Don’t be surprised if your phone suddenly plays “Cruel Summer” from Kool and the Gangs Too Hot, or Bananarama. Nothing damages the phone like hot weather and water.
“It’s too hot. Too hot baby. Have to run for shelter, run for shade”. “It’s a brutal, brutal summer. Leaving me here, it’s a brutal (brutal) summer, now you’re gone.”
It’s as if the iPhone wrote those songs.
Maybe you forgot your phone in the car before. This may not be a problem in normal weather but in summers when the temperature exceeds 100 degrees in minutes, it can permanently damage the battery of the phone.
I intentionally left an old iPhone in the car for just 45 minutes and came back on screen with a scary warning that the phone is too hot to turn on.
So what do you do? Better yet, what shouldn’t you do?
First of all, take it off the heat at all. Bring it inside and keep it aside. Don’t try to use it. Apple warns that you should not put it on charge as it will heat up the working parts of the phone even more. Even if the warning screen has disappeared, do not use the phone. Don’t play games or call someone to ask what to do with your overheating phone. Remove the case and leave it closed for an hour.
Unlike extremely cold temperatures that can quickly drain your phone’s battery. Heat drains the phone battery forever. A cold phone battery will overheat and there will be no permanent damage like heat.
How hot is too hot?
Apple says that the operating temperature of its devices is between 32 and 95 degrees. Samsung, Google and OnePlus phones are the same. So just using the phone outside can cause problems. If you’re going to be outside for a while, turn off notifications and location services. Wait to post a photo or play a game. Keep it away from direct sunlight.
If water gets inside, even splashing water from the pool can damage the phone. If a drop passes through the speaker there is a quick trick to get it out. Just ask Siri. You will first need to add the iPhone shortcut “Water Eject” which you can find here: Water Eject Shortcut.
Once installed you can ask Siri to “eject water” and it will prompt you to run a shortcut. Follow the prompts and the speaker will play a tone that’s strong enough to drown out any drops. It’s similar to how the Apple Watch pulls out water while you swim.
All the rules apply to Android phones as well, although there is no Android shortcut to drain the water. There is however a website that will play a similar tone on Android phones. You’ll find it at www.fixmyspeakers.com.
