Tech Question - Why is my iPad Hot?

[ronandannette]

As I’m sitting here this morning, DIS’ing away as is my normal custom, I notice my iPad is starting to feel abnormally warm. The battery has drained from 40% to 6% in the last 20 minutes or so. I can’t remember this ever happening before. Any thoughts on what might be going on? I’m turning it off now and plugging it in, so I’ll look forward to reading any responses on my desk top when I get to work.

TIA

 

[BrianL]

As I’m sitting here this morning, DIS’ing away as is my normal custom, I notice my iPad is starting to feel abnormally warm. The battery has drained from 40% to 6% in the last 20 minutes or so. I can’t remember this ever happening before. Any thoughts on what might be going on? I’m turning it off now and plugging it in, so I’ll look forward to reading any responses on my desk top when I get to work.

TIA

It is most likely some app running in the background or possibly it's having trouble catching the wifi signal, so it is constantly searching or connecting/disconnecting. It'll get hot doing that and run the battery down too. When you restart it, make sure there is nothing running that you don't know about. I am not sure about iOS but Android has a place in the options where you can see what's been running and using the most battery. Find that and uninstall the offending apps.

 

[wenrob]

You most likely have a rogue app. Go to Settings, scroll down to battery and scroll down to Activity by app. That should show you what is doing it. Close out all your apps and reboot. If the problem continues, delete the app you think is causing the problem (the one with most usage usually) reboot and then reinstall the app.

 

[Mysterian]

It's probably because you're on the hottest message board on the internet , or what Wenrob said.

 

[tvguy]

I don't have an iPad but there are plenty of reports of people getting burned by their iPad. And Apple even issues a warning about not letting your iPad touch your skin because of how hot they get.

From the link below:
"Prolonged heat exposure. iPad and its USB power adapter comply with required surface temperature limits defined by applicable country regulations and international and regional safety standards. However, even within these limits, sustained contact with warm surfaces for long periods of time may cause discomfort or injury. Use common sense to avoid situations where your skin is in contact with a device or its power adapter when it’s operating or connected to a power source for long periods of time. For example, don’t sleep on a device or power adapter, or place them under a blanket, pillow, or your body, when it’s connected to a power source. Keep your iPad and its power adapter in a well-ventilated area when in use or charging. Take special care if you have a physical condition that affects your ability to detect heat against the body."

https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/important-safety-information-ipad27098ef5/ipados

 

[fla4fun]

A couple of questions . . .

1 Have you done a software update recently? There is a lot of behind the scenes updating that happens right after an upgrade. I had a similar issue after an update last November. It hasn’t happened again since.

2 Do you have the iPad set up to automatically install app updates? Your iPad may have been updating several at once or one particularly big upgrade.

After I had that one incident, I turned off all automatic upgrading of any kind and I also turned off Background App Refresh. I do my updates manually so the iPad isn’t working so hard.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I’ve used an iPad exclusively for many years. I don’t even have a home computer anymore.

I agree with the other suggestions, but also wanted to ask, how do you position your device as you’re using it? Just like a laptop, it needs to breathe while you’re using it so it doesn’t overheat. So if it’s laying on a blanket or pillow without air being able to circulate, it can heat up and shut down. I use a Magic Keyboard for my iPad Pro (which is great) but even with my regular iPad, I always used a keyboard set-up and made sure there was plenty of air circulating around it.

HTH