How to destroy your Phone with a Magnet [do NOT do this]
When I briefly overheard someone talking about the power of magnets being able to destroy phones, I became increasingly worried and decided to do some of my own reading on the topic. As a result of my research, I pulled together all of the details on how phones can be destroyed with magnets and what not to do.
How can a magnet destroy a phone? The strong magnetic force from a magnet has the ability to get into a smartphone and interfere with the digital compass on the interior. Additionally, these magnetic fields can mess with the magnetometer and throw off the entire device.
With magnets being such common everyday objects almost everywhere we go, the concepts of magnets destroying our cell phones can seem very intimidating. If you’re clutching your cell phone right now just like I was when I heard the news, you might want to keep reading to find out how to avoid this occurrence.
How Phones Are Destroyed With Magnets
Magnets can be very helpful around the house, at work, and in commercial or public areas. With different sizes and levels of strength, you might use a set of small magnets on your refrigerator and walk through a set of very large ones within the automatic door that you enter to get to work every morning.
When it comes to smartphones and magnets, these seemingly normal objects can actually do a lot of damage to the interior workings of the devices that we use every day.
In this day and age, our entire personal and business lives as well as important memories and information are all stored within the palm of our hands within the screens of our smartphones.
Naturally, the news of magnets being able to completely destroy smartphone would be shocking to anyone that uses these devices on a daily basis, which is almost everyone in the world.
Before we go any further into the topic, we will outline a few of the adverse effects that magnets can have on smartphones when they have direct content and the magnet is strong enough to do so.
How Magnets Affect Smartphones:
- Magnetic sensors inside the phone
- Interior compass of phone (affects calibration)
- Magnetize non-magnetic steel components
- Mess with camera imaging and stabilization
The first way in which magnets can affect smartphones is by interfering with the magnetic sensors that exist inside the phone already. As we all know, magnets are attracted to and repelled away from each other.
So, when any type of magnet comes in contact with these elements that make up the interior of a smartphone, it can naturally have adverse effects on the functions that these sensors will usually have within the phone.
Along with the magnetic sensors, most smartphones have their own interior compass that is displayed in the form of an application. Just like the traditional compass that you can physically use to tell which direction you are traveling in, smartphone compasses show the user this image right on the screen.
When external magnets come too close to the surface of the smartphone for extended periods of time, it can cause the internal compass of the phone to have calibration issues. In other words, the compass will no longer be able to point in the right direction and it will be hard to correct it once it has been ruined.
Aside from the magnetic sensors and components that affect the compass feature of smartphones, they also have non-magnetic steel parts that help the device to carry out various functions.
Due to the fact that these steel pieces and components are not already magnetic, the contact with a magnetic field can cause these elements to actually become magnetic when they are not supposed to be. This action will obviously cause problems within the smartphone by altering components from their intended form.
Just in case the compass feature and magnetic sensors did not scare you enough, magnets can actually ruin the focus of your phone’s camera. Especially with phones that have an autofocus feature built into the camera, the magnetic field can interfere with how clear you see the world from your smartphone photos.
With enough contact with magnetic force, your smartphone camera can lose its ability to stabilize images at all, which will make for blurry photos for the rest of its lifetime.
Here is a couple of examples of magnets you really need to avoid close to your phone (and other electronic devices):
Related products - How to destroy your Phone with a Magnet [do NOT do this]
-
Countersunk pot magnet, Ø60 mm. (neodymium)
SPEC-7003-P
26,30 32,88 EUR
In stock -
Pot magnet with hook, Ø50 mm.
MAGZ-606-P
16,88 21,10 EUR
In stock -
Pot magnet with hook, Ø75 mm.
MAGZ-608-P
40,00 50,00 EUR
In stock -
Power magnet, Block 30x30x15 mm.
MAGZ-148-P
22,24 27,80 EUR
In stock -
Power magnet, Block 40x20x10 mm.
MAGZ-146-P
12,48 15,60 EUR
In stock -
Power magnet, Block 60x30x15 mm.
MAGZ-141-P
26,32 32,90 EUR
In stock -
Power magnet, Dics 30x15 mm.
MAGZ-401-P
13,12 16,40 EUR
In stock -
Power magnet, Dics 60x5 mm.
MAGZ-413-P
20,00 25,00 EUR
In stock
How To Keep Your Phone Safe From Magnets
After reading through all of the negative effects that magnets can cause within your treasured smartphone, your head is probably spinning at the possibility of something like this happening to your own device.
Fortunately, there are some tips that you can follow to keep your phone safe from magnets that can destroy it.
Tips For Phone Safety Against Magnets:
- Choose the right phone case
- Do not stick magnets onto your phone
- Keep your phone away from magnets
- Back up your phone’s data
The first tip that was outlined in the list above simply states that you should “choose the right phone case”. To be more specific on this very broad statement, some phone cases will come with magnets and metal components for decorative or functional purposes.
While most of these magnets will not be nearly strong enough to cause immediate damage, they do have the potential to slowly wear down the inner components of the phone when they are in close contact for too long.
If you have an iPhone or any other similar Apple electronic devices, this is not something that you will usually have to look out for if you purchase your phone cases directly from them.
With the awareness of the negative effects that come to play when smartphones and magnets interact, Apple has created its own Case Design Guidelines, in which they do not recommend magnet and metal components.
In addition to Apple’s guidelines, the manufacturers of the cases themselves must follow a set of regulations when it comes to magnets and metal as well. Since these elements can mess with the functions of smartphones, the built-in magnetic compass of each phone must not be affected by the cases that they are creating.
The next few tips might seem very obvious, but they are important to follow nonetheless. Always make sure to keep your phone away from magnets whenever possible, and do not purposely try to stick magnets anywhere on the exterior of your smartphone.
Lastly, you should make sure to back up your phone’s data onto another device frequently to avoid any mishaps in the event that something like this does happen to your phone.
To conclude, magnets can have very negative effects on the inner workings of a smartphone, no matter how big or small they are. Even the smallest of magnets can gradually wear these components down to ruin your device.
However, if you do everything in your power to keep your smartphone safe, you should have nothing to worry about.
Related Questions
Do magnets ever work well with personal electronic devices?
Magnets are actually used in some types of iPad cases that are manufactured by Apple. These magnets work with the interior of the iPad to turn it on and off in a certain spot on the front of the device, and is activated when the front cover is opened and closed.
Can magnets cause harm to any other type of device?
When strong and large enough magnets come in close contact with personal medical devices such as hearing aids, they have the potential to interfere with their functions.