[pd1108]

Occasionally, I use my old MI phone as an additional navigation accessory. Typically I often run either NaviMaps or Google Maps, as an option to the car's navigation system. This is used in standalone mode, and connected to the charger, as these tools consume (or drink) power.

Here I am facing some problems, and I want some pointers to what is happening. As an experiment, I installed the app GPS Speedometer. I also have another speedometer app installed called Speedview Pro, but this app is no longer supported and sometimes gives erroneous results.

The problem I am facing is this. The phone tends to overheat when I run any of these apps. GMAps is the least while GPS Speedometer is the maximum. with NaviMaps and Speedview taking up the second and third place The last one is so bad, that on occasion it even shuts down the phone and you can feel how hot it has become, but it has the best display and I like it

Is this normal? Would like the views of my learned BHPians

[TorquePull]

Which model in MI? GPS is a resource hungry feature and will take its toll on older phones. As long as your phone doesn't overheat during normal operation, you are fine.

[GTX+]

Mi phones, generally the older models, are (in)famous for heating up when being charged or if the display is kept on for a prolonged time and especially if some heavy app e.g. gaming, navigation etc. is being used non-stop.

2 out of my last 4 phones were Mi and I have experienced this personally. However, over the years MI does seem to have worked on this and my current phone Xiaomi 13 pro doesn't heat up to that levels (it does heat up a little bit) on non-stop usage.

[anay3000]

Phone heating reasons:
1) Charging
2) Usage
3) Background Application usage
4) Screen on time

You are hitting each of these points. Under ideal conditions, a phone would have only 1 or two of these points active.

Phones are designed to pass the heat on to our hand which holds it. Thus it will not seem warm, as your hand temperature almost close to the phone's temperature. Only during extreme use we will feel that your phone gets hot.

Now, you are using the phone with many background processes (not apps, processes) active, active charging and discharging, with the screen on. Also, I am assuming that during usage, it is not held in hand, but mounted somewhere in the vehicle. This takes away your hand which usually absorbs most of the heat.

Battery life, if in advanced stages, might also cause overheating.
Any phones with fast charging, will overheat when being used simultaneously, and / or not charge in fast mode. This is by design.

Use of a phone as a navigation device, is ok for part time. For full time navigation, my opinion would be to accept the heating, or to mount it near the AC vent, or to get a dedicated navigation device.

PS: try using maps in offline mode. Google search should help you out with how to achieve it. There are other apps available which are better than GoogMaps in some ways. Sygic is awesome, and also has a HUD feature.

[GForceEnjoyer]

I've had the same experience with three older Mi phones when I try to run multiple apps at the same time.

The only thing that works sometimes is to force close all other unnecessary background apps and to place the phone somewhere cooled by the A/C vents. Otherwise, a GPS speedo app + Android Auto and associated apps is a combination that has led to both phones (Mi 6, Redmi Note 4 and Redmi 3S) crashing and sometimes overheating.

As said above, I'm pretty sure it's to do with the phone. My newer Redmi 9 Prime manages this with no issues though.

[tushar_j]

I faced this issue long back. Turned out that the phone was overheating due to being continuously exposed to sunlight. That time I had attached the phone holder to the windscreen, and the back side of the phone was absorbing all the sunlight. I only realized the heating after trying to hold the phone after a long drive.

I moved the holder to the center, just below the ICE. The problem was gone. You can see this with cabs also. Most of the drivers keep their phones in the cooler/shaded areas.

[mpksuhas]

As others mentioned, its mostly heating of phone due to charging + being exposed to sunlight.
Have faced the same issue, one way to get over this is to disconnect charger when you notice that the temperature of phone is spiking.
Also, on sections of road where you don't have any confusion on route, keep the screen locked. This will also help, a tap on the screen and it will unlock and move to maps again.

One not so easy way to avoid this adapted by cab drivers is to keep a small micro fiber cloth or something similar in such a way that direct sun light is prevented from falling on the mobile. Not always easy, since it may also obstruct the view a bit.