I spent $35 to save my iPhone from wilting in the summer heat

Picture, if you will, the following scene. You’re driving down a dusty road on a sweltering summer’s day, your iPhone mounted on your car dashboard with Apple Maps guiding you along the unfamiliar track. Suddenly, Siri’s voice becomes slurred, distorted. You glance at your screen and notice your battery is critically low. Panicked, you pull over and reach for your iPhone, but it’s uncomfortably hot to the touch. Within seconds, it’s dead, a victim of the unrelenting heat streaming through your windshield. Lost in an unknown area, you’re stuck up the proverbial creek with not a paddle in sight.

That situation was a painfully familiar one to me (a few minor embellishments aside) on too many occasions in the past. My standard iPhone car mount was a simple holder that merely gripped my phone in place – nothing more, nothing less. With the sun beating down directly onto it for hours at a time, my iPhone simply couldn’t cope. Its battery would rapidly deplete, and it would get so hot that it would shut itself down to prevent any further damage.

Everything changed when I came across the ESR Wireless Car Charger with CryoBoost, and it’s made a massive difference to my journeys ever since. No, this isn’t a sponsored post – I just wanted to share a small piece of tech that’s helped me out of many a sticky situation.

What sets my new holder apart from my old phone grip? ESR’s gadget comes with active cooling built in. As soon as you place your iPhone on its magnetic pad, the holder’s fans activate, blowing icy jets of air directly onto the back of your iPhone.

This alone is an enormous change compared to what came before. Now, instead of suffering under the sun, my iPhone can keep its temperature in check and operate optimally, regardless of how bright or hot the midday glare is.

The charger’s magnetic pad also wirelessly charges my iPhone while keeping it in place. While it’s not officially MagSafe approved, the 12W of power still provides enough juice to keep my iPhone’s battery topped up for the duration of my ride.

Combined, these two factors provide me with peace of mind. No longer do I feel the anxiety of my iPhone dying when I’m in the middle of nowhere or trying to navigate a strange new city. The fact that the solution cost me a mere $35 makes it money well spent many times over.