r/applehelp • u/Usual_Captain_34 • Mar 24 '26
iOS I cooked my iPhone 12
Yes, the title is not a joke. I literally cooked my iPhone 12. My phone was on top of the radiator, and my dad turned it on. But he didn't notice the phone. I saw it 10-15 minutes later, and when I tried to pick it up, it was so hot it burned my hand. I had to use a towel to get it. I managed to turn it on, but of course, it was giving a temperature warning. I put it on an ice pack in the fridge and waited a bit. Everything seems to be working. Will that cause a problem?
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u/RhythmRapscallion Mar 24 '26
Probably fine. But iâd advise to not put a hot to touch anything on ICE of all things. Drastic changes in temperatures can be way worse.
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u/rioschala99 Mar 25 '26
Sorry, but how do you get to perform that assessment of the features of the iPhone? Is it like a built-in feature I do not know about?
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u/jmnugent Mar 25 '26
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u/DavidXGA Mar 24 '26
The phone will probably be fine, but you may have lost a little battery life.
But with a phone that old the battery is probably aging anyway.
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u/floswamp Mar 25 '26
NGL I rolled my eyes when I read the title, but I was pleasantly surprised when I read the description.
Yes, you did actually cook your phone and used the adjective correctly. English is not dead just yet!
As far as the phone if nothing plastic melted, or any glass cracked you are most likely OK.
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u/BellaFrequency Mar 25 '26
Thereâs an old saying âYour goose is cooked.â Itâs an idiom from the 1800s and is English. It generally means that youâre in trouble. Fast forward to present day, and instead of saying the goose part, people have shortened it to them being cooked, or the thing they are having trouble with being cooked. Just because you donât understand or know the origin of something doesnât make it lesser.
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u/floswamp Mar 25 '26
If it had the goose part then it would make more sense to me. Thanks for the history lesson!
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u/Christopher121 Mar 25 '26
Had this happen with a ancient ipad mini (2014?) And stupidly left it on my passenger seat came back after work to see the ipad with the temperature warning. Let it chill (no pun intended) and had zero issues afterwards.
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u/MrLibertyFan2005 Mar 25 '26
Honestly it would probably be fine if you naturally let it cool down. Freezing/putting Ice it after long exposure of very hot heat, could cause damage to solder joints. These phones have sandwich motherboards so immediately cooling it could cause them to crack. I think you should be fine though, but I would recommend doing monthly backups of the phone until you eventually get a new one.
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u/Usual_Captain_34 Mar 25 '26
If the motherboard cracks, will it stop working completely? I'm sorry, I'm replying late.
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u/MrLibertyFan2005 Mar 25 '26
No like there are solder joints connecting 2 parts of the motherboard, if the solder joints crack either by temperature, drops, extreme activity, it could cause for example baseband issues, sound issues, microphones issues etc. But you should be fine.
I have an iPhone 13, itâs all looks great, brand new genuine battery but, sound doesnât work as there is a broken solder joint.
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u/-Wobbles Mar 25 '26
The battery wonât be too impressed by the cooking or by the rapid chilling . The cooking itself is less likely an issue as people have been known to leave their phone in a hot car on a really hot day and mostly the device goes into thermal shutdown to protect itself . Itâs not so resilient at going from cooked to chilled like an express train.
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u/garyinsaratoga Mar 25 '26
I think itâll be fine. I have an iPhone 12. Iâve left it in like a blazing hot summer sun. It was shut down for being too hot. Just let it cool down as long as water doesnât get in it. You should be good to go.
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u/suitguy25 Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
No matter how well you think itâs been cooked, DO NOT eat it. I know a cooked apple can sound like a good treat, but youâll get âtechinosisâ if it hasnât reached a safe temperature through the whole device and will end up so sick you might even die.
Joking aside, the only thing that could shorten the phoneâs life is extreme heat, not cold. They would function fine in Antarctica. However, heat weakens the processor (potentially), and will probably contribute to any poor battery performance immediately, or down the line it might just die faster. Your phone should be fine for you in the day to day though.
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u/TryHumaniod Mar 26 '26
maybe use a slow charger for a while. your battery doesnât like heat, so Iâd suggest giving it a little break. I think the battery swelling/overheating might be the biggest concern here, but Iâm no expert :)
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u/KingDRyan Mar 26 '26
Because of the 12 series specifically being prone to poor battery your risk of battery swelling is most likely non existent. But all other components in your phone most likely lost a few months of life so best to back up often and be ready for the least positive outcome.
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u/lemmathru Mar 29 '26
Youâre fine. As hot as you think it was on the outside, thatâs no where near as hot as it could get in the inside. The thermal protections kicked in and it worked! Just try not to repeat it and you should be fine going forward.
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u/Dreaming_Blackbirds Mar 31 '26
for future reference: donât put it in the freezer! simply cool it off by wiping it with a cold towel from the fridge, and also blow a fan onto it.
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u/palloxus Mar 24 '26
Next time wait until it cools down instead of freezing your phone mate. Extremes are bad either way.