My Pixel was overheating and stuttering until I made these 5 tweaks

As much as I love my Pixel 10, it has some glaring issues. The big one is overheating, and frankly, that applies to all Pixel phones in general. Sure, every phone runs warm occasionally, but Pixels seem to be more prone to it than most. I’ve had mine overheat at times even when I wasn’t gaming, using the camera, or plugged into Android Auto.

Also, overheating isn’t something you can just ignore. It affects how the phone feels in your hand, how it performs, and even how fast it charges. So instead of waiting for some magic update from Google or upgrading to a new phone, I decided to actually do something about it. It took some effort, but my Pixel no longer runs as hot as it used to.

Managing background apps made a huge difference

This one felt obvious in hindsight, so I actually regret ignoring it for so long. Having a dozen apps running in the background might not affect performance, but it forces your Pixel to work overtime. This can sometimes cause the phone to overheat, although it largely depends on what apps are running — some are far more demanding than others. The quick fix here is to open the recent apps menu and swipe away anything you don’t need.

A more permanent fix is to head to Settings > Battery > Battery usage and check which apps are using the most battery. Generally speaking, if an app is burning through battery with barely any screen time, it’s likely doing some work in the background. In my case, apps like Instagram, Bluesky, Amazon, and Flipboard were the worst offenders. I went into the battery usage menu for each of those apps and disabled Allow background usage toggle.

This helped with battery drain too, but I’d be careful here, since some apps genuinely need to run in the background to work properly. Google Photos needs it for background uploads, Gmail for timely notifications, Spotify for seamless playback, and Google Maps for keeping offline maps updated. You don’t want to cut the wrong app here.

I changed how my Pixel handles cached apps

Once I’d stopped unwanted apps from running in the background, it was time to deal with the ones I was using on and off. Android keeps recently used apps cached in memory so they can reopen instantly. This sounds useful, but it can also backfire at times. Those apps sitting in a cached state can add to the background activity unnecessarily and cause the device to heat. Again, it mostly comes down to the apps and how they’re coded to behave.

Thankfully, there’s a setting buried in Android’s Developer Options menu that fixes exactly this. It’s called “Suspend execution for cached apps.” Instead of force-stopping cached apps outright, it stops them from executing any code in the background, so they’re not chewing through CPU cycles just because they’re technically still “open.”

To change this, you first have to unlock the Developer Options menu on your Pixel by heading to Settings > About phone and tapping the Build number seven times. Then, go to Settings > Developer options and enable Suspend execution for cached apps.

I stopped Google Maps from cooking my Pixel

I’m terrible with directions, so I rely on Google Maps for pretty much every drive. And since my car doesn’t have Android Auto, it’s my Pixel 10 that usually ends up propped on the dashboard. The thing about navigation is that it’s usually very demanding with GPS running nonstop, screen on full brightness, mobile data working overtime — all while the phone bakes in direct sunlight. I’ve had my Pixel throw up the overheating warning pop up several times while driving because of it.

That stopped happening once I started using Google Maps’ Power saving mode regularly. You can find it under Google Maps Settings > Navigation > Power-saving mode on supported Pixel phones. It strips the interface down to the essentials and only shows things like your next turn, distance, and ETA. The screen also switches to black-and-white mode, so it puts less strain on the display. I genuinely wish Google would make this mode available to more phones at some point instead of keeping it exclusive to Pixel 10 and newer models.

Ditching the Pixelsnap charger was worth it

I was pretty excited about Pixelsnap accessories when they first came out. Magnetic charging, like the iPhones, is something that’s hard to say no to. But it only took a week for that excitement to wear off.

Wireless charging generates more heat than wired because that’s just how the tech works. I already knew that going in, but my Pixelsnap stand somehow made it feel worse, mostly because of its design. It’s just a flat magnetic puck with no built-in fan or any clever trick to dissipate heat. In fact, my phone would go from room temperature to around 34-37°C in a matter of minutes while on the stand. And once it got that warm, charging speeds would also drop, which was understandable but still annoying.

I switched back to wired charging, and it fixed both these problems. My Pixel now runs cooler and also charges quickly. I haven’t given up my Pixelsnap stand entirely, but now I only use it occasionally at my desk.

I also changed a few everyday habits

Beyond the major tweaks, I also ended up changing a few small habits. The biggest one was keeping my Pixel out of direct sunlight. This might sound obvious, but my old phone stand was mounted to the windshield, which meant my Pixel sat under direct sunlight for most drives. Moving the stand near the edge of the dashboard made a noticeable difference.

I also dialed back my screen brightness. I realized Adaptive Brightness had drifted toward keeping things slightly brighter than necessary, probably from months of me manually bumping it up in bright conditions. So I had to reset it and let it relearn my new preferences.

My phone case wasn’t helping with the heat dissipation either. I was using a thick, rugged case that felt safe but also trapped heat instead of letting it dissipate. Now that I’ve switched to a slimmer case, my Pixel cools down much faster after heating.

And perhaps the toughest fix — at least mentally — was stopping myself from using the phone while it was plugged in. Charging already generates some heat, and gaming or streaming video on top was only making things worse. Now I just let it charge undisturbed, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

Most of these tweaks didn’t require any major compromises. I did have to force myself to change a few habits, but it was all worth it. So yes, if your Pixel has been running hotter than usual or stuttering more than it should, I’d recommend trying these things before considering an upgrade.