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Hot comments on social media about the Apple iPhone 15 overheating problem are starting to point the finger at Instagram as the culprit of this problem.
Release of the iPhone 15 line has been marred by claims that the smartphone overheats under load, such as while charging or during intense gaming, but it appears that using it for Instagram, a more routine use of devices, can also trigger bouts of overheating.
As part of his review of the iPhone 15 Pro, Marques Brownless, aka MKBHD, took the time to discuss battery usage and overheating, confirming that he did experience the latter, “but not what I expected.”
Recalling using an iPhone in hot weather to record video at a golf event, MKBHD says the iPhone worked fine. However, on the way back, while Spotify was running and scrolling through Instagram, the YouTube personality encountered a five-minute period where the iPhone got hot and drained about 5% of its battery.
“There seems to be almost no rhyme or reason to why it does this randomly from time to time,” Brownlee offers, along with a screenshot of the Battery section in Settings. The image shows that Instagram is the leader in battery usage at the time the screenshot was taken, with Spotify coming in second with 15% usage.
Brownlee further suggests that bug fixes and app updates may resolve the issues in the short term.
Technical observer Farooq from iPhonedo also discovered a similar situation with Instagram on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. He tested the theory by tracking iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPad Pro that had been updated to iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 and running Instagram on them.
In testing with Instagram running and “doing almost nothing” with the app, it was found that the battery drained by about 10% in ten minutes.
Although iPhoneDo tests seem to have identified a smoking gun, namely Instagram on iOS 17, it is not an issue affecting all users. The YouTuber admits that the problem affects a “small group of people” and is not a broader problem.
Instagram and parent company Meta have not yet responded to the new claims.
