Why is my Samsung Galaxy S7 getting hot [Troubleshooting Guide & Potential Solutions]

• Read and understand why a premium smartphone like the #Samsung Galaxy S7 (#GalaxyS7) heats up to the point of overheating while being charged.
• Learn how to troubleshoot or what you have to do whenever this issue occurs to your.

You may have already seen the news about Galaxy Note 7 units that exploded, got fried or caused fire. Those cases occurred during and after charging that’s why we can’t blame other smartphone owners to be worried when their devices heat up while charging. Recently, we did receive a lot of requests for support from Samsung Galaxy S7 owners who are complaining about their devices that are heating up when plugged in.

If you have a newer model, check out our Galaxy S23 overheating troubleshooting guide.

So, in this post, I will tackle this very issue for the sake of our readers who are worrying about serious charging-related issues. Remember that while smartphones are very small and seem harmless, there were already a lot of cases wherein owners got hurt because of them. And oh, have you already seen a Jeep burned down due to a smartphone? Yeah, those things happen too. My point is, it’s imperative you take this case seriously since your safety and that of your family is at stake here.

Read on to understand why your Galaxy S7 is heating up while being charged and know what to do in case it happens to you. If you have other issues with your device, however, make sure you drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed hundreds of problems sent by our readers. Odds are that we have already answered your problem before so take time finding issues that are similar with yours on our website. If you can’t find any or if our solutions don’t work and you need further assistance, feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

What to do when your Galaxy S7 gets unusually hot when charging

A smartphone that gets so hot while charging shouldn’t be taken lightly because it might be a sign of a serious hardware issue. It is imperative that you, as the owner, will take time troubleshooting your phone and here’s what I suggest you do:

Step 1: Verify it’s not caused by physical damage

This is the first thing you should do since you immediately tell if your phone suffered physical trauma due to drops or anything that could give a devastating impact on your device. An impact that may leave your phone to not work properly should leave a mark so try to check if there are scratches, breaks or anything that indicates it has come in contact with something hard.

Step 2: Check your phone for possible liquid damage

Short circuits often lead to overheating and other serious hardware issues that’s why it is imperative you verify your device isn’t suffering from any of that due to liquid damage. While the Galaxy S7 is water-resistant, it doesn’t guarantee that water cannot find its way into it. In fact, we already receive a lot of complaints from our readers about their S7 devices that stopped working after being used under water.

Remove the SD card and SIM card tray and look into the port to see if the little white sticker (Liquid Damage Indicator) turned red, pink or purple because if it did, then it’s water damage that caused the problem.

Step 3: Try to charge your phone while it’s in Safe Mode

Some apps you downloaded may have been running in the background, which also helps out in draining the battery quicker. The faster the battery drains, the hotter the phone becomes if used continuously and when you plug it in to charge, the device will heat up all the more.

Charging your phone up in safe mode won’t fix the problem but will isolate the issue immediately. If it doesn’t heat up when charging in safe mode, then third-party apps have something to do with the problem. You need to find the apps and uninstall them one by one until you can find the culprit, otherwise, you have to continue troubleshooting. Here’s how you boot your phone in safe mode:

1. Press and hold the Power button.
2. When Samsung Galaxy Logo appears on the screen, release the Power button and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
3. Continue to hold the Volume Down key until the device finishes its rebooting.
4. Now, if “Safe Mode” appears on the bottom left corner of the screen then, you can release the Volume Down key.

Should your Galaxy S7 still heat up while charging even in safe mode, then try to do the next step to see if it makes a difference.

Step 4: Connect your phone to a computer to see if it also heats up

Most of desktop and laptop computers give out half an Ampere of electric current even if they too produce 5 Volts of electricity. Your Galaxy S7’s original charger gives out 2 Amperes and works between 5 and 9 Volts, which depends of you’re using the fast charging feature. Between the computer and the charger, the latter may cause the phone to heat up more than the former. So, if your phone is still heating up when connected to a computer or a laptop, then we can almost be certain that there’s really something wrong with your device. In which case, proceed with the next step.

Step 5: Delete the system cache and try charging your phone again

The system cache can easily get corrupted. When it happens and if the system continues to use it, performance issues may occur or even problems related to charging such as the one we’re tackling here. Caches can be deleted at will without adverse effects as the system will actually create new ones that are perfectly compatible with the new firmware version. In other words, deleting system caches from time to time may even help improve your phone’s performance. But let’s set that aside for now because what is really important at this point in time is for us to know whether your Galaxy S7 would still heat up while charging after we cleared the cache partition and this is how you do it:

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
8. Wait until your phone is finished wiping the cache partition. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

After following the steps above and the device is still heating up while charging, then you have no other option but to reset your phone to ultimately try to rule out the possibility that the problem is caused by a firmware issue.

Step 6: Do the Master Reset your Galaxy S7 before sending it to the shop for checkup

If apps that are running in the background can cause the phone to heat up when charging, firmware issues can do more and to rule this possibility out, you need to reset your device by booting up it up into the Recovery Mode again and choose the right option. After the reset, don’t install anything yet, instead try to charge the phone to know if it still heats up and if so, then you have no other option but to send it or bring it to the shop and have it fixed:

1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key. NOTE: It doesn’t matter how long you press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, it won’t affect the phone but by the time you press and hold the Power key, that’s when the phone starts to respond.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds. NOTE: The “Installing system update” message may show on the screen for several seconds before displaying the Android system recovery menu. This is just the first phase of the entire process.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

If all of these steps failed to fix the problem, you need help from a technician.

CONNECT WITH US

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to contact us by filling up this form. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.