Sometimes people may accidentally (or intentionally) put their iPhones in the freezer.
The latter is primarily due to a certain myth making its rounds on the web asserting that putting an iPhone in the freezer can actually solve some of its glitches.
Some users claim that putting an iPhone in a Ziploc bag and placing it inside a freezer is a cost-effective way of addressing specific issues.
However, this is just not true!
If your iPhone has issues such as overheating and you’re wondering something along the lines of:
“Can I put my iPhone in the freezer?”
Then know that putting it in the freezer is just a temporary solution that will most likely cause permanent damage to your phone!
It’s important to know that keeping the iPhone in the freezer can completely freeze it, and your phone might never recover!
Your iPhone warranty won’t cover this type of damage, so you should seriously think twice before considering any kind of freezer tricks for a quick fix.
Should you still decide to put your iPhone into a freezer (for an experiment, per se), it would be best if you only do so for 15 minutes or a maximum of a half an hour.
(AGAIN, this is definitely NOT RECOMMENDED.)
You should always keep in mind that freezing an iPhone can potentially destroy the hardware if it stays in below-zero temperatures for too long.
And if you do, it is not advisable to switch on your iPhone again until it properly thaws and reaches room temperature.
It’s always best to take your phone to an Apple store if it has any issues rather than resorting to dubious methods found on the internet!
Freezing A Phone- Examined
The most considerable risk when it comes to putting your phone in the freezer is that you expose it to the forming of ice crystals inside the device.
Even if you put your phone in a ziplock bag while putting it in the freezer, some vapor will inevitably gather around the phone, and the water droplets will eventually freeze!
A small amount of water may condense around the circuits, and the vapor will get inside the phone even if it is water-resistant.
Another way your phone can become damaged is when the water expands.
The small amounts of water that enter your phone in the vaporized form will eventually freeze and expand.
Internal pressure will be felt by all the fragile and delicate circuits of your phone, and it takes just a few moments to permanently damage your device.
Shrinking metal is another problem your phone would be exposed to when it is placed in a freezer.
As some metals present in your iPhone’s hardware may shrink when exposed to lower temperatures, this can potentially cause damage by causing your phone to short circuit.
The contraction can also damage the case of your phone and cause deformities.
Waterproof seals could be damaged as well- ultimately compromising your iPhone to other issues that weren’t present before.
What Happens If You Accidentally Put Your iPhone In The Freezer?
In situations where you accidentally put your iPhone in the freezer:
- The touchscreen can stop working
- The battery may deplete much faster, and
- The phone could start malfunctioning altogether.
Once it becomes icy, the phone will simply shut off and, in extreme (but very plausible) cases may not switch back on again due to the internal damage caused by freezing.
In terms of your iPhone’s freezing capacity, note that Apple suggests using the phone between 0 degrees and and 35 degrees Celsius (that’s 32 degrees and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively, for our friends in the Imperial System).
This guideline is helpful mainly for those who travel to extreme climates with their phones, but is also pertinent in situations such as these.
Will It Damage Your iPhone If You Put It In The Freezer?
One of the worst possible things that can happen to your iPhone after putting it in a freezer is that it can permanently damage the phone’s battery.
If this happens, you will not be able to use the phone again unless you have the component replaced- which can be a pretty expensive process.
A phone’s circuits and body may also be damaged if exposed to the condensed water.
In many situations, misinformed users want to put their phones in the freezer because the device is overheated and they want a quick way to cool it down.
However, this is an erroneous idea simply because doing so will not cool off the phone as you might assume!
Cooling an electronic device like an iPhone is a much more complex process than simply lowering its overall temperature.
Cooling anything in the freezer requires a certain amount of heat exchange from the hot and cold objects.
However, cooling metals inside the freezer is not ideal because the air around it does not heat up sufficiently to cause the exchange.
Given this, putting it in a freezer poses too high of a risk of causing permanent damage to the device to consider it as a viable option.
As such, we strongly advise against this method!
What Should You Do If You Accidentally Leave Your iPhone In The Freezer?
If you have accidentally left your phone in the freezer for an extended period of time, you’ll most likely find it to be extremely cold upon taking it out.
The first instinct will be to warm it up, and you might even end up doing something like putting it in the microwave!
However, that is the worst possible thing you can do because the waves will be enough to fry your phone.
(Seriously, we can’t stress enough how much of a bad idea it would be to put any phone in the microwave. Please don’t do this.)
Take care not to place the device on a very hot surface in an attempt to warm it back up.
The best thing you can do is to put your phone near a warm surface. Either keep it close to your body, or just near a heat source- but never directly on it.
Extremely low temperatures can deplete lithium-ion batteries very quickly. Since these batteries rely on chemical reactions to charge and the cold slows down these reactions, the battery is rapidly exhausted.
In fact, the reaction almost completely halts, and the battery no longer produces a sufficient charge.
The phone will eventually shut down when this goes on for an extended period of time.
Attempting to charge the iPhone at this point isn’t going to work well because the necessary reactions will not occur.
Therefore, the ideal path would be to wait patiently for the phone to reach room temperature again.
You may not even have to charge your phone, as the residual charges will start moving again from anode to cathode.
Again, patiently waiting and allowing your phone to warm up remains the best course of action.
In Conclusion
Freezing your iPhone is definitely not recommended.
Extremely low temperatures can cause your iPhone to malfunction; the screen can potentially become unresponsive, and it can also hinder your phone’s signals.
Aside from this:
- It can ruin the circuits by shrinking them, as metal contracts when cold; and
- The vapor that condenses around the phone can penetrate the inner mechanisms of the device, and once the water freezes in the iPhone it can then expand and damage the circuits.
Another excellent reason to avoid putting your iPhone in the freezer is because the battery will deplete rapidly as the chemical reactions needed for the lithium-ion batteries to react will no longer be present.
Apple suggests that you use the phone between temperatures of 0 degrees and 35 degrees Celsius.
Conversely, under no circumstances should you ever consider placing your iPhone in a microwave or on an extremely hot surface in an attempt to warm up your device! This will effectively fry your phone.
If you find yourself with a colder-than-normal phone due to it being left in a freezer, the best course of action is to allow your phone to reach room temperature before you start using it again.