Designed to heat up the device, Pocket Heat takes the CPU to 100%

Jan 6, 2010 14:29 GMT  ·  By

If you’re the kind of person that likes to push things to their limit, why not spend a dollar on the Pocket Heat app from the folks at HAL Apps, LLC? Sure, it may not work as expected, but the company’s goal is to return a percentage of proceeds to charitable organizations such as the JDRF, ADA, the American Cancer Society, LIVESTRONG, The CAP Fund, the Red Cross, charity: water, and more.

I don’t know what others have experienced with their devices (admittedly, the iTunes App Store shows quite a few positive reviews), but Pocket Heat did almost nothing on my first-generation, 8GB iPhone with OS 3.0.1 installed (and yes, I did remember to touch the screen).

As the built-in help reveals, Pocket Heat is supposed to take your iPhone’s CPU to its limits, even turn on your GPS for more workload, in order to make your device become hot. On my device, all’s well except for the heating part. Playing a YouTube video, on the other hand, will make it smoking hot (compared to what this app can do for me). Why?

This is why...: “First generation iPhones don't have GPS and therefore do not heat up as much. Some devices get hotter than others,” the developer reveals. As HAL Apps says, “Each device is different, however, some devices can see a 30 degree (F) or more increase in temperature. It may take five or more minutes to achieve full potency.” It describes Pocket Heat as “a half-gimmick/ half-real app” that does heat up your device, but is not an actual “space heater.” “Don't take it too seriously – we just think it's a fun app,” it says.

The company also claims Pocket Heat will not harm your iPhone / iPod touch, although you should discontinue use, if your device becomes abnormally hot.

Download Pocket Heat ($0.99)