Apple Will Fix iPhone 15 Overheating Issues in a Coming Update

Apple is aware of issues causing the new iPhone 15 models to get too hot and will issue a software fix to address it, the company tells Forbes. The problem seems to be a mix of some third-party apps and an iOS bug.

Reports that the iPhone was getting too hot to handle spread quickly last week since it was the first time the devices were getting into the hands of the general population. PetaPixel noted that the heat issue might be connected to setup and restore from backup, and that appears to be at least partially true.

“We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhone to run warmer than expected. The device may feel warmer during the first few days after setting up or restoring the device because of increased background activity,” Apple tells Forbes.

However, that doesn’t appear to be the only cause of the heating issues.

“We have also found a bug in iOS 17 that is impacting some users and will be addressed in a software update. Another issue involves some recent updates to third-party apps that are causing them to overload the system. We’re working with these app developers on fixes that are in the process of rolling out.”

Apple’s explanation shows why some users were experiencing significant overheating while others, including PetaPixel‘s Jordan Drake and Chris Niccolls, have not. Apple also apparently called out specific apps to Forbes that are causing issues, which includes Instagram. Meta apparently pushed out an update on September 27 to deal with this issue.

Any update that Apple will push to iOS won’t affect performance, the company claims. Also, the iPhone’s heat won’t cause long term damage to the device since there are built-in safeguards that will prevent it from damaging itself. PetaPixel can confirm that at a certain point, the phone will cease operations in order to dissipate heat — this usually does not take long.

Forbes notes that many were speculating that the issue was being caused by the new titanium chassis on the Pro and Pro Max models, which never really made sense. For one, titanium — mixed with aluminum in the iPhone — is great at dispersing heat. It’s why the phone will quickly cool off once the task that was causing it to get warm concludes. Also, it would not have explained why base model iPhone 15 smartphones were overheating, since those do not use titanium.

The expected update, iOS 17.1, is currently in beta but the company did not provide an expected timeline for it to ship to general users.