What happens when a magnet comes close to your phone?

Smartphones and tablets are an indispensable part of our modern-day society. These expensive electronic devices are used for virtually anything. There are loads of magnetic smartphone accessories on sale to make their daily use even more convenient.

Examples are magnetic phone stands and car or bicycle kits. Some claim that these kinds of kits are dangerous for your phone and you should avoid their use completely. We’ve looked into it, to be able to tell you all you need to know about what happens when a magnet comes close to your phone.

Modern smartphones are hardly vulnerable to magnetism

Generally speaking, modern smartphones are hardly susceptible to magnetism. Magnets have found their applications everywhere nowadays. Honestly, life without magnetism simply wouldn’t be the same. Manufacturers of electronic devices do take that into consideration when developing their products.

It is often claimed that a magnet can damage the memory or the hard disk of a smartphone. Older hard discs made use of magnetism, but this technology isn’t used in your smartphone’s memory. These devices exclusively rely on electronic signals. Magnetism doesn’t affect such signals negatively.

Neither are phone screens damaged when exposed to magnetism. Modern phones contain LED or LCD screens, and they perfectly resist the impact of magnetic forces.

Finally, people fear that their smartphone battery might lose capacity, due to exposure to magnetic fields. Because of ongoing technological development, even that is no longer true. However, this might be slightly different in the case of extremely powerful magnets.

When could a magnet form a hazard?

Even though magnetism isn’t affecting electronic devices like phones and tablets, careful use of magnets is still advisable. Powerful neodymium magnets used for magnet fishing could attract magnetic parts of the camera on the device. If any of the vulnerable smartphone parts get displaced, it could still ruin your device. Unfortunately, some phone covers containing magnetic parts could cause similar effects.

Almost every smartphone has an internal compass. Contact with a strong magnetic field may distort the proper functionality of any compass. Usually, this effect is only temporary. Yet, the strongest of magnets can inflict permanent damage. The impact magnetism has on the compass might in turn affect various apps. Do you often use an app for tracking your running or hiking workouts, or do you use your phone for navigation? In those cases, a distorted magnetic field might ruin your day.

What is the root of these concerns and warnings?

Despite the fact that modern technology is usually resistant to magnetism, these warnings are still passed along from time to time. The reasons behind this are simple.

Technology has seen a steep development curve over the last decades. Magnetism used to be detrimental to early electronic products. Yet, over 23 years after the change of the turn of the millennium, that is no longer the case. Holding a magnet close to outdated technology might still cause hazards. For example, older hard discs often either used magnetism or at least contained magnetic parts. This made phones and other electronic devices, like laptops and computers susceptible to strong magnetic fields.

Outdated technology is more and more often being replaced with new developments. Scientists and other technicians have successfully pushed technical innovations for years. Chips are getting smaller, devices more advanced, and magnetism has less and less impact on phones.

Carefully handling powerful magnets will always be sound advice. Magnetism can form a hazard to medical devices and other appliances. Obviously, no rights may be derived from the information in this article.