Technologies

Summer 2025 Survival Guide: Tips to Keep Your Phone Cool During This Heat Wave

As temperatures soar past record highs, here’s how to prevent your iPhone or Android from overheating.

With a blistering heat dome bringing triple-digit temperatures to millions of Americans this week, staying cool is the top priority — but your phone needs protection, too. Phones are more sensitive to extreme temperatures than most people realize. Even the latest models, like the Pixel 9 Pro or iPhone 16, can overheat quickly if left in the sun or used heavily during hot weather.

When your phone gets too hot, it can slow down, shut off or even suffer long-term damage. High temperatures put stress on the battery and internal components, which can lead to reduced performance and a shorter lifespan. Whether you’re out on a hike, watching videos by the pool, or just leaving your phone on the dashboard, here’s what you need to know about overheating — and how to keep your device safe this summer.

Whether it’s your iPhone or Android device, you can’t stop all instances of overheating, but there are many things you can do. Here’s what you need to know.

For more, check out the best iPhone in 2025, as well as our top picks if you’re considering an Android phone.

Why is your phone overheating in the first place?

High temperatures — over 95 degrees, according to Apple — can cause your phone to take precautions to protect its components. Your phone might overheat for many reasons, but here are some of the most common culprits:

Leaving your phone in direct sunlight
Keeping your phone in a hot environment, like a car on a hot day
Using your your phone’s navigation system or other system-intensive tasks in hot conditions
Overusing your phone when it’s charging
A faulty battery or charger
Bugs in the software
Rogue apps or malware

Your phone might overheat from other causes, like a malfunctioning application or even a suffocating phone case, but the reasons above are the most likely causes of your phone getting too hot.

What does overheating do to your phone?

If the interior temperature of your phone exceeds its normal operating range and the device overheats, you can expect issues:

You may not be able to use your phone
Operations on your phone may slow down
Charging may slow or completely stop
Your signal may be weakened
Your camera’s flash may be disabled

There are also possible permanent harmful effects: Overheating can cause lasting damage to the battery, SIM card and other crucial parts inside your phone.

So how can you prevent your phone from overheating?

The most important thing is to keep your phone out from direct sunlight when possible, especially when it’s warm. Your phone might be fine in the grass on an overcast day, but the warmer the temperature, the less your phone can withstand the sun. At the beach, your phone can overheat in just a few minutes in the sun. Same if you put it in a sunny spot on the dash or seat of your car.

Instead, get your phone out of the direct light, whether it’s in your pocket, inside a backpack or under a towel/blanket or dashboard. Anyplace that will keep it away from sunlight will work.

It’s fairly easy to protect your phone from the sun, but high temperatures alone can also cause your phone to overheat. After only an hour, the inside of a car can reach 143 degrees when it’s 100 degrees outside, for example, so a phone left in your cup holder could quickly overheat and get damaged. The short answer: Don’t keep your phone in a hot environment for an extended period of time, even if it’s not in direct sunlight. That includes your car, a sauna, the kitchen, the middle of the desert or anywhere near a fire.

Your phone’s optimal internal temperature should be somewhere between 32º and 95º F (0º and 35º C). To prevent overheating, Apple recommends keeping the device in a place where the temperature is between -4º and 113º F (-20º and 45º C).

While it might be tempting, don’t stick your phone in the freezer to cool it down. The Apple community boards have lots of warnings about the damage you can do to your phone by putting it in an icebox.

Don’t Get Burned: Tips to Avoid an Overheated Phone

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You should also follow these tips to prevent your phone from overheating

Don’t use graphics- or processor-intensive apps when your phone is charging. That includes massive mobile video games like PUBG Mobile or streaming apps like Netflix and Hulu.
Update your phone system software and apps to the latest software available. A bug in the software can cause overheating issues, so always stay up-to-date with your software.
Steer clear of third-party chargers. Almost all of the time you’ll be fine, but a cheaply designed charger could cause your phone to overheat.

While you’re here, check out how to make your Android feel new again with these five tips.

Technologies

These Are the Chatbots We’re Using Most, and How We’re Using Them

A Menlo Ventures report finds 91% of AI users have a default artificial intelligence assistant they turn to for their AI tasks.

If you have a particular AI tool that you tend to try first when you have an artificial intelligence task on deck, you’re not alone. According to a new survey, 91% of people who use AI have a favorite tool they try first, whether it’s ChatGPT, Gemini, Alex or something else.

A Menlo Ventures survey of 5,000 adults found that this so-called «default tool dynamic» means that most people using AI have chosen a general AI tool they’ll try first for every job, even if it’s not necessarily the best tool for the job.

In the report, ChatGPT is the AI assistant that tops default tools, with 28% of respondents choosing it first. It’s followed by Google’s Gemini at 23%, Meta AI and Amazon’s Alexa, both at 18%, and Apple’s Siri at 16%. Other tools including Claude, Grok and Perplexity collectively make up another 33%.

Some of that, Menlo Ventures says, is «first-mover advantage,» with tools like ChatGPT having built up a following by being the first to offer some chatbot and image-generation features. But, the company warns, «that position is not guaranteed,» with challengers moving fast.

«The consumer market for [large language models] is still nascent and far from saturated,» the report says, «leaving ample room for product innovation to shift market share over time.»

Some of the most common ways people are using these AI tools include composing emails and other writing support, researching topics of interest and managing to-do lists, according to Menlo Ventures.

Overall, 61% of Americans have used AI in the last six months and nearly 1 in 5, 19%, rely on it daily, the report says.

Technologies

It’s Not Too Late to Claim a Part of Fortnite’s $245 Million Settlement. Learn How to File

The FTC has extended the deadline to file a claim for compensation from unintended in-game Fortnite purchases.

It’s been a good week for Fortnite gamers who felt cheated by accidental in-game purchases. The Federal Trade Commission announced it was distributing $126 million in compensation to 969,173 claimants this week, and it also extended the time to file a claim — the process had previously ended on Jan. 10, 2025.

Games who were charged by Fortnite for unwanted purchases between January 2017 and September 2022 who haven’t already filed now have until July 9, 2025, to participate in the settlement by filing a claim. The FTC says that since December, 629,344 payments went out to players who made those in-game purchases and who filed a valid claim by Oct. 8, 2024. The average payout was about $114 per customer and totaled $72 million.

In the settlement, the FTC concluded that Fortnite’s developer and publisher, Epic Games, used design tricks known as dark patterns to make in-game sales. «Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button,» the agency said in its March 2023 announcement.

The FTC has more money left, so it’s extending the claim deadline

The FTC apparently still has about $47 million left to distribute from the settlement. On June 25, the agency posted a notice alerting those who haven’t yet filed that they now have until July 9, to submit a claim at ftc.gov/fortnite.

The Fortnite settlement applies to anyone who was charged for in-game currency for items they did not want to purchase between January 2017 and September 2022; if a child made credit card charges without a parent’s knowledge between January 2017 and November 2018; or if an account was locked after a charge was disputed between January 2017 and September 2022.

Those filing must be 18 or older; minors can ask a parent or guardian to complete the form on their behalf.

One CNET staffer received his PayPal deposit (for $95.98) from a Fortnite claim in January, a pleasant surprise since he had forgotten about the settlement.

Epic’s Fortnite is wildly popular, especially with teens; in one game event last year, 44.7 million players participated on a single day. But the free-to-play game relies on players buying Battle Passes and other items with V-Bucks, the in-game currency.

Like other games-as-platforms that have a large audience of young people, such as Roblox, Fortnite has evolved on how to make its game secure for young people and to ensure that payments aren’t being generated without the player’s authorization.

How can I file a Fortnite claim?

When you visit the FTC’s Epic Games/Fortnite page to file a claim, you will be asked if you received a notification email from the FTC with a claim number. If you have a claim number, select Yes, click Next, then provide your claim number and solve a CAPTCHA test to submit your claim.

If you didn’t receive a notification or can no longer find your claim number, you can apply for a Fortnite claim using your Epic account ID. If you’re not sure of your Epic account ID, follow these steps from the Epic Games support page.

When and how will I receive my money from the FTC?

Eligible claims submitted by Oct. 8, 2024, and January have already started receiving payments. The FTC has not specified when money for new claims filed by July 9 will be distributed.

During the claims process on the FTC site, you will be able to specify whether you’d like to be paid with a check or via PayPal. Checks must be cashed within 90 days, and PayPal payments must be accepted within 30 days. For questions about your payment, you can call a claims support hotline at 1-800-915-0880 or email admin@fortniterefund.com.

Will filing a claim against Epic Games affect my Fortnite account?

According to the FTC, filing a claim will not affect the status of a player’s Fortnite account. For more information, see the FTC’s Fortnite refunds FAQ.