Using my phone wrong in a heatwave made it totally useless — here's how I saved it
Android Police 2026-07-10 16:15:11
Context: A severe heatwave in Europe, with temperatures reaching 95 degrees outdoors for weeks, has caused a smartphone to overheat and become intermittently useless. The author, Tom Bedford, a technology journalist based in London, UK, experienced this issue firsthand with his Realme 13 Pro Plus phone, which kept crashing and turning off. He had to draw on his knowledge of mobile phones to find fixes and prevent further damage.
Key Facts
- Tom Bedford, a freelance technology journalist, has been covering technology since 2019 and has worked with various brands, including TechRadar, Digital Trends, and Android Police.
- The Realme 13 Pro Plus phone, which is not old or broken, was struggling to cope with the heat, causing it to crash and turn off intermittently, disrupting essential functions like hotspots, music streaming, and contactless payments.
- Removing the phone case can help dissipate heat more easily, as phone cases made of materials like silicone or TPU can act as insulation layers, trapping heat and causing the phone to stay hot.
- Features like hotspot, high display refresh rates, automatic brightness, 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning, and always-on display can cause the phone to heat up, and turning them off or capping the refresh rate can help mitigate the issue.
- Using slower charging rates, such as plugging the phone into a laptop or using a slow charger, can help reduce heat generation, as fast charging with high-amp chargers can greatly increase the phone's temperature and cause damage.