Like much of the northern hemisphere, New York is hot right now.
How hot is it? Too hot for my iPhone, apparently.
Over the weekend, my iPhone stopped working because it overheated.
I was at one of New York City's public beaches with some of my friends (as well as everyone else in the city, it seemed like). We were hanging out on the sand, and I was streaming music from my phone to some Bluetooth speakers. But about a half hour into listening to the music, it abruptly stopped.
I looked down at my phone, expecting to see that my battery had died, or that the speakers had disconnected from the phone.
But instead, I saw a black screen with a red thermometer on it notifying me that my iPhone had to cool down before I could use it again. (I was, however, able to grab a screen shot of the warning.)
The phone was definitely hot to the touch. It had been lying on a towel, and we were out in the open on the beach, without an umbrella, so it had been in the sun.
And it was a really, really hot day. The temperature was in the 90s, and the sand was so hot I couldn't walk on it without wearing shoes.
I was able to cool the iPhone down quickly by putting it in the cooler that we brought. The cooler wasn’t filled with ice, but rather with water bottles we had frozen, like ice packs — so there was no risk of the phone actually getting wet. Of course, I would definitely not recommend putting the phone, which is not water resistant, on actual ice.
After a few minutes in the cooler — a perfect time for us to cool off in the water — the phone had cooled down, and it started working again normally.
I kept it in the cooler for the remainder of the day, and it worked fine.
According to Apple, which actually has a support page online dedicated to tips on keeping your iPhone from overheating, iOS devices like iPhones, iPads, and iPods should only be used in environments with temperatures between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
The company says that if the internal temperature of the device becomes too hot or too cold, then "the device will protect its internal components by attempting to regulate its temperature," and you could see a warning like the one I got, notifying me that the phone was shutting off.
Apple recommends that people avoid keeping the device in a car on a hot day, or using "the device in direct sunlight for an extended period of time," which I was definitely doing.
The company also says that devices can get hot if you're using the GPS feature, or "playing graphics-intensive game," in direct sunlight.
If you're at the beach, and you don't have a cooler, you can simply cover your phone with a towel to try to keep it cool. My friend did that and was able to stream music to the speakers without his iPhone overheating.
And that's how you can enjoy the dog days of summer and keep your iPhone working.
