How to stop mobile games from cooking your phone

Nothing ends a gaming session faster than a phone that's too hot to hold comfortably. Heat also throttles performance, so the game you're enjoying starts stuttering right when it matters.

The chief offenders are high frame rates, maxed-out graphics presets and charging while playing. That last one surprises people — running a demanding game plugged in traps heat from two sources at once.

My routine is boring but effective: cap the frame rate, drop the graphics one notch, and take the case off during long sessions so the phone can breathe. Playing near a fan or an open window helps more than you'd think.

If a game still runs hot after all that — and a few in our catalog do — I just play it in shorter bursts. It's not worth stressing the battery for one more level.