How To Keep Your Phone From Overheating While Gaming

One of the features that is not often mentioned about smartphones is gaming. While mobile gaming was always quite popular, it evolved after March 19, 2018, when PUBG was launched. People realised mobile gaming can be as immersive as gaming on a desktop or laptop. Since then, many such games have been launched with stunning visuals and immersive experiences that keep people hooked for hours.

One common problem many people face while playing these games is overheating. When you play games on your phone, it consumes power faster and heats up the device slowly. Ignoring it for some time will overheat the phone and can even cause lags. However, that is the least of your worries. Overheating can also damage various internal components of your phone and affect its performance. So, to ensure that your phone does not overheat while gaming, follow these simple tricks.

 

INDEX

Tips To Keep Your Device Cool While Mobile Gaming

1. Adjust the Graphics and Performance Settings

2. Avoid Charging While Gaming

3. Use Cooling Accessories

Cooling fans

Thermal pads

Cooling cases

4. Keep Your Phone in a Cool Environment

5. Close Background Apps and Processes

6. Monitor and Maintain Your Battery Health

7. Update Software Regularly

8. Limit High-Intensity Gaming Sessions

Frequently Asked Questions About Phone Overheating While Gaming

1. Can using a phone case cause my device to overheat during gaming?

2. How does screen brightness affect my phone's temperature while gaming?

3. Are there specific apps that can help monitor and control my phone's temperature during gaming?

 

Tips To Keep Your Device Cool While Mobile Gaming

1. Adjust the Graphics and Performance Settings

Many modern games have high graphics that heat up the phone quite fast. While many phones are capable of running these games, low-end phones often cannot run smoothly. To address this issue, developers provided users with advanced graphics controls. So, it basically allows you to control the graphics quality, just like PC games.

Besides ensuring a smooth performance, lowering the graphics can help in reducing heat as well. Start by lowering the resolution and texture quality if the game allows it. You can also disable non-essential visual effects like shadows, reflections, or blooms, which demand more processing power.

Another trick you can consider is capping the frame rate at 30 FPS. This will reduce strain on your phone without significantly impacting gameplay. As a result, the chances of overheating your phone are reduced.

2. Avoid Charging While Gaming

Gaming can drain the battery of your phone quite fast. So, your phone might run out of battery if you play for too long. To avoid interruptions, most people just put the phone on charge and continue playing. And this is where the problem starts. Charging your phone while gaming heats up your phone faster because both gaming and charging produce heat. So, the device overheats easily.

Therefore, you should never put your phone on charge if you are gaming. To avoid doing them simultaneously, always charge your phone to 100% before starting. If your phone still runs low on battery, take a break from mobile gaming and then charge your device.

3. Use Cooling Accessories

Even if you reduce the graphics and do not charge your phone, your phone might overheat while gaming. In such cases, you can invest in external cooling tools to keep the device cool. There are many different types of accessories that you can buy to dissipate heat more effectively. Here are a few:

Cooling fans

Cooling fans are just like cooling pads used for laptops. For phones, there is usually one fan that is attached to the back of the phone. It continues blowing air to keep the temperature of your device down and avoid overheating.

Thermal pads

This might not be a very popular method, but it can still be used to reduce the chances of overheating. They basically absorb heat and transfer it away from your device.

Cooling cases

Initially, phone covers were used to prevent damage to the phones. Now, they can be used to keep your device cool as well. Many specially designed cases with built-in cooling systems or heat-dissipating materials are available to tackle heat while gaming.

4. Keep Your Phone in a Cool Environment

All tips to prevent your phone from overheating will fail if you are using the device in a hot environment. The temperature of your surroundings also hugely influences the temperature of the phone.

So, if you are gaming in a hot room or while your phone is directly exposed to sunlight, your phone will overheat quickly. This is why you should avoid gaming when you are outdoors and your phone is directly exposed to sunlight.

During summer, if the room is hot, you can turn on the air conditioner. If an air conditioner is not available, simply position the phone near a table fan to keep it cool.

Never place your phone on heat-trapping surfaces, like beds or cushions, while mobile gaming. If you want to place it somewhere, keep it on a hard and flat surface that allows smooth airflow.

5. Close Background Apps and Processes

Every app or process running on your phone consumes resources. While you have to keep some of them running at all times, many can be closed as well. The fewer the background apps and processes running on your phone, the lower the resource consumption will be.

So, never keep the apps minimised while starting a game. Make sure you close them completely. Also, processes running in the background, like location, Bluetooth, etc. should be turned off. This will help in preventing additional heat generation.

Many phones also have a "Game Mode" or "Gaming Performance" feature that focuses system resources on your game while disabling non-essential tasks — you can turn it on.

6. Monitor and Maintain Your Battery Health

Your phone’s battery condition directly affects how it handles gaming. Over time, batteries degrade, which can lead to faster overheating during heavy use. This is why it is important to ensure that your phone’s battery is in perfectly good condition. Thankfully, it is easy to check the battery's health — you can check from your phone’s settings or download any third-party app.

Additionally, always follow good charging practices. Phone batteries often get damaged due to overcharging. One of the most common reasons is leaving the phone on charge overnight. While it makes sense because you will have a fully charged phone in the morning, doing so can also damage the battery.

Also, never let your battery drain completely before charging.

7. Update Software Regularly

Outdated operating systems or gaming apps often lack the latest performance optimisations. As a result, your phone has to work harder than usual. This added strain can result in overheating during gameplay. If your phone is overheating because of outdated software, updating will solve the problem instantly. A smart way to avoid this problem is to turn on auto-update. Your phone will update whenever a new version is launched.

However, it is still wise to check for updates manually if you suddenly notice overheating or lags when gaming. In case your phone cannot support the update, we suggest you sell the old phone and buy a new one. Refurbished phones can be a great solution in such cases if you want a budget-friendly option.

Also Read: Why Is Your Android Phone Not Getting Updates?

8. Limit High-Intensity Gaming Sessions

Prolonged gaming sessions can push your phone to its limits, especially when playing resource-heavy games. The constant workload on the processor, GPU, and battery generates significant heat, which can overheat your phone. So, take a short break whenever you notice your phone getting very hot.

It does not have to be a long break — just give your phone 10-15 minutes to cool down before you start gaming again. This will help maintain a consistent performance level and prevent overheating from prolonged stress.

 

Our tips should help you to reduce the risk of your phone overheating. However, if there is any fault in your phone or it is very old, these tips will not help to prevent it. In such cases, the best decision is to sell your old phone and buy a new one.

Mobilegoo offers a safe platform to sell phones online without any inconvenience. You just have to spare just one minute to share the details of your phone with us. We will visit your doorstep and pick it up for you. Also, you will get instant cash payments.

Also Read: What To Do Before You Sell Your Phone (Android)?

If you cannot buy a new phone due to budgetary concerns, you can buy refurbished phones. While these phones work just like new phones, they carry heavy discounts. So, you can buy any great gaming phone at a fraction of the original cost. Up to a 1 year warranty is also available on the products. You can opt for No-cost EMI also.

Frequently Asked Questions About Phone Overheating While Gaming

1. Can using a phone case cause my device to overheat during gaming?

In most cases, using a phone case while mobile gaming can increase its temperature. Since the case keeps air trapped, there is no airflow to bring down the temperature of the phone. So, it is better to remove the phone case while gaming. However, all types of phone cases do not contribute to overheating. If you choose a thin case that allows ventilation, your phone will not heat up quickly.

You can also try phone cases with cooling fans. They will keep your phone cool.

2. How does screen brightness affect my phone's temperature while gaming?

High screen brightness increases your phone's power consumption. Therefore, more heat is also generated when you keep the brightness high. While this will not affect the temperature of your phone much during normal use, the chances of overheating increase significantly during gaming.

So, if you are gaming, try to keep the brightness level as low as possible. This will also reduce the strain on your device's battery and processor.

3. Are there specific apps that can help monitor and control my phone's temperature during gaming?

We do not have any app that can control your phone’s temperature. You can always follow the tips we shared to reduce the temperature whenever needed. However, you can surely check the temperature of the phone if you want.

Many phones have an in-built feature that allows you to check the phone’s temperature. You can find it in phone settings. If it is not available, you can download any app to check the temperature.