When your Samsung Galaxy S8 becomes unusually hot when you’re using it normally, then it should be something you have to look into. More often, a phone heats up when charging but not to the point where it would be uncomfortable to hold. The most common cause of this problem is when your phone suffered liquid damage.
Galaxy S8 has the IP68 rating which means it’s dust and water resistant but one thing to note here is that it’s not waterproofing. Water may still be able to find its way into your phone given the right circumstances. Therefore, it’s very much possible that the cause of the overheating with your phone is liquid damage. However, we have to troubleshoot to know more about the problem.
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.
Troubleshooting Galaxy S8 that heats up when used
To understand better why a premium phone like your S8 heats up even if used normally, we have to rule out every possibility. Here’s what you need to do…
Step 1: Force restart your phone
It’s possible there are a bunch of apps running in the background. These apps use resources and may also cause overheating especially game apps that are CPU and graphics-intensive games.
The force restart procedure will simulate battery disconnect which refreshes your phone’s memory and close all third-party apps. To do this, press and hold the Volume Down and the Power keys together for 10 seconds. Your phone will reboot normally and after that, observe closely to know if it still heats up.
Step 2: Make sure there’s no sign of liquid damage
There are a couple of things you can do to confirm if your phone has a liquid damage; look into the charger port and check the Liquid Damage Indicator.
The primary entry point of water is the charger port. When there’s moist, you might get the “moisture detected” warning. Regardless whether you’re getting the warning or not, it’s best that you clean the area. You may use cotton swab or a piece of tissue paper that you have to insert into the port to absorb moist.
The next thing you should is check the Liquid Damage Indicator. It’s a small piece of sticker that would change color when it gets in contact with water or even just moist. In your Galaxy S8, you have to remove the SIM card tray and look into the slot. If the sticker is white it means your phone is safe from liquid damage but if it turned into red, pink or purple, it’s obvious it’s liquid damage that’s causing the overheating.
If there’s no sign of liquid damage, then move on to the next step.
Step 3: Find out if it still heats up when in Safe mode
What we’re trying to accomplish here is to know if third-party apps are causing the overheating issue. When you boot your phone up in safe mode, you’re temporarily disabling all third-party apps. You can then observe if the phone still heats up because if the problem is seems fixed while in this environment, then it’s clear that your third-party apps have something to do with the problem. This is how you start your phone up in Safe mode:
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
- When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
Assuming the phone doesn’t heat up in this mode, find the apps that are causing the problem and uninstall them one after another until the problem is fixed.
- From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > Apps.
- Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
- Tap the desired application.
- Tap Uninstall.
- Tap Uninstall again to confirm.
Step 4: Backup your files and reset your phone
In case the phone still heats up even in safe mode, then you have no other choice but to reset the phone. It rules out the possibility that this problem is due to a firmware issue and it’s also a preparatory step just in case it still heats up after the reset. But before that, make sure you backup all your files and data as they will be deleted. Follow these steps to reset your Galaxy S8:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- 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).
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
- Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
- When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
Step 5: Bring the phone to the shop
After the reset and the problem still persists, then you should bring it to the shop so that the tech can take a look at it. It’s possible there’s really something wrong with the hardware and if it isn’t caused by liquid or physical damage, then the tech should recommend it for replacement.
As far as basic troubleshooting is concerned, you’ve done everything you could. It’s now up for the tech to do his job.
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