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Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar

Aug 23, 2014 01:03 AM
Aug 25, 2014 10:38 PM
Smartphone screen display showing temperature, battery life, and Wi-Fi status.

At the core of your Galaxy S5's hardware lies the central processing unit, or CPU for short. Practically every piece of data, every binary bit, has to pass through your CPU before it can be used to display a video or execute a game command.

During times of heavy load, the CPU gets bombarded by electrical impulses—signals that translate to the ones and zeroes of the device's computational language. This can result in your CPU overheating, and if that's the case, the system slows down traffic through your processor to let it cool down. The end result of this thermal throttling is that the software on your device begins to feel incredibly slow, and that's not even mentioning the long-term effects of such rapid heating and cooling.

Developer Michael Zimmermann has created a handy tool that allows Android users to monitor their device's CPU temperatures with at-a-glance data available from any screen. His Xposed module neatly displays the current processor temperature in your status bar, making it easy for you to know when your CPU is getting a little too hot.

Requirements

Install 'CPUTemp in Statusbar'

To get the module installed, open up your Xposed Installer app and head to the Download section. From here, search CpuTemp in Statusbar, then tap the top result.

Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar

Next, swipe over to the Versions tab, then hit the Download button on the most recent entry.

Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
App version history with descriptions of changes and updates.
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
App version history with descriptions of changes and updates.

After a few seconds, Android's installer interface should come right up, so tap the Install button on the next screen.

Permission request screen for installing the CpuTemp application on Android.
App installation confirmation for CpuTemp in Statusbar.
Permission request screen for installing the CpuTemp application on Android.
App installation confirmation for CpuTemp in Statusbar.

When that's finished, you'll get a notification from Xposed telling you that the module hasn't been activated yet and that a reboot is needed. Just tap the Activate and reboot button on this notification to take care of both things at once.

Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
Notification panel on a smartphone showing alerts and settings.
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
Notification panel on a smartphone showing alerts and settings.

Configure CPUTemp

When you get back up, the CPU temperature will already be displayed in your status bar. By default, it displays the temperature in Celsius with a white icon that resides just to the left of your system icons. But all of this can be customized if you open CPUTemp from your app drawer.

Mobile app icons on a smartphone screen.
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
Mobile app icons on a smartphone screen.
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar

With the first option, you can set the interval at which your CPU temperature will be updated. By default, this value is set to 1000 milliseconds, but any other number can be entered if you prefer.

Temperature settings interface on a smartphone.
Update interval settings on a mobile device with a numeric keypad displayed.
Temperature settings interface on a smartphone.
Update interval settings on a mobile device with a numeric keypad displayed.

The Temperature File setting is for phones whose temperature data is stored in a non-conventional directory, so you can ignore this one if your CPU temp is already being displayed. Temperature Divider represents the amount of space between your CPU temperature reading and other icons in the status bar.

Temperature settings on a mobile application interface.
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
Temperature settings on a mobile application interface.
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar

Tap Position to change the spot where your CPU temperature is displayed in your status bar. By default, the temperature is displayed just to the left of your other status bar icons, but it can also be shown on either the Absolute-Left or Right edges of the status bar.

Temperature settings interface on a smartphone.
Settings menu for temperature control, showing position options: Left and Right.
Temperature settings interface on a smartphone.
Settings menu for temperature control, showing position options: Left and Right.

The various placements of the temperature data are depicted below:

Smartphone display showing temperature and connection status with time.

Top: 'Absolute-Left' setting; Middle: 'Left' setting; Bottom: 'Right' setting

Next, tap Display As to set Celsius or Fahrenheit as your preferred unit of measurement.

Settings menu for a temperature monitoring application, displaying options such as update interval, temperature file, and display mode.
Temperature conversion settings in a mobile application.
Settings menu for a temperature monitoring application, displaying options such as update interval, temperature file, and display mode.
Temperature conversion settings in a mobile application.

You can opt not to display the actual unit itself by deselecting the Show Unit option.

Display settings interface showing options for temperature unit and text color.
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar
Display settings interface showing options for temperature unit and text color.
Monitor CPU Temperature from Android's Status Bar

The Color-Mode option is set to Auto by default, which attempts to match the color of your existing status bar icons automatically. You can change this color using the Manual setting, or you can let the color depict the current temperature with the Temperature setting.

Color settings menu in a mobile application, showing options for color mode and temperature ranges.
Settings menu for color mode and temperature adjustment.
Temperature settings for a temperature gauge display, including color modes and levels.
Color settings menu in a mobile application, showing options for color mode and temperature ranges.
Settings menu for color mode and temperature adjustment.
Temperature settings for a temperature gauge display, including color modes and levels.

If you set Color-Mode to Temperature, adjustments can be made to the Low, Middle and High colors, and the temperatures that trigger each of these colors can also be adjusted.

Overall, it's a neatly-integrated feature that allows you to keep track of your CPU temperature on almost any screen. What's the highest temperature your CPU has reached so far, and what app or game caused in to get so high? Let us know in the comments section below.

The next big software update for iPhone is coming sometime in April and will include a Food section in Apple News+, an easy-to-miss new Ambient Music app, Priority Notifications thanks to Apple Intelligence, and updates to apps like Mail, Photos, Podcasts, and Safari. See what else is coming to your iPhone with the iOS 18.4 update.

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