Why is my new Lumia 950 overheating?

[Windows Central Question]

I returned a 950 one day after purchase to AT&T due to massive overheating, and a two hour battery life. Clearly a problem. On my new handset, I didn't install the memory card, thinking that may be an issue. It seemed fine, almost cool to the touch for most of the day. Then, tonight, while simply browsing on Edge (no other apps running), it is ROCKET hot.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Check what apps can run in the background: settings, system, battery, battery saver settings
You'll also see which apps have used the battery the most
Also, are you using cellular or wifi? Cellular data in my experience drains the battery a lot
High battery use means high heat dissipation

 

[JohnD1345]

I returned a 950 one day after purchase to AT&T due to massive overheating, and a two hour battery life. Clearly a problem. On my new handset, I didn't install the memory card, thinking that may be an issue. It seemed fine, almost cool to the touch for most of the day. Then, tonight, while simply browsing on Edge (no other apps running), it is ROCKET hot.

my new 950 is doing the same thing... Rocket hot! I will be returning it... Not to mention the app lag, freezing, and terrible battery life. What a disappointment.

 

[ashram]

I returned a 950 one day after purchase to AT&T due to massive overheating, and a two hour battery life. Clearly a problem. On my new handset, I didn't install the memory card, thinking that may be an issue. It seemed fine, almost cool to the touch for most of the day. Then, tonight, while simply browsing on Edge (no other apps running), it is ROCKET hot.

he didn't mention if he was doing a clean install or a restore.... a restore can BLAST through your battery life and heat up the phone, as you are actively downloading a lot of stuff. after a few days, mine is starting to equalize a bit, not getting hot unless i am playing a game. still have txt messages downloading in the background that is still eating through battery life though. hopefully that'll be done soon.

 

[awesomeindeed]

I've had mine since last Wednesday morning, and I'm seeing very inconsistent battery life, live tiles randomly not updating/working, laggy touch response and laggy keyboard, it heats up like crazy just texting or browsing, and the icing on the cake is that it does not integrate properly with my car's Bluetooth speech recognition whereas my other devices do.

I love the screen and the camera is great, but sadly, I'm not sure that's enough to make me keep it.

 

[Skyway]

Try turning off glance and Hello. Battery life is much improved, especially after a few days of use. It seems to settle in and get better, give it some time before jumping the gun. I was all ready to return it too, but decided to give it a little bit and I'm glad I did. I love this phone now, lag goes away as well. Keyboard can still kinda rubber band sometimes, but overall it's a lot better than when I first used it.

 

[Steve WWW]

Yeah, I read elsewhere on the site that Cortana indexes your stuff over the first few days, then after that the phone should run cool[er].

I just got a Surface Pro 4, and the fan kicked in randomly in sleep mode for the first day or two, as Windows 10 background indexed my local OneDrive files and set things up. The good news is that it's pretty cold where I live now, so it will be nice to have a little extra heat in my pants when riding to work (my Lumia 950 should arrive in the next few days).

 

[nmrajarajan]

Heating issues with new phones are normal.

 

[bulls96]

I thought these phones were supposed to feature this new cooling mechanism...

 

[tanders04#WN]

I thought these phones were supposed to feature this new cooling mechanism...

No, that is the 950xl.

I personally haven't had much problem with overheating. The phone gets warm, but it is actually better than my 925 with preview.

 

[spaulagain]

Mine was really hot and draining battery when I first got it because it was burning rubber installing all the apps. Since then though, it's been running great. Not hot, not even really warm. And so far battery life has been fine. Maybe could be a little longer, but so far pretty solid full days worth.

For those saying "disappointed" maybe you need to give a little longer or return for a different one. Like I said above, mine behaves normally. So I don't think it's the natural nature of this phone to be so bad.

 

[RTGent]

Usually ignore these hit-and-run WC Questions, but...
On my 6th day, and my 950 has gotten warm only, and under two conditions only. The first was a one-timer when I first launched Groove on day 2, and >6000 music tracks were downloaded from my OneDrive or elsewhere. I don't recall whether I had the device plugged in at the time, but probably not; nor do I know whether it would have made a difference in its temperature. The other time that it gets warm is when it is speed-charging through the USB-C port. I've noticed it only when it has to be charged from an auto-shutoff/dead state and I plug it in. I haven't checked/noticed when it starts getting warm, but at about an hour, the battery is at about 75%, and the device is definitely -though only- warm. That's it: temporarily, warm only, never hot.

 

[EviliveSS]

I've had mine for 24 hours and this is burning up. Will be asking for a replacement on Friday. Extremely disappointed after going through two 1520's that I babied in two years. If the replacement is similar, I guess I'll switch to a "Microsoft services" guy.

 

[EviliveSS]

Does not mean going to Apple, lol!

 

[redmisfitx]

I am not sure this will fix everyone's overheating issue but it fixed it on 3 devices I have access to. My own, my brother's and my wife's. The problem was being caused by installing applications to the SD Card. Pictures, Downloads, everything else etc... seems to be Ok, but not applications.

When I moved all the applications out of the SD card the overheating and short battery life stopped. I have replicated the issue by formatting my device and using the SD card for everything. Battery would only last 12 hours and the phone would get hot from normal use.

I then formatted the device again and pointed everything BUT the applications to the SD card and the battery life jumped to 17 hours and no overheating.

Hope this helps someone else out there.

 

[Tushar Thakur]

Moved all my apps from SD card to device. fingers crossed. Thanks for the idea.

 

[robert peake]

i'l give it go, in fact it some said hold it upside down while pressing the camera button i would.... in fact im going to try it... will move my apps to phone and see how it goes, i hope so,

 

[soil2oil]

I never had any over heating issues until the newest update last week.
Yesterday while charging I received a warning saying my screen was too hot and phone was about to shut down

 

[Gary1Bauer]

Sounds like my issue - fine until 10.0.10586.0 and then running hot with all background apps turned off. Battery life around 3hours unless airplane mode turned on. Then 6 - 7 hours.

Gary

 

[DY1012]

I did the same thing and it did make a difference. All day long and no overheating. The only time I could feel some heat was when I was outside away from my WiFi and using Data instead which is expected since it is a brand new phone for me and still updating original apps.

Thanks redmisfitx. I would strongly recommend your suggestion compared to any other solution given.