What to do if your Samsung Galaxy S8 is heating up or overheating [Troubleshooting Guide]

It is normal for your Samsung Galaxy S8 to become warm after hours of use or while it’s being charged. However, if it becomes hotter to the point that it’s uncomfortable to hold it, then that’s not normal anymore. You should do something about it to know if the problem is temporary or if you need a technician to take a look at it.

In this post, I will tell you a couple of things you should do if you notice your phone is heating up abnormally or even overheating. This is the problem you don’t have to take for granted as you may have already known how Galaxy Note 7 stirred Android community for months after reports of fire incidents caused by the device’s faulty battery. So, for the safety of our readers, we offer these few practical troubleshooting steps if the phone starts to heat up.

But before anything else, if you’re currently experiencing different issues with your phone, then I suggest you visit our Samsung Galaxy S8 troubleshooting page for we’ve already started providing support to our readers who own this device. We understand your phone is still brand new and it should work perfectly without a hitch but not even Samsung can guarantee there won’t be any problems. What we do here is provide help to our readers the best we can so if we haven’t published posts about your concern, feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

What to do if your Samsung Galaxy S8 is overheating

The purpose of this troubleshooting guide is to know if there really is a problem with your phone and to make sure you, the owner, are safe. Again, this problem should be taken lightly because more often than not, overheating cases are caused by the battery that may not be working properly. Mobile phone batteries may explode and I’ve personally encountered such case. That being said, here’s what you need to do…

Step 1: Unplug the charger and disconnect your phone

If you’re charging your device and you noticed it’s heating up like never before, then stop the charging process. At this point, we don’t know if the problem is with your phone, the battery or the charger but for your safety, don’t continue the charging process.

After disconnecting your phone from the charger, continue to observe the temperature of your phone to know if it continues to heat up even if it’s not charging anymore.

Step 2: Turn off  your phone

If the temperature hasn’t come down after unplugging the charger, then turn your phone off to see if that lowers the temperature down. If it’s still heating up after a few minutes, then don’t do anything to your phone at this point, instead, bring it to a shop or back to the store and let the tech handle it for you.

Step 3: Charge the phone while powered down

On the other hand, if the temperature lowered after unplugging the charger, then it’s possible it’s only heating up when it’s powered on while charging. You may now try charging it while it’s powered down to know if it’s still capable of replenishing its battery without heating up.

When there are a lot of apps that run in the background, the phone may heat up and charging it while in this state will also intensify the heat a bit. So, assuming the phone is charging normally while turned off, move on to the next step.

Step 4: Start your phone app in Safe mode and charge

Now, let’s try to see if the S8 can still charge without heating up so much when all third-party apps are temporarily disabled. Start your phone up in safe mode this time and then connect the charger. Let the phone charge for 5 minutes and try to see if the heating up is normal or not. If the heat is within the threshold, then the problem might have been due to some apps that are running in the background. Try to see if you can do something about those apps. You may already have an idea which of your apps is causing the problem.

This is how you boot your phone up in safe mode:

1. Turn the device off.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
3. When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
8. Uninstall apps that are causing a problem.

Step 5: Reset your phone

Assuming the phone is still heating up even in safe mode or if your phone is heating up even if it’s not being charged, then reset your phone immediately in order to know if the problem is due to some conflicts in the system or some of the functions. However, if possible, backup your files and data and then disable the Factory Reset Protection so you won’t be locked out of your device after the reset.

How to disable Factory Reset Protection

To turn off the device anti-theft, you will have to sign out of your Google ID on the device and elect to not sign in with a Google ID into any Google services. Once you sign in with a Google ID to any service and setup a Pattern, Pin, Password, Fingerprint or Iris lock, you are automatically turning on anti-theft.

To sign out of your Google ID, follow these steps:

1. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
3. Tap Accounts.
4. Tap Google.
5. Tap on your Google ID email address if multiple accounts are setup. If you have multiple accounts setup, you will need to repeat these steps for each account.
6. Tap 3 dot icon.
7. Tap Remove account.
8. Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.

How to Reset your Samsung Galaxy S8

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. Turn off the device.
3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
4. When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
6. Press Power button to select.
7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
9. When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

You may also reset your phone from the Settings menu…

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
3. Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
4. Tap Backup and restore.
5. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
6. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
7. Tap the back button to the Settings menu and tap General Management > Reset > Factory data reset.
8. Tap Reset.
9. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
10. Tap Continue.
11. Tap Delete all.

Step 6: Bring your phone back to the store

After the reset and the phone is still heating up or overheating, then bring it back to the store where you bought it. Let the tech check it for you and if there really is a problem with it, then you should negotiate a replacement.  

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