I have an iPhone X that I use in the car with an iOttie charging mount (which I love!) that attaches to my CD slot. I live in Orlando, so it gets pretty hot in the summers. I’ve never had great luck with dash and windshield mounts over the long term, and vent mounts aren’t great with my car’s configuration (the screen would usually be blocked by the steering wheel).
My problem is that between the sunshine and the GPS work and the charging, my phone overheats and shuts down. This is a big problem when I’m using it for navigation. I have a big road trip in a few weeks when I move to Wichita, Kansas, and it will be a major inconvenience if I can’t have my navigation visible or if my phone shuts down on the highway.
Any tips for preventing overheating? Would there be less heat if I didn’t use the Qi charger and just plugged in a Lightning cable?
Definitely. Qi charging isn’t particularly efficient and result of that is heat.
Are there vents on the center console you could use? That’s where I’ve always put my iPhone in cars and that works for me. It’s not as in my line of sight, but with audio directions I don’t find it a bother.
Unfortunately, no. The vents are on either side of the steering wheel, and from where I sit, they are blocked almost perfectly by the points where I put my hands on the wheel. They also have a little nubbin to aim them which interferes with most vent systems I’ve tried.
I’ll have to try unplugging the Qi part and just using it as a “dumb” mount for a couple weeks.
I live in Florida too. I never had a problem with my iPhone overheating in thmy car until I got a plastic case for my iPhone X. It was holding heat in and didn’t have good ventilation. I got rid of the plastic case and went with a clear silicone style case and have not had any problems since.
My point being, could the issue be in part he case you’re using with your phone is trapping the heat in?
I also agree that switching to charging by cable in the car and an air vent mount if possible would also help.
Direct sun may be the culprit. Even in Pennsylvania and Maryland on not overly hot days, my navigating iPhone 6 Plus was overheating on a cable for charging. In a lightweight (Verizon) case. It did better out of the sun. Running Waze seems to have more trouble with overheating than with Google Maps.
I use a CD slot mount, and I have to keep the phone where I can quickly glance at the map. Sounds like there’s no great solution. I’ll just have to turn off the Qi charger and hope for cloudy weather.
Also in Florida with a CD mount. I’ve had some success with a few business card taped together. Anything that blocks the direct sunlight. I’ve also removed the case. Good luck in Kansas!
I live in Orlando too and I was having the same issues while driving on the 408. After my old Scosche dash mount gave up, I got the iOttie arm mount with Qi charging and placed it on my dash.
However, my iPhoneX would shutdown after 30 minutes. To solve this I moved the arm to the window (I know you don’t like putting it on the window, but it has been holding up well for months now — it helps that the arm is solid, unlike Scosche’s version) and now I just point one of the passenger’s AC vents up toward it. Works like a charm even with a case on 98F. I hope this helps you.
