Why Do iPhones Overheat when Live Streaming?
Your iPhone gets hot mid-broadcast, the screen dims, and the stream quits. Heat is not a glitch: the chip compressing your video and the radios sending that video out both work hard, and sun or a thick case traps the warmth.
Speedify is an app that sends a live stream over Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite internet connections at once, so a stumble on one does not end the broadcast. Speedify needs two or more connections for that; on one connection it works as an encrypted VPN and cannot stop that connection from dropping. You will find the Speedify team’s temperature test results, the reasons iPhones overheat, and practical advice below; Speedify keeps the broadcast running when one connection drops, but no app can cool an iPhone.
Speedify gives you the upload headroom a clean stream needs
How hot an iPhone gets depends on two things:
- the ambient temperature where you’re using the device;
- what you are using the device for.
According to Apple, an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch should be used at temperatures between 0 and 35 degrees C / 32 to 95 degrees F. The device might get warm at times, when you:
- Set up your device the first time;
- Restore from a backup;
- Wirelessly charge your device;
- Use graphics-intensive or processor-intensive apps, games, or features, including augmented-reality apps;
- Stream high-quality video.
If the device gets too warm, the built-in overheating protection steps in, from a temperature warning screen all the way to shutting the device down.
To give live streamers using iPhones useful data, the Speedify team tested how long an iPhone can last while live streaming in different temperatures and conditions. Here are the results.
iPhone Live Streaming Temperature Testing
The team tested an iPhone 13 under different conditions and exposure to sunlight. All tests were run outside on a sunny Philadelphia day with an outside temperature of 29 C / 85 F.
Each test ran live streaming for an hour or until the iPhone shut off due to critical temperature, using Zoom as the streaming platform while using Wi-Fi and 4G/5G cellular together at once with Speedify.
As the iPhone only shows the temperature warning when its state is Critical, the team used the Speedify app’s internal developer mode to display Apple’s thermal state: nominal, fair, serious or critical.
Here are the results:
| iPhone 13 live streaming | Start | 15 min | 30 min | 45 min | 1 hour |
| With case | Nominal | Fair | Fair | Fair | Serious |
| Without case | Nominal | Fair | Fair | Fair | Serious |
| Direct sun, with case | Fair | Critical |
iPhone shuts off
|
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| Direct sun, without case | Nominal |
iPhone shuts off
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| Direct sun with cooling strip | Nominal | Critical |
iPhone shuts off
|
iPhone Overheating when Live Streaming Testing Conclusions
As you can see above, exposure to direct sun, as well as the ambient temperature greatly influences how long an iPhone can live stream:
- there wasn’t any notable temperature state difference when using it in the shade with and without a protective case: the iPhone managed to live stream for an hour.
- worst case: direct sun exposure while phone is without a protective case, only 15 minutes of live streaming. The case can keep it cool for another 15 minutes of live streaming.
- When using a cooling strip on the iPhone, it also got some 30 minutes of live streaming before it shut off.
A note on the above, from the team’s experience live streaming IRL: if you’re using your phone with a gimbal, it will act like a case in terms of thermal insulation for the back of the phone. So it is not necessary to use a protective case when you’re using a gimbal.
Takeaways and Advice for Live Streaming on an iPhone
The Speedify team has run Speedify LIVE since 2021 and has done quite a few IRL streams, including a live stream from inside Dracula’s Castle. Each came with its own lessons, and iPhone overheating while live streaming was one of the concerns, which is why the team ran these tests.
One thing is for sure: if you can avoid live streaming with your iPhone directly in the sun, do it. That makes the biggest difference. When that is not possible, use the iPhone without a case on a gimbal and, where you can, with a cooling strip. An active cooler with a fan will drain your battery faster.
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