When smartphones get too hot they start to misbehave and may suffer long-term damage. There have even been a few cases where phones have exploded or burst into flame, although in these cases heat is generally the symptom (of a battery malfunction, for example) rather than the underlying cause of the issue.
It’s extremely unlikely that your iPhone 16 is going to blow up, but troubleshooting its overheating problems now should give you some peace of mind and help it to run smoothly. In this article, we explain how to cool down a hot iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Additionally, we’ll offer some simple tips to prevent the device from getting too hot again.
How to cool down your hot iPhone 16
If your iPhone 16 gets hot, or you see the Temperature screen, follow the steps below to cool it down:
- Move your device to a cooler place immediately. A shady place is ideal, away from direct sunlight.
- Turn on Low Power Mode. Open the Settings app and then tap on Battery.
- Turn on Airplane Mode. Open the Settings app and then turn on Airplane Mode.
- Stop charging your iPhone, if it is plugged in.
- Take your case off, if you are using one. An extra layer of insulation makes it harder for your phone to cool down. Removing it will help your phone to cool down quicker.
- Decrease the display’s brightness. Increasing the screen brightness will force your battery to work harder and create more heat. Open the Settings app and then tap on Display & Brightness.
- Close all apps. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle. This will reveal the app switcher. Swipe up on all of the apps.
- DO NOT put the device in the refrigerator or freezer. This may seem like a smart idea, but do not do it. Just like heat, low-temperature conditions might damage your device.
How to prevent iPhone 16 from getting hot
These tips will not only prevent your device from getting too hot but also prolong the life of your phone and battery.
Please ensure that iPhone is fully updated. Also, make sure that all of your apps are up to date.
- Update iOS: open the Settings app and then go to General > Software Update. If there is an update, follow the onscreen instructions to update your device.
- Update apps: Open the App Store and then go to Today > Your Profile > Update All.
There are simple steps that may help you avoid overheating your device.
- Don’t leave your phone in a car on a hot day, where temperatures can rise rapidly. Take the iPhone with you. While in the car, you could put the iPhone in a car mount mounted in front of your vehicle’s air conditioning vents.
- Avoid leaving your phone in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. If you’re on vacation somewhere fiercely sunny, keep the iPhone in a bag or the shade. Refrain from using the phone if possible.
- Do not leave the phone on warm or hot items such as radiators.
- Do not charge and while gaming (especially graphic-intensive games) or streaming.
- Avoid using GPS tracking or navigation in a car in hot conditions or direct sunlight for an extended period of time. The iPhone can generate heat while doing this.
- Did your problem start recently? Delete any apps you downloaded shortly before the problem started.
- Use correct charging accessories to charge your device’s battery. Make sure you use the original accessories. If it is a third party charger or cable, make sure it’s MFi certified.
Hopefully, these tips will help you to keep your iPhone 16 running at an acceptable temperature. If not, it’s possible that there is a more serious fault, and you should make an appointment at Apple’s Genius Bar.
If your iPhone 16 overheats during normal use
If your device consistently gets too hot during normal use, there may be hardware or software problems. However, the problem is usually software related. Here is how you can resolve it:
Please try these steps in order. After trying each step below, use your iPhone a few days to test to see if you’ve fixed your issue.
Reset All Settings
Open the Settings app and then go to General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings. This will restore default iPhone settings without erasing content. Your data or media will not be removed.
Network Settings
Open the Settings app and then go to General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This will remove all of your network-related settings such as your Wi-Fi passwords.
Reset Location & Privacy
Open the Settings app and then go to General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. This will delete all of your location and privacy settings.
Backup and then restore
If your problem persists, you may have to back up your iPhone and to restore it. This is a three-step process.
- Backup your iPhone: You can backup using iCloud by going to Settings > Apple Account > iCloud > iCloud Backup > Backup Now. You can also back up using your computer, Mac, or PC. Connect your iPhone to your computer using the USB cable, open Finder (Mac), or iTunes (PC) then locate your device and select Back Up.
- Erase your device. Open the Settings app and then go to General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > then tap Erase All Content and Settings. Follow the onscreen instructions.
- Restore. Depending on your backup, you can restore your device from an iCloud backup or from a backup on your computer. When you erase the phone, you will see a Hello screen, during the setup process, select Restore from iCloud Backup or Restore from Mac or PC. Then follow the onscreen instructions.
If you continue to experience this problem and If your iPhone 16 regularly and excessively gets hot under normal use, there may be something wrong with your device, a hardware problem. Contact Apple support for assistance.
Is the weather too hot for my iPhone 16?
iPhone 16 models are designed to operate at ambient temperatures of between 0 and 35º C (32 to 95º F). That means the temperature of the air around the device, rather than the device itself. That’s an idea of the numbers to watch out for when looking at the weather forecast. For most of the year, it’s unlikely that the temperature will stray far above or below those two points, but during the hotter months, we’re experiencing unprecedented heatwaves and temperatures rising around the planet, it’s becoming something we have to contend with more and more. A few degrees either way for a short period on a couple of occasions shouldn’t cause long-term damage, but iPhone owners in really hot or cold countries may need to be more cautious. Be careful leaving your iPhone outside in the winter, or in a parked car in the height of summer. Both of these can push the temperature outside of its operating norm.
It’s important to note that these temperatures apply to the use of the iPhone. Apple says it’s safe to store an iPhone–not use it–at any temperature between -20 and 45º C (-4 to 113º F).
What happens if an iPhone 16 overheats?
When the iPhone 16 overheats severely it will display a temperature warning message that the iPhone “needs to cool down before you can use it.” Normally this will be displayed on a black background, although if you’re using navigation it will appear as an overlay alert.
If the iPhone 16 gets excessively hot while restoring from an iCloud backup, your restore might pause temporarily. This message appears: "Restore Paused. Restoring from iCloud will resume when this [device] cools down."
This pause keeps your device within an acceptable operating temperature. Your restore will resume when the device cools down.
To resume use of your device as quickly as possible, turn it off, move it to a cooler environment (away from direct sunlight), and allow it to cool down. The following things will happen when your iPhone is in cool-down mode:
- Charging, including wireless charging, slows or stops
- The display dims or goes black.
- Cellular radios will enter a low-power state. The signal may weaken during this time.
- The camera flash or other camera features might be temporarily disabled
- In some apps or features, performance is reduced with lower frame rates or increased processing times
This can be a bit unnerving when you first see it. But aside from the inconvenience of not being able to use the phone temporarily, there are usually no further problems. If you’d like to read Apple’s official line on the subject, take a look at Keeping devices within acceptable operating temperatures.
Should I be worried about my hot iPhone 16?
Normally, no. Apple advises users that it is normal for an iPhone to get warm. But there are situations where the iPhone gets heated up:
- Charging. Wireless charging tends to create more heat than charging through the iPhone’s connector.
- Faulty battery.
- Setting up your device the first time or restoring from a backup: During the first few days after you restore an iPhone or set up a new one, Apple actually warns that the device can feel hot to the touch. That’s because a lot of on-device-only operations, such as facial recognition in the Photos app, are performed fresh based on the data that’s on the new device. You’ll have to wait it out, but keeping your iPhone plugged in more often during this period than you normally do may help, as some of these activities largely take place while charging and idle.
- Using graphics-intensive or processor-intensive apps, games, or features: Even with Apple’s A18 chip and heat-dissipation techniques, the iPhone 16 can still have so much demanded of it that it doesn’t say it’s overheated, but can seem too hot to use. Apps that are graphically intensive—games or streaming high quality video—can cause an iPhone to heat up, but it can also happen when iOS is poorly managing background and foreground apps. You can try exiting an app or force quitting it (swipe up slightly from the bottom and then swipe the app’s window upward to the top of the screen). If your iPhone doesn’t cool down rapidly at that point, try restarting.
Is my iPhone going to explode?
This is very unlikely. iPhones have been known to overheat to catastrophic levels (on one occasion, melting the floor mat in a Florida woman’s car) but these have been isolated cases and usually turn out to be the result of an accident of some kind. The mat-melting iPhone, for instance, had been dropped in a pool some time before. (If your iPhone 16 is dropped in water and then miraculously recovers, you should still get it checked out. Internal corrosion could cause trouble down the line.)
In March 2017, CCTV footage emerged of an iPhone 6 Plus, which had been taken into a repair shop, being dropped by its panicked owner when it started to billow with smoke. Simon Owen, the proprietor of the shop (in Australia), reported afterward that “our service counter has a giant hole in it” In this case the phone was damaged previously, and the “explosion” seems to have happened when the owner pressed down on the broken screen to show what was wrong with it. But this was not an unprecedented incident, even at that shop, whose owner said that three years ago a similar mishap happened with an iPhone 5.
There was also a case of a iPhone 7 Plus which “blew up,” according to Brianna Olivas, who shared her experience on Twitter at the time (offline now). Although in that case, it is possible that the liquid-filled case was to blame. Another instance happened in 2019 when the iPhone 6 of Robert Franklin of Texas exploded. The incident was described in a lawsuit: “Robert Franklin was listening to music on his iPhone 6, when he noticed the music playing on his iPhone began to skip,” the lawsuit reads. “As he picked up his iPhone to investigate, [it] suddenly exploded and caught fire in his face.”
It’s not only Apple’s iPhone that has been reported to catch fire though, you’ve probably heard about Samsung and its overheating Note 7 phablet. The batteries in some Note 7 handsets overheated to dangerous levels, to the extent that Samsung recalled the product completely.