadar Spain by day, blues guitarist and comic book geek by night.Or was it the other way around?Sign up to stay up to date on news, analysis, opinions and more, and the best deals in technology!Thank you for registering with TechRadar.You will receive a verification email shortly.There has been a problem.Please refresh the page and try again.TechRadar is part of Future plc, an international communications group and a leader in digital publishing.Visit our corporate website (opens in new tab) .© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA.All rights reserved.England and Wales company registered under number 2008885.