Stay Cool! How to Keep Your Phone Safe This Summer

#1

The “dog days” of late summer will soon be upon us, and with them some of the hottest days of the year. Just like human bodies, however, the delicate internal components found in smartphones don’t suffer extreme temperatures well.

From melting components to overheating CPUs, the risks presented by summer heat should not be underestimated. Lucky for you, we found the smartest minds at Anker and had them give us their hottest (coolest?) tips for helping your phone beat the heat!

Turn Off What You’re Not Using

Is there really any reason to have GPS and Bluetooth on when you’re not using them? You’re really just making yourself more vulnerable to abduction by aliens or shadow government agencies. Yeah, it’s unlikely, but why take the risk?

Besides, having extra stuff open makes your phone work harder, taxing your battery when it’s already more vulnerable due to the heat. Go ahead and leave Tinder running in the background though, you dirty dog you.

Don’t Put Your Phone in the Fridge

Seriously, just don’t. After coming inside on a hot day, you might be tempted to try to cool it down as quickly as possible. However, not only will putting your phone in the fridge cause friends and family to question your sanity, it can make condensation form inside your phone, causing water damage.

Also, if you really don’t want your friends to worry, you might think about stocking your fridge with something besides box wine. Just sayin’.

Keep it Out of Your Pocket

Consider keeping your phone in a backpack or purse instead of your pocket. When it’s really hot outside, you start to sweat, which tends to leak through your clothing (eww). The corrosiveness of sweat makes it a danger to electronics, including your phone.

Don’t Leave Your Phone in the Car

This may seem obvious but it needs to be said: the inside of your car during the summer gets blisteringly hot. The heat from the sun enters through the windows and has no way to escape while the car is off. Little tricks like keeping the windows cracked only help marginally, too. As hot as it is outside, if you leave your phone in the car, it’s essentially like leaving it in the oven. And as we saw in the refrigerator example, don’t put your phone inside kitchen appliances, people.

What About You?

Do you have any tips and tricks for getting your electronics safely through the summer? Let us know in the comments below.

As always, power on, and stay cool!

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Stay Cool! How to keep yourself safe this summer
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#3

  1. Never fall asleep with your phone under your pillow or blanket…or this might happen

  2. Never leave CPU intensive games or any game for that matter running for long periods of time and definitely not while you sleep

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#4

Lol, yeah, I remember that thread! Never fall asleep with your phone under your pillow.:joy:

#5

Agreed, this is a huge no-no. It can be expanded to carpet and most fabrics. Whether you are charging your phone, or you have an app or function that draws higher cpu usage, fabric can easily lead to thermal runaway of your phone. You do not even need to have it encased in fabric, just laying it on one side can lead to issues if your phone goes screwy.

#6

My child accidentally left her iPad in the backseat of my car last month. The car was baking in heat for an entire 9 hr work shift. When I got home the whole unit was HOT. I took it inside and tried to turn it on to no avail. After about 15min inside it finally came on and shown either an overheat message or icon that shown it’s HOT status. After about an hour it cooled off enough on the inside and out that it started right back up. Luckily there was no damage to the screen and no noticeable difference on battery consumption.

#7

that’s a fear that I’ve always had, which is why I never leave my cell phone in bed when I go to sleep

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#8

Not just a summer thing. I had a phone cradle in my car for navigation.
The hot air of the heater overheated by phone and it started rebooting.

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#9

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Make sure to have Anker products when away from home

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#10

I’ve heard that turning off your phone is an effective cooling method :stuck_out_tongue::sunglasses:

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#11

I recently read something like this. But it makes total sense. You’re basically trapping the heat.

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#12

This never even occurred to me to do. The only way my iPhone would end up in the fridge is if I was distracted and somehow placed it there while I was cooking :stuck_out_tongue: . Besides that, I don’t my fridge has ever been that bare. LOL…

I once forgot my phone in my car. Well, it got broken into and stolen… along with a bunch of stuff. My hubby called me shortly after and the guy answered my phone, pretending to be the police. Never got it back. It was only a week old :frowning: Lesson learned.

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#13

I once forgot my (almost brand new) iPhone 5S in the car during a hot California November, and afterwards there was a purplish splotch in the middle of the screen whenever it showed white. As it turns out, the phone got hot enough to melt off the oleophobic coating that repels fingerprints. Lesson learned- don’t do that.

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#14

Don’t put in fridge :thinking: what about the freezer :tongue:

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#15

My biggest tip is get a vent mount. I used a dash mount which cooks my phone in minutes. A vent mount allows the cool air to keep my phone cool regardless of how intensive my phone is using apps.

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#16

Great tips! While out playing Pokemon Go on a hot summer day, I sometimes see people holding ice packs with their phone and I often wondered how much condensation this would cause inside the phone. :thinking:

That was my first thought when I saw that photo! :joy:

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#17

Phone cases with an extra battery and fans to keep your phone cool for Pokemon go would sell I wonder if anybody makes anything like that.

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#18

They use to, it was called mogear

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#19

Very interesting I’m surprised I’ve never seen this you think it would be more popular. Thanks for sharing

#20

My old phone cable from Samsung used to make my device so hot and eventually melted the cable and a crayon.