How to fix Android device overheating and enhance performance
There are several steps you can take if your Android device is constantly overheating: optimize battery and device usage, reduce internet usage, remove junk files and trash, uninstall unused apps, and perform a complete diagnostic to better understand why your device is overheating in the first place.
Of course, there are natural causes of overheating, such as exposure to direct sunlight, using the wrong charger, playing graphics-intensive games, and even using a case that’s not designed for your device.
This tutorial will guide you through the best tips for completely fixing the overheating, or at best, for reducing the overheating of your smartphone or tablet – an important measure for ensuring device health.
Causes of overheating – Why your smartphone or tablet overheats?
Before anything else, the first thing that you should check is if the overheating is due to natural causes:
- Exposure to direct sunlight or to a source of heating: It takes a long time for the device to cool down, and the overheating can affect the battery and general health, so keep your device away from heating sources.
- Charging the device with an improper adapter: If the overheating is occurring while charging and you don’t use the original charger, then the culprit for overheating might be the charger itself, so you might need to consider of using a different charger.
- Using a case not designed for your device or of poor quality: Use your device without the case for a while to see if it still overheats. If so, you may need a better case designed specifically for your device model or of better quality.
- Battery damage due to prolonged use: In time, the battery loses its properties, and it gets consumed faster, generating more heat.
- Prolonged usage of the camera: Utilizing the camera for an extended period, such as during video calls or while shooting videos, can induce overheating, particularly for high-resolution recordings.
Overheating can also be caused by how you use the device. For example, playing a video game or using an app that requires intensive processor usage can lead to natural overheating, which is further amplified when the charger is connected.
Whatever the case, following the tips listed in this article will help you better control the device temperature.
Update Android OS and apps
The overheating of your smartphone or tablet might be caused my missing some updates.
Firstly, check if there is an available update for your Android device. Here’s an article about How to update Android OS.
Secondly, keep all the installed apps updated. Go to Google Play Store > Manage apps & device, and choose to Update all apps from there.
Thirdly, restart your device and check to see if the overheating problem is fixed.
Reformat the battery and optimize its usage
To protect the device’s battery, you shouldn’t charge it to 100%, or even worst, you shouldn’t leave the charger connected overnight. If the battery is old, it might drain slightly overnight, causing repeated charging cycles. The result is that instead of a full and completely charging cycle, you will experience many charging cycles in a row.
Instead, you should set the device to stop charging after it reaches 85%.
Go to Settings > Battery and device care > Battery. From that menu, do the following:
- Enable Power Saving option
- Enforce Background usage limits such as putting unused apps to sleep
- Tap “More battery settings” and enable the option to Protect battery, which will limit the maximum charge to 85%.
To reformat the battery, you need to make the optimizations mentioned above, and continue using the device until the battery is fully depleted and the device shuts down by its own. Then, charge the battery again and use the device normally.
Perform a device diagnostic
Android OS offers several built-in features to help you run diagnostic tests regarding network and battery usage, as well as identifying apps that consume the most device resources.
To begin, navigate to Settings > Battery and device care, and depending on the options available, analyze the provided reports and run diagnostics. Additionally, implement any optimizations suggested by the diagnostic results.
From the Device care menu, you can perform tasks such as:
- Identify which apps are consuming the most battery and run App battery usage diagnostics.
- Free up memory by stopping background apps.
- Scan your phone for malware and suspicious activity.
- Run general phone diagnostics to ensure proper functioning.
- Conduct App safety diagnostics to identify apps that may impact your phone’s performance and security.
An important step in this process is to identify buggy apps that excessively utilize device resources (CPU, memory, etc.). If you find such an app, follow these steps:
- Install any available updates.
- Uninstall the app if you no longer need it or use it.
- Choose a restricted battery usage option for the app; available options include Unrestricted, Optimized, and Restricted access to the battery.
Reduce or optimize Internet usage
Your device can overheat due to overuse of online services in the background. You can choose to disable background data usage for certain apps, thereby reducing overheating and ensuring prolonged battery usage.
To disable background data for an app, follow these steps: open Settings > Apps > select the app you want > tap Mobile data > Toggle off Allow background data usage.
To optimize Internet usage for apps, set whether apps can use Wi-Fi only, mobile data or both – it is recommended to set apps with high internet data requirements to use Wi-Fi only. Navigate to Settings > Connections > Data usage > Allowed networks for apps, and set the preference for Wi-Fi only connectivity.
Another potential cause of overheating is a faulty Wi-Fi network or poor signal strength. Your device repeatedly attempts to connect to the network, leading to frequent disconnections that strain the battery and may cause overheating.
Remove junk files, trash and unused apps
The number of files and apps on your device, as well as having too little available space, can impact general performance, potentially causing the device to overheat.
It’s always advisable to clean up your device to increase available memory resources. Delete unnecessary items on your device, such as old downloads, documents, pictures, and videos that you no longer need, as well as apps that you don’t use anymore.
Don’t forget to clear the trash:
- Open the Gallery app > Tap on More options (three vertical lines button) > Select Trash, and delete all items;
- Navigate to the My Files app > Access the Trash folder, and delete all items stored there.
Check for Malware
If nothing seems to fix or visibly reduce the overheating, then you should consider the possibility that there might be some hidden software installed on your device that strains out the available hardware resources.
The best approach in this case is to install an antivirus app, even a free one, and run a full scan of your device.
If you notice a visible performance slowdown due to the antivirus app, you can uninstall it afterward, provided that no malware or suspicious activity is detected.
Your device is still Slow and Overheats? Maybe it has become obsolete
While constantly updating the Android OS and the installed apps, the hardware requirements increase, resulting in the smartphone/tablet becoming slower. Most of the system’s resources are constantly used, leading to overheating.
If the slowness and overheating of the device are significant issues for you, the last option you have is to reset your device to factory settings.
There are many reasons why your device may overheat, often accompanied by a slowdown in general performance.
Implementing the tips listed in this article can help reduce or completely eliminate the overheating of your smartphone/tablet, while also enhancing performance and device health.
