Hot discussions on social media about Apple’s iPhone 15 overheating problem have begun to point the finger at Instagram. The release of the iPhone 15 series has been plagued by overheating issues when smartphones are under heavy load (such as charging or used for high-intensity games). However, using it with Instagram, an image-based social networking app, also seems to cause overheating.
As part of his iPhone 15 Pro review, Marques Brownless (aka MKBHD) took the time to discuss battery usage and overheating issues, confirming that he did encounter the latter, "but not in the way I expected."
MKBHD recalled using his iPhone to record a golf match on a hot day and said the iPhone worked perfectly. However, on the way back from the flight, the YouTube star was running Spotify and browsing Instagram, and found that the iPhone heated up in five minutes and quickly consumed about 5% of the battery.
Brownless provided a screenshot of the battery section of the settings. The image shows that Instagram is the app with the highest battery usage, with Spotify in second place. Bug fixes and app updates can resolve these issues in the short term.
iPhonedo’s technology commentator Farooq also discovered a similar situation on Instagram on iPhone 15 Pro Max. He confirmed this statement by monitoring iPhone14Pro, iPhone14ProMax and iPadPro comparison tests. These devices have all been updated to iOS17 and iPadOS17 and run Instagram.
In testing, Instagram on the iPhone 15 Pro Max did "almost nothing" while running and consumed about 10% of the battery in ten minutes.
While iPhoneDo's testing seems to have uncovered the problem, Instagram on iOS 17, it's not an issue that affects all users. The YouTuber admitted that the issue only affects "a small number of people" and is not a more widespread problem.
Instagram and parent company Meta have not yet responded to the new claims.