Summer can be hard on your smartphone. The scorching sunshine can ruin its performance. Sand can scratch up its sleek surface. Water can cause dramatic internal damage.

You want your tech to make it through the season without any frustrating problems or expensive repairs. Check out these tips to see how you can make it happen:

Keep it cool!

You don’t want to overheat this summer, and neither does your smartphone. An overheated phone will start to malfunction by slowing down its performance and quickly losing power, leaving you wondering how your recently-charged battery is on the fritz. If you’re not careful, heating your phone leads to long-term damage to your battery and data corruption.

Here are some simple ways to keep your phone from overheating during the summer:

• Don’t rest your phone in direct sunlight on a hot day.
• Don’t put it in your pants pocket. Put it in a bag, where it can be safe from the sun and your body heat.
• Don’t charge the phone when it feels too warm.
• Don’t use too many battery-draining apps at once.

When your phone is feeling warm to the touch, you should exit out of your apps. If you don’t need to use it, give it a rest by putting it into Airplane Mode or turning it off for a little while. In case you think you’ve found a loophole, don’t cool your smartphone in the freezer — the condensation and the rapid temperature shift will be just as damaging to the device as leaving it in the sun.

Keep it dry!

Summer is the season for trips to the ocean, lake or swimming pool to cool off. Since you’re going to bring your smartphone with you, you’re going to want to keep it dry.

A lot of new smartphones will brag about their water-resistant features or their high IP ratings. The ingress protection rating shows the owner just how safe their phone is from foreign elements, including liquids. The rating for liquids goes from 0 (not protected whatsoever) to the highest level of 9X.

Even if your smartphone has a high IP rating, you shouldn’t bring it into the water with you. Most tests on tech devices are done in freshwater. Pool chemicals, salt and sand are factors that can certainly damage your tech. Don’t take a chance with one of the most expensive things you own.

You can protect your smartphone from water during the summer by putting it into a sealable waterproof pouch. A cheaper option is to go into your kitchen cabinet, get a sealable sandwich bag and use that.

Keep sand away!

Your new phone might be durable enough to survive drops without much protection, but there is one thing it probably can’t handle: sand. Sand is harder than you think. If you drop an unprotected smartphone at the beach, the touch screen and back can get covered in scratches that you can’t buff out. Yes, even if it has Gorilla Glass.

One of the reasons why your phone needs a screen protector is that it can prevent the touch screen from getting obscured with cosmetic damage. The screen protector acts like a small shield that can withstand all the scrapes and scratches. Once the screen protector gets too messed up, you can peel it off and replace it.

A vinyl skin can do the same for the rest of the phone. The high-quality material will stop the device from getting scraped up, and when you feel like it needs a refresher, put on a new one. You can check this out to see how you can properly apply a vinyl skin on your smartphone model and remove it when you’re ready for a replacement.

Keep it smudge-free!

You hate that you leave a trail of greasy finger and handprints wherever you go after you apply a layer of sunscreen. Luckily, if you’ve already ordered a vinyl skin to stop sand from scraping up your phone, you’ll be pleased to know that the accessory will limit greasy prints.

Skipping sunscreen is not an option. Going out in the summer sunshine without it puts your health and safety at risk. The only way around this is to get a better formula. Try non-greasy sunscreens like Banana Boat Ultra-Sport Sunscreen Spray SPF 50 or Neutrogena’s Ultra Sheer Face and Body Stick that won’t leave an unpleasant residue behind.

After following these tips, you can stop worrying about your tech’s survival through the season. The only time you should be thinking about your smartphone is when you’re taking amazing pictures of your beach vacation, booking tickets to the latest outdoor festival and planning weekend get-togethers with your friends.