How to fix an iPhone X that is overheating

Your iPhone X overheating is a sign of underlying issues that must be solved immediately. If left for too long, they’ll mess up your iPhone’s health and performance.

How do you remedy the problem? We’ll show you through different troubleshooting guides in this article. Read to the end to learn more.

Why is your iPhone X overheating?

To start, reasons for your iPhone X to overheat are divided into internal and external factors. The internal factors involve things like overworking your iPhone by running many apps simultaneously, while the external factors deal with high temperatures in the area.

To get a clear idea, always think about what you did before the phone started overheating. Did you install a new update? Have you downloaded a new app? Once you figure this out, you will know where to start with the solutions.

That said, now let’s look at how to solve the overheating issue on iPhone X.

1. Let it cool

The first thing to do when your iPhone X shows a message that it’s overheating is to let it cool down for a while. Close all the running apps, switch off the phone then put it in an environment with good air conditioning.

To close all the running apps on your iPhone X, swipe up on the screen and stop when your finger gets to the middle. When the app preview cards appear, swipe them up one by one to close them.

The other method for closing the apps is to long-press any app in the multitasking interface. The app preview cards will appear. They have red circles with minus (-) signs inside them, on their upper-left sides. To close the apps, tap on the minus signs.

To soft restart your iPhone X, use this guide:

Press and hold the power/side button and either of the volume buttons simultaneously until the “Slide to Power Off” command shows up on your screen.
Drag the slider to the right to switch OFF the iPhone.
To turn it ON, press and hold the side/power button until you see the Apple logo.

2. Remove the protective cover

While placing it in a cool atmosphere, remove the protective cover. This is because many cover designs don’t dissipate heat well, so they end up contributing to the iPhone’s overheating.

3. Force restart your iPhone X

Force restarting your iPhone X is another fix for an overheating problem. Here are the steps to follow:

Quickly press and release the Volume Up button.
Quickly press and release the Volume Down button.
Press the side button and hold it.
The screen will turn black.
Continue holding until you see the Apple logo on the screen.

4. Turn off Background App Refresh and Location Services

These two features are known to consume a lot of power and result in iPhone X heating up and draining the battery.

To disable the background app refresh, you should:

Go to “Settings”.
Select “General”.
Tap on “Background App Refresh” and toggle it OFF.

Ideally, you can just turn off the feature for specific apps that you think are responsible for the overheating problem.

In that case, you’ll have to leave it ON then scroll down and toggle OFF the buttons next to the apps that you want the feature disabled.

To turn off the location setting:

Open “Settings”.
Go to “Privacy”.
Tap on “Location Services”.
Tap on the green slider to turn it off.

5. Uninstall apps that consume a lot of power

Big apps that consume lots of energy end up overworking your iPhone X and causing it to overheat. Consider replacing them with smaller-sized alternative apps offering the same features and services.

To know which apps are consuming most of your phone’s battery, go to “Settings” then scroll down and select “Battery”. Check the battery usage percentage against the apps and uninstall the heavy consumers.

To uninstall the app:

Go back to the home screen.
Tap and hold any app icon until they start to wiggle.
Find the app you want to uninstall.
Tap on the “X” at the corner of the app icon.
Tap on “Delete” on the prompt that appears. This will remove the app.
Repeat for the other apps you wish to uninstall.

6. Turn off Airdrop and Bluetooth

If you’re not using these two features, ensure they are turned off to avoid your iPhone screen overheating. They usually demand a lot from the processor.

To turn them OFF, swipe down on your iPhone X screen then tap on the two features’ icons. They will be greyed out when disabled.

7. Update the iOS software and apps

An outdated iOS and apps are likely to cause sluggishness in the iPhone’s performance, freezing, battery drain, and overheating too. You should make sure the software and apps are always up to date to avoid all those issues.

How to update iOS apps:

Open the “App Store”.
Tap on your profile.
You can either update all the apps at once or one application at a time.

Delete the apps that you don’t use because they are just taking up space and using energy and data that could help to run the iPhone smoothly.

How to update iOS on iPhone X:

Open the “Settings” app.
Tap on “General”.
Go to “Software Update”.
If there’s an update, download and install the latest iOS version for iPhone X.

After the updates, you can start using your device normally to see if the overheating problem is resolved.

8. Use an original Apple charger

Make sure you use the original Apple charger to avoid a situation where the iPhone is overheating and won’t turn on. A counterfeit charger would result in costly consequences that are way more than the price of an original charger.

Talking of charger, DON’T use your iPhone X while charging it. This causes the device’s temperature to rise fast. Especially if you’re watching videos or playing games.

9. Reset all settings

The next fix for iPhone screen overheating is to reset all settings. This will deal with any software bugs and glitches that are causing the overheating. It’s as simple as:

Opening “Settings”.
Selecting “General”.
Tapping on “Reset”.
Tapping “Reset All Settings”.
Typing your passcode.
Waiting for the process to complete.

10. Restore your iPhone X through recovery mode

Using the recovery mode restore will help to fix software issues that were not solved through “Reset All Settings”, “Soft Restart”, and “Hard Reset”.

Follow these steps:

Connect your iPhone X to your Mac or PC using a USB cable.
Make sure they are up to date.
If the Mac runs macOS Catalina, open Finder.
For a Mac with macOS Mojave or a previous version and a PC, open iTunes.
Put your device in recovery mode by, quickly pressing and releasing the Volume UP button followed by the Volume Down button, then press and hold the side button until the recovery mode screen appears.
Next, find your device on the computer.
Look for “Restore or Update” and select “Update”.
The computer will reinstall the software without erasing any data.
If you’ll want to select “Restore”, ensure you’ve backed up your data.
Wait for the process to finish and your phone has rebooted then check if it’s still overheating.

11. Reach Out to Apple Care

The last resort is to contact Apple care and let them know about your problem. You can send them the device or visit one of their stores near you so that they can check and diagnose the overheating issue.

Be prepared to get an iPhone X overheating replacement. It could be one of the parts or the entire device. You can always utilize your warranty to cover part of or the entire expense.

Conclusion

From this guide, you should now be able to prevent and solve an iPhone X overheating problem. As a result, you can enjoy improved performance and longevity of the device. Feel free to share this article with others who might have the same problem.

Melvin

Melvin is a senior writer at iMentality. A DIYer at heart, Melvin loves to craft things in the tech space. He has amassed over a decade of experience in tech writing with special focus on apps and tech guides.