iPhone 16 Pro overheating and Battery Drain

I’m also experiencing the same issue, my phone gets warm and the battery drains very quickly. I’ve noticed that others have mentioned this problem, but I still haven’t found a solution. @dpietrowski2, do you happen to have a large photo library? It might be due to indexing, I guess.

Great, glad to hear of your success. I know that this happens to a few phones, but it is actually quite rare. But your suggestion that it should be a support knowledge base article is really a good one - why don't you suggest it to Apple→Product Feedback - Apple

Hi, “very quickly” means I’m only getting 5 hours of screen time, mainly I use WhatsApp and Instagram and the battery drains 15% an hour with very light use. I believe I’m not alone in this issue, as many others have reported it on tech sites. I’m not sure if it’s a hardware or software problem. Apple support couldn’t help either and only suggested that it’s normal for a phone to behave this way at first.

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share an update regarding the battery issue I faced. Here’s what worked for me:

First, I backed up my iPhone via iCloud. Then, I upgraded to a beta version and subsequently turned off beta updates. After that, I connected my phone to my Mac and selected the option to restore it, which wiped the phone and reverted it to the normal, non-beta iOS version. Finally, I restored my data using the iCloud backup.

This process resulted in a significant improvement in battery life.. almost doubling it. I hope this helps anyone who has been experiencing similar issues. Thank you!

Guys I went too the Apple Store (luckily I've dealt with the manager previously and he remembered me), he put me over to the Genius Bar and it was suggested I do a complete erase and reinstall from iCloud - a long drawn out process reinstalling emails, apps and cards however SUCCESS, stopped overheating and battery drain, now working as it should - happy daze.

Having said that, I appreciate the resolution, however, it shouldn't be so clunky to swap over to a new iPhone 16 Pro and if Apple are aware of these issues and I bet they are , Apple should have a clear "How to Resolve Battery & Overheating issues on your new iPhone 16 Pro" on their support page.

All's well that ends well.

As I posted already on this very page, which you apparently didn’t see:

Let’s define “overheating”. If an iPhone overheats it shuts down so it can’t be used, and displays a message saying it must cool down before it can be turned on, and it will probably be unusable for an hour or so. If you are seeing this it is a hardware problem and you should contact Apple support: 

• Click on “Support” at the top of this page
• Go to Contact Official Apple Support

Note that both of the above have options to receive a callback or chat

If you are not seeing this your phone has not overheated. However, if you fast charge your phone may get very warm, and may pause charging at 80% and display a message saying that charging has paused, and will resume when the phone cools down. This is NOT overheating, and is normal when fast charging. It also won’t prevent you from using any app you have on your phone.

Some apps that use a lot of energy or that use cellular data rather than Wi-Fi can cause the phone to run warmer. Worst offenders are Facebook, interactive games, watching streaming videos, and the Camera app. And having VPN installed, whether using it or not, can also consume a lot of energy.

All of these are manifestations of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

Joelcool007 wrote:

I’m also experiencing the same issue, my phone gets warm and the battery drains very quickly. I’ve noticed that others have mentioned this problem, but I still haven’t found a solution. @dpietrowski2, do you happen to have a large photo library? It might be due to indexing, I guess.

Can go please define very quickly? If you charge your phone overnight, every night (a best practice) it should not need charging during the day. If this is true then the iPhone is working as designed.

Your point about the large photo library is right on. The Photos app went through major changes, and it will take a while to reindex it. The phone will be warmer while this is happening, and it can take a long time with a large library. Another reason to leave the iPhone plugged in overnight so it can maintain a Wi-Fi connection to sync with iCloud, and stay “awake” to complete the reindexing.

MichaelBr wrote:

Yesterday no apps opened - too hot to open and battery draining quickly.

this has been since new.

Apple when are you going to fix this issue?

Apple will fix the problem with YOUR PHONE, not with the version that works with no problems on millions of iPhones, when you actually contact Apple. Posting in this user-to-user forum is not a way to contact Apple, as they don’t read. Instead, click on the Support link at the top or bottom of this page.

Lawrence thanks your response makes sense, however, I don't trust charging overnight with a really hot Lithium battery as they are prone to explode and start fires, I don't fancy that while I'm asleep.

I will try the Restore option.

No Apple battery has ever caught fire or exploded. (That can't be said for Samsung). The worst that can happen with an Apple battery is a failure mode where the battery builds up gas pressure and expands. But Apple (and all other Lithium batteries in electronic devices) are encased in an airtight kevlar sleeve that contains the expansion. Even the Samsung fires were caused by a puncture and subsequent shorting of the battery by the folding screen hinge.

Apple designed the phone to charge overnight, and if you are concerned, use a low energy power source rather than a fast charge. After all, as long as it is charged by morning you don’t really care how long it takes. And if you also turn on automatic backup you can never lose more than one days content if disaster strikes.

There are 2 things that use energy in an iPhone: apps, especially 3rd party apps, and the cellular network connection. This last is the single heaviest user of energy, and the amount of energy it uses is highest when there is a weak connection or no connection. It also uses energy even when you aren’t using the phone, as it stays in touch with the network so the network can find you quickly for an incoming call. If you have VPN installed, whether you use it or not, that increases the amount of energy used by cellular (and Wi-Fi) energy. So if you have VPN, try deleting the profile and see if that helps your heating issue.

I’ve never seen any reports, except in the case of a battery being physically damaged, so I did a web search for iPhone fires and found only one report of an iPhone 4 that was 14 years old. And it was plugged in to a charger that in turn was plugged in to a newly installed electrical outlet. I found a number of articles saying it can happen rarely, but no other actual reports.

All of the articles I found said the chance is around one in a billion, which I don’t believe because it would mean it had only happened to one iPhone in all of iPhone history, but can believe one in a million.

It’s also well documented that counterfeit and low quality chargers and cables can kill iPhones - Why Counterfeit Lightning Cables Kill iPhones - Motherboard

2 video teardowns of cheap power sources:

Apple iPod chargers - fake versus genuine - YouTube

2 counterfeit iPhone adapter video

As I’m sure you only use quality accessories there is no real risk to you.

Battery drain issues have been reported after every release ever made. So clearly no iPhones actually work. Some examples: I started by saying that battery issues occur to a few phones with all versions after an iOS update, and the responses implied somehow that iOS 17.0.3 was “different” and was an issue that hadn’t happened before. So to back up my statement here are some threads on battery issues with previous versions (far from all of the relevant threads, but a reasonable sampling):

Battery drain (13.2.3)

ios 13.2.3 and ios 13.3 battery issue

Re: iPhone 7 Plus with iOS 13.4 battery drain problem

Serious battery drain (14.4.2)

iPhone XR is draining battery unnecessarily after iOS 14.4.2

Re: iOS 14.3 BATTERY DRAIN

Battery drain (14.5.1)

Battery drain (14.6)

Battery drain (14.7)

battery (iOS 15)

Does iOS 15 drain battery?

iOS 15 and Battery

since installing iOS 15, my battery needs to be constantly recharged. How can i improve the battery drain

iOS 15 and Battery

Re: Ios 15.1 battery drain

Ios 15.1 battery drain and heating issue iPhone se 2020

ios 15.1.1

iOS 15.2.1 battery drains

battery drain (15.3)

iOS 15.3 battery drain

Ios 15.3 battery draining issue

The bottom line is that it isn’t a problem with the specific version, and, if you want it resolved, you need to troubleshoot why your phone has this problem when 99+% of over 1 billion iPhones do not. 

MichaelBr wrote:

and it’s been sitting unused, piece of rubbish.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/d04a673c-2c15-493e-af8b-8248f96adc63

That is NORMAL when you fast charge. If you don’t like it don’t fast charge.

If you fast charge your phone may get very warm, and may pause charging at 80% and display a message saying that charging has paused, and will resume when the phone cools down. This is NOT overheating, and is normal when fast charging. It also won’t prevent you from using any app you have on your phone.

Before the recent iOS updates it also paused at 80% when fast charging, but, as it didn’t display a message unless you actually checked you wouldn’t have realized it. And ALL smartphones pause charging when fast charging, just most of them don’t tell you, as Apple didn’t tell you at one time earlier.