Are you facing overheating issue on your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or Note 20 Ultra? The problem seems to be affecting a lot of users who reported their phones heating up even while performing simple tasks and they are not sure why.
Several factors can cause your phone to overheat. For instance, your phone will tend to heat up if you play heavy games for a longer period of time, perform multitasking, or watch videos in high resolution. Sometimes, a problematic app can also cause this problem.
The overheating problem could also be hardware related. There are reports of Samsung making use of graphite thermal pads for the cooling system on some models of Note 20 devices while the other uses the usual vapor chambers and copper thermal heat pipes. The phones with the missing vapor chambers and copper heat pipes seem to be mostly affected by the overheating problem.
This guide proposes some effective tips to minimize overheating problem on your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or Note 20 Ultra. Read on.
How to fix overheating issues on Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra
1. Check on apps running in the background
The first thing you should do after you are done using an app on your phone is to make sure you close it immediately. When you keep an app running in the background, it will affect the processor and cause your phone to overheat.
To close background apps, follow the steps below:
- Tap the Recent key to view all running apps.
- Then tap the Close All button to close all these apps at once
2. Remove problematic apps
Sometimes third party apps can cause conflicts with your phone’s system and cause your phone to heat up. To check if that is the case, try enabling safe mode and see if the problem continues. With safe mode enabled, your phone will run only native apps and all third party apps will be temporary disabled.
Here’s how to turn the safe mode on.
- Press and hold on the power button until you see the Power off icon
- Press and hold on the Power off icon until you see the Safe Mode icon
- Tap on the Safe Mode icon to reboot your phone in safe mode
If the overheating disappears in safe mode, then mostly likely some third party app was the culprit. Try identifying that app(s) and uninstall it from your phone.
3. Disable unused services and features
If there are services and features enabled on your phone but you are not using them, turn them off as they will continue to use both power and CPU in the background and cause your phone to overheat. Features such as Bluetooth, WiFi, Mobile data, location services and other online app services can eat up not only battery life but also exhaust CPU resources that will eventually lead to overheating issues.
4. Remove the phone case
Some screen cases or covers have been reported to cause overheating issues as they do not allow the heat trap inside the phone to escape. Try removing the case and see if that fixes the heating problem.
5. Adjust your phone’s settings
The way the settings is configured on your phone can impact the way it functions and how less or extensive the processor works while performing tasks. For example, if you choose to use 120hz refresh rate for your display or choose to record videos in 8K, then that will have a significant strain on the processor causing your phone to warm up and overheat. Try adjusting the settings and ensure you are not pulling the maximum limit of your device.
- Go to Settings
- Then tap on Apps
- Next tap on the 3 dot vertical menu on the top right corner
- Then select Reset app preferences
- Next tap on Reset to complete the action
7. Clear the system cache
Sometimes an error with your phone’s cache partition can also cause all kinds of problems including the overheating issue. To confirm if that is the case, try clearing your phone’s system cache partition and see if that resolves the problem.
Here’s how to clear the system cache partition on your phone.
- Turn off the device
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Power key.
- Continue to hold both keys until Android Recovery menu options appear
- Press the Volume down key and navigate to Wipe cache partition
- Press Power key to select
- Press the Volume down key to highlight Yes, then press the Power key to select
- When the process is complete, Reboot system now is highlighted
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
8. Check for software update
A software bug can also cause your device to overheat. Check if there are new release for the software and perform an update if available. Often software updates come with bug fixes and optimizations for a lot of known issues including overheating problem. Here’s how to check and update your software.
- Go to Settings
- Tap on Software update
- Tap on Download and install to download and install the update.
9. Factory reset the phone
Sometimes, your phone can start to heat up after changing some settings and if you have bricked the firmware in the process. If you suspect that, you can try the next solution which involves resetting your phone to factory settings. Doing so will remove any existing flaws or issues with the device firmware and may clear out the overheating problem. However, this procedure will erase all your data so perform a backup if possible before proceeding with the reset operation.
Here’s how to factory reset your phone.
- Turn off your device
- Then press and hold the Bixby/Power and Volume Up keys for few seconds
- When the device logo is displayed, release the keys and wait until the Recovery menu appears
- Use the Volume Down key to highlight and select “Wipe Data/Factory Reset“
- Press the Bixby/Power key to select the option
- Use the Volume Down button and highlight Factory data reset option
- Press the Bixby/Power key to proceed
- After the factory reset completes, your phone will reboot
10. Contact Samsung support
If you have tried all the above suggested solutions and the problem still remains, then it’s most likely a hardware problem. Your phone model may be missing the vapor chambers and copper thermal heat pipes used for the cooling system. Contact Samsung support and check with them if they can provide you with a replacement device.