Smartphones normally heat up after hours of prolonged and extensive usage like when streaming videos and music, playing video games, and likewise when charging. Other instances where your device may become warm would include but not limited to update and app installation, iOS restore and when using graphics-intensive or augmented reality apps or features. In normal circumstances, the device will get back to its normal operating temperature when allowed to cool down.
On the other hand, higher-ambient temperature conditions and operations such leaving the phone in a car on a hot day or in direct silent for an extended period of time can eventually lead to overheating. The normal operating temperature for an iPhone is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F). If your iPhone’s interior temperature is beyond the normal operating range and you see a temperature warning prompt on the screen, then it is likely overheating and therefore you need to do something to get it back to its normal temperature.
Highlighted below are suggested workarounds and potential solutions to a similar issue on the new iPhone XR handset. You can try any of these outlined procedures whenever your new iPhone is suddenly overheating for some reasons. Read on for more detailed solutions.
First solution: Clear all background apps then restart your iPhone.
Background apps are comprised of apps that you’ve previously opened but not closed. They’re suspended and still running in the background. While keeping apps in this state benefits in terms of multitasking especially when loading and using of the same apps, things could go wrong when these apps suddenly crash and go rogue. To make sure none of them is causing the phone to overheat, then try clearing all background apps on your iPhone XR with these steps:
- From the Home screen, swipe your finger up and then pause.
- Swipe right or left to navigate through apps preview.
- Then swipe up on an app preview to end it.
- Do the same to close the rest of the background apps.
After clearing all background apps, perform a soft reset or simply restart your iPhone XR to clear cached files from the internal memory including corrupted temporary data that might have adversely affected the phone’s battery system. Here’s how it’s done:
- Press and hold the Side/Power button and either Volume buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
- Release the buttons when the Slide to Power Off command appears and then drag the power off slider to the right.
- After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power/Side button again until the phone reboots.
Alternatively, you can do force restart your iPhone XR to instantly quit all background apps and services including those that have gone rogue and caused the iPhone to heat up so quickly. Here’s how to force restart your iPhone XR:
- Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
- Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
- Finally, press and hold the Side/Power button until the Apple logo appears.
Performing a soft reset and force restart don’t require backup creation as none of them affects internal data of your iPhone.
Second solution: View battery usage details and manage rogue apps.
Determining which from your apps is consuming the most power at a certain period of time will help you rule out the underlying cause of the problem. Usually, apps that used up the most power in a short span of time are the culprits. To access this information, navigate to your iPhone XR’s battery section with these steps:
- Tap Settings from your Home screen.
- Then go to the Battery section.
- To view battery usage details in the last 24 hours, simply tap on the Last 24 Hours tab. Otherwise, tap on the Last 10 Days tab. You should then see the battery level over the last 24 hours in a graph.
- To view which apps are using the most of your iPhone’s battery life, scroll down and tap the option to Show Activity.
If you see any usual power consumption by certain application, you can try updating that app first. App updates not only bring in new features but also embeds some fix patches to free the app from any sort of bugs and malware. To update apps on your iPhone XR, simply refer to these methods:
- Tap App Store from the Home screen.
- Scroll down to and then tap the Updates tab to show the list of apps with pending updates.
- Tap the Update button next to the name of the app to update apps individually.
- Tap the Update All button on the upper-right to update all apps simultaneously.
If updating doesn’t help, then you may need to consider deleting the application instead. You may opt to delete and then reinstall the problematic app or just delete it permanently from your phone. Here’s how to delete or uninstall apps on your iPhone XR:
- From the Home screen, tap and hold on an app icon until the icons start jiggling.
- Tap the X on the app you want to delete or uninstall from your phone.
- Read the warning prompt, and then select Delete to confirm deletion of the app.
After updating or deleting apps, restart your phone to dump junk files from its memory and likewise to refresh the operating system.
Third solution: Update phone software to the latest version available.
Like app updates, iOS updates also offer fix patches to address existing problems attributed to system errors and software bugs. These updates can be downloaded and installed wirelessly (OTA) or manually through iTunes on a computer. If your phone has fast and stable Wi-Fi internet access, then you can go for the fastest method which is over-the-air iOS updating. Here’s how:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Select General.
- Tap Software Update.
- If a new update is available, select the option to Download and Install.
Follow the rest of the onscreen prompts to finish download and installing new update to iOS and then reboot your phone when the update installation is done.
Fourth solution: Reset all settings.
Another method you can try on when dealing with software-related overheating problem on your iPhone is an all settings reset. This reset is used to clear all customized settings and options set up on the phone and then restores the defaults or original configuration. Should the problem be linked to an incorrect customization, then applying this workaround will likely solve it. Here’s how it’s done:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap General.
- Scroll to and tap Reset.
- Select Reset All Settings option.
- If prompted, enter your device passcode.
- Then tap the option to confirm all settings reset.
Your iPhone will reboot automatically when the reset is finished. Allow it to finish booting up and then you can start reconnecting to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and enable other features you need to use on your phone.
Fifth solution: Restore your iPhone XR to its factory defaults.
Performing a factory reset or master reset is usually needed when dealing with major system issues on the phone. If your iPhone continues to overheat after applying the previous solutions, then you’re most likely dealing with a major system issue if not, hardware damage. To rule out complex system errors, you may have to consider resorting to a factory reset as your next possible solution to try. But please note though that this process will cause permanent data loss, thus creating backups is highly recommended beforehand. You can back up all your important files to iCloud or iTunes first and once you’re all set, follow these steps to factory reset your iPhone XR through settings:
- From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
- Tap General.
- Scroll down to and tap Reset.
- Select the option to Erase all content and settings.
- If prompted, enter your device passcode.
- Then tap the option to confirm full system reset.
Your phone will then start wiping all contents and then restores its default settings. When the reset is finished, your device restarts by itself. As soon as it boots up, you can proceed with the initial setup process and set up your iPhone as new.
Majority, if not all software-related issues in mobile devices are resolved after performing a factory reset. Hence if the overheating problem on your iPhone XR is attributed to some major system errors, then that should be addressed. Otherwise, you could be dealing with a worse issue like corrupted OS or hardware damage.
Seek more help
If your iPhone XR is still overheating after exhausting all applicable solutions and workarounds, then you should already escalate the problem to your device carrier or contact Apple Support for further assistance and official recommendations. Should this be a hardware issue, then your iPhone needs service. If it’s still covered by warranty, then you can avail for service or unit replacement warranty instead.
I hope that we’ve been able to help you fix the problem with your device. We would appreciate it if you helped us spread the word so please share this post if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for reading!