Your iPhone XS, XS Max, or iPhone XR is getting too hot to handle? That’s okay. These devices are hot. But let’s see how we can treat them right, so they don’t blow you away. Jokes apart, if your iPhone is running hot a lot lately, you need to fix the problem before it hurts the battery health.

Why your iPhone heats

In 99% of the cases, overheating happens when your iPhone’s processor is in use intensively. While gaming is a glaring example of processor intensive tasks, but sometimes usual apps on your device could also cause overheating when there’s an anomaly. Below are some of the most common reasons why your iPhone XS or iPhone XR could be overheating.

  • Gaming
  • Fast charging 
  • Buggy, incompatible apps
  • Background app activity
  • Extended use of Location Services (GPS)
  • Video recording for more than 3 minutes
  • Torch / Camera flash used for a prolonged time

Fix iPhone Overheating issue while charging

There are two reasons why your iPhone XS, XS Max or the iPhone XR might be overheating while charging:

  • Using your iPhone while charging
    If you often use your iPhone while it’s charging, stop doing it. Not only does it causes overheating, but it’s hurting your battery’s lifespan.
  • Using a Fast charger
    There’s a reason why Apple bundles a 5W / 1A charger with iPhone XS and XR. It provides just the right current to the battery, so it does not overheat. But when you use a fast charger with the power delivery of 12W / 2A and above, the increased charging power delivered to the battery raises the temperature of the power circuit on the device.

We advise you to use the bundled 5W charger and an Apple-certified Lightning charging cable to charge your iPhone XS and XR.

READ: How to wirelessly charge iPhone

Tips for heating caused by games, video recording, and more

If you’re using your iPhone for processor intensive activities like Gaming, Video editing, High-resolution recording, and similar purposes, the overheating is obvious. Below are some tips to stop overheating for some of the activities:

  • Don’t play games while your iPhone is charging.
  • Reduce the graphics setting in games to lower CPU load.
  • Shoot videos in 1080p instead of 4K.
  • If possible, turn off flash while recording a video.
  • Don’t use processor intensive apps for prolonged times.

Fix for random iPhone heating issues

If your iPhone is overheating for no apparent reason, it’s probably because an app is unnecessarily using your device’ resources. Below are some tips fix overheating caused by apps.

  • Restart your iPhone
    Restarting is the first step you should take whenever you find your iPhone overheating. It will shut down the app(s) excessively using resources such as Location Services, WiFi, etc. in the background.
  • Look for apps unnecessarily using battery
    Go to Settings » Battery and look for the app(s) that might be using unnecessarily using battery power. Removing the faulty apps from your iPhone will fix the overheating issue.
  • Turn Off Location Services
    Apart from Gaming and Fast charging, Location Services is also one of the most common causes of overheating on an iPhone. If you don’t use it often, it’s advisable to turn it off by going to Settings » Privacy » Location Services.