Gaming on your phone can generate a lot of heat and cause your phone to overheat. Overheating can lead to throttled performance, app crashes, and even permanent hardware damage if left unchecked. Thankfully, there are many ways to keep your phone cool while gaming so you can enjoy long gaming sessions without issue. In this comprehensive guide, we will cover the top tips and best practices for keeping your phone cool during mobile gaming.
Why Does My Phone Get Hot While Gaming?
There are a few key reasons why gaming makes your phone hot:
Powerful Components
Modern phones have incredibly powerful processors and GPUs packed into a compact space. These components generate a lot of heat when pushed to their limits during gaming. The more graphically intense the game, the hotter the phone.
Sustained High Usage
Gaming involves using the CPU/GPU at high capacity for extended periods. This sustained maxed-out workload generates much more heat than typical sporadic usage. The longer you game, the hotter the phone gets.
Battery Charging
If you game while charging your phone, this adds even more heat into the phone’s internals. The battery gets warm while charging, so combined with intensive gaming the temperature rises quickly.
Poor Ventilation
Smartphones have compact, sealed designs with little internal airflow. This causes heat to build up rapidly when gaming since the heat has nowhere to dissipate. Extended gaming sessions can turn your phone into an oven.
So in summary, mobile games place sustained heavy loads on your phone’s processors causing them to output high amounts of heat, while the tight sealed design has little ventilation to dissipate the heat build-up. Knowing what causes overheating is useful when learning how to prevent it.
General Tips to Keep Your Phone Cool
Here are some general tips to follow that will help keep your phone stay cool during extended gaming sessions:
1. Turn Down Graphic Settings
If the game allows it, lower the graphical settings to reduce the load on your phone’s GPU. The lower power requirements will reduce heat output. Turn off any unnecessary visual effects like shadows, anti-aliasing, texture filtering, and anisotropic filtering.
2. Dim the Screen Brightness
Lower your phone’s screen brightness significantly while gaming to reduce power consumption and heat from the display and backlight. This alone can make a noticeable difference in temperature.
3. Close Background Apps
Be sure to close out of any apps running in the background before launching your game. Extra workload from background processes will contribute to more heat buildup.
4. Turn Off Network Connectivity
Disable mobile data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS if not needed for the game. Less wireless radios transmitting means lower temperatures. Disable phone features like NFC and hotspot/tethering as well.
5. Update Software & Apps
Make sure your phone’s operating system, launcher, games, and apps are fully updated. Updates often contain optimization fixes that improve resource efficiency and reduce heat. Keeping outdated software can negatively impact thermals.
6. Maintain Phone Cache
Periodically clear your app cache and browser data to delete unnecessary temporary files that can contribute to resource drain. A cluttered storage will make your phone work harder than needed.
7. Close the Case
If you use a protective case, make sure it is designed for good airflow and heat dissipation. Closing the case while gaming traps in heat – use a ventilated case or leave it open instead.
Activate Gaming/Performance Mode
Many phone manufacturers include special gaming or performance modes that optimize the device for reducing thermal throttling during extended high load situations like mobile gaming:
Samsung – Use Game Launcher and enable “Full Performance” mode. Also toggle on “Cooling” and disable auto brightness.
OnePlus – Turn on “Fnatic Mode” which disables background network operations and kills other apps.
Asus ROG – Enable “X Mode” or “Dynamic Boost” to max out gaming performance.
Xiaomi – Use Game Turbo mode to limit background activities. Also toggle on “Performance Mode”.
These gaming modes adjust the operating system profile to dedicate more resources towards high performance instead of power efficiency. Be aware that battery life will take a hit.
Phone Cases with Cooling Fans
Special gaming phone cases can be bought that have built-in active cooling fans. These cases mount directly on your phone and use small fans to generate airflow over the phone’s internals and dissipate heat:
Otterbox OtterActive Cooler Case – Features twin adjustable fans and a thermal heat sink that clips onto the phone’s CPU hotspot. Powered by internal battery.
Peltor Fortnite Gaming Case – Has a large 10,000 rpm fan with RGB lighting effects. Includes dust filter and design optimized for directing airflow.
Trianium Atomic Pro Gaming Case – Uses dual built-in fans and vents along the edges to dissipate heat. Has convenient holder for game controller.
Devitatte 3-Fan Gaming Phone Cooler – Attaches 3 adjustable high-RPM fans around the phone’s border for maximum airflow coverage. Runs for 6 hours per charge.
These active cooling cases are very effective but also chunky so not as portable. Make sure to compare styles to find one that fits your specific phone model properly.
Use an External Cooling Device
A cheaper option than an active cooling case is using an external USB cooling fan that you just point at your phone during gaming sessions. Popular options include:
Opolar LC06 Laptop Cooler – Clips onto your phone and uses 2 ultra-quiet fans to direct air on the backside. Speed adjustable up to 5500 RPM.
TopMate TM-5 Laptop Cooler – Another mini dual-fan laptop cooler that works great for phones. Fans powered by USB.
Targus Chill Mat – Lays flat and you position your phone on top. Internal fans and vent holes provide cooling airflow. USB-powered.
Tree New Bee Cooling Pad – Angled stand positions phone for ideal cooling. 4 quiet fans with blue LED accent lights. Adjustable speeds.
These mobile USB cooling fans cost under $30 and offer a simple effective way to direct fresh airflow onto your phone while gaming anywhere. Way more portable than bulky cooling cases.
Use a Heat Sink
You can also attach an external heat sink module onto your phone while gaming. Heat sinks absorb and dissipate heat away from the source:
Thermal Cooling Heat Sink Pads – These stick onto the phone’s rear surface and use heat conductive copper to pull heat away from the interior components. Effective yet slim and cheap.
Semantic Ninja Gaming Chipset Cooler – Attaches a configurable positionable heat sink with thermally conductive copper plates and contact arms. Clamps onto phone.
Celsus Heat Sink Cooling Module – Slides onto corner of phone and uses an aluminum alloy heat sink with copper core to absorb heat. Thermal tape keeps in place.
Anker PowerCore Heat Sink – Functions as both a battery pack and heatsink. Special grooves direct heat away from phone. Includes integrated kickstand.
Heat sinks are great passive cooling accessories that effortlessly siphon heat away from your phone’s vulnerable hot spots during games. Very effective and portable.
Take Gaming Breaks
One effective yet simple way to prevent your phone overheating during long gaming marathons is taking occasional breaks to let the phone cool down and prevent heat from compounding:
– Take a 5 minute breaks every 30 minutes of gaming. Put the phone down and let the internals cool.
– Avoid gaming in excessively long sessions over an hour. Heat has longer to buildup.
– Monitor the phone temperature by touch. Stop gaming if it feels excessively hot.
– Know the warning signs of overheating like lag, freezes, shutdowns. Stop gaming if they manifest.
– Avoid gaming while charging simultaneously. This causes much higher heat buildup.
Taking short breaks transforms the phone’s sustained intensive workload into smaller bursts with cool down periods between. This keeps peak temperatures lower overall.
Point a Fan at Your Phone
Sometimes the simplest DIY solutions do the job. Pointing a fan to blow air directly on your phone is an easy way to stay cool:
– Position a desk fan to blow air onto the phone’s surface as you game. Constant airflow prevents heat pooling.
– Use a tall tower fan directed downward from above to pour cooling air onto the phone.
– Tie a small personal mini fan onto your phone to blast air right on its hotspots. USB-powered fans work great.
– suspend your phone mid-air in the path of a room fan. The surrounding airflow will dissipate heat.
Almost any fan pointed at your phone during gaming will make a noticeable difference in keeping temperatures lower, preventing throttling and instability. Just ensure the fan blades don’t make direct contact with the phone.
Play in Air Conditioned Room
If gaming indoors, make sure to play only in rooms that have air conditioning:
– The ambient cool air will prevent heat from compounding on your phone while gaming.
– Avoid non air-conditioned rooms which allow heat to build up exponentially quicker.
– For hot days, increase the thermostat lower than usual provide greater cooling.
– Position yourself directly adjacent to the cooling AC vent for optimal airflow over the phone.
– Use a plug-in cooling fan nearby to circulate the chilled air more directly.
Gaming in air conditioning is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to stop your phone from thermal throttling since the cold ambient temperatures greatly diminish heat buildup.
Water Cooling Methods
Some extreme enthusiasts have created liquid cooling contraptions for phones that are ultimate heat siphons:
DIY Water Cooling Rigs – Using a water block, pump, tubing and radiator, it’s possible to custom fabricate a water cooling loop for a phone. Requires modding skill.
Maingear F131 Chimera Gaming Phone – This upcoming gaming phone has a built-in micro-liquid cooling system with copper heat pipe and aluminum chassis.
Nokipi Gaming Phone Case – Case has a liquid cooling chamber behind the phone with micro pump and radiator to dissipate heat. Only a concept product so far.
Obviously water cooling is complex overkill but gives you an idea of the lengths that can be taken. A basic laptop cooling pad or small USB fan are much simpler ways to combat gaming phone heat!
Conclusion
Keeping your phone cool while gaming is crucial to avoid stability issues, performance throttling, app crashes, and even permanent hardware damage. Overheating occurs from the phone’s powerful internal components being under sustained high workloads with minimal ventilation. By following the tips outlined, you can effectively dissipate, siphon, absorb, and prevent heat buildup when mobile gaming for extended periods:
– Manage graphical settings and throttle components
– Direct cooling airflow onto phone using fans
– Limit gaming in warm environments
– Apply heat spreaders like cooling pads
– Take breaks to allow heat dissipation
With the proper cooling methods, you can game on your phone for hours on end without meltdowns. Stay chill while you get your fill!