My iPhone 16 Pro Max overheats while using the Camera app

spoke with them several times and went to Genius Bar. Did a factory reset. The heating got better. Still warm but since no warnings on the phone they claim it’s normal. I still complained and apple care sent me a remanufactured (which to me is weird that they already have remanufactured ones) and I have a few days to decide if I want that or to just stick it out with this and I don’t. Know what to do

Hi alekspyt,

I have noticed the same w.r.t Mom's iPhone as well. Also, I am observing this heating of iPhones too much with my other friends as well.

Just wanted to confirm something first,

Did you transfer data from your old phone to iPhone 16 after purchasing it ?

I have spoken with apple and the Genius Bar on several occasions now. They claim they know nothing about this yet tons of us have posted and I have friends who are getting actually phone shutdowns and freezing and overheating warnings. Mine isn’t giving warnings but it gets hot to touch when phone is in use. My 14 pro max never did this and I used it all the time. I asked for a replacement and they sent me a remanufactured one which I declined. I’m not accepting a remanufactured when I just paid $1700 for a brand new one not even a month ago. They won’t budge

muizmuas wrote:

I also encounter this heating issue when playing games. Please fix this issue ASAP

Playing games, watching videos, streaming music, all make the battery work harder. And when the battery works harder, it generates heat. That is normal and if your phone isn't showing a thermometer and shutting down, you don't have anything wrong.

I have been an Iphone user since the birth of its existence.

Coming from Iphone 13 Pro Max to Iphone 16 pro.

Battery - Dies in 6 hours.

Phone gets HOT without any background app active (OFF)

Iphone decides to disable sounds on its own.

Hepatic decides to work when it wants.

Apps become super slow as the phone is HOT till a message comes up that the phone needs to cool down.

Can apple recommend a shrink for my phone? Its very much temperamental.

Hope the update fixes this, otherwise would want a replacement as I am already on 16 cycle counts.

Dear Apple,

I have been an Iphone user since the birth of its existence.

Coming from Iphone 13 Pro Max to Iphone 16 pro.

>Battery - Dies in 6 hours.

>Phone gets HOT without any background app active (OFF)

>Iphone decides to disable sounds on its own.

>Hepatic decides to work when it wants.

>Camera crashes when opened with Whatsapp, and thought that was a Whatsapp Issue, but I was wrong, as it does the same when I try to open the camera app. You can see the delays and lags on apps when opened.

>Apps become super slow as the phone is HOT till a message comes up that the phone needs to cool down.

Can apple recommend a shrink for my phone? Its very much temperamental.

Hope the update fixes this, otherwise would want a replacement as I am already on 16 cycle counts.

Please let me know what needs to be done if indeed the phone is faulty.

Thank you

🙏🏽

I’ve been using the 16 Pro Max since launch day and initially complained about the heating issues and unimpressive battery life. The random heating up mostly stopped a week or a bit more from purchase, so if your phone is still very new, don’t despair. About 1,5 weeks ago my battery life had also suddenly significantly improved. For reference, my iPhone is fully updated. I noticed the battery life improvement some time after installing iOS 18.01.

meripony wrote:

it has been a week since i bought a brand new 15 plus and still heats even while doing simple tasks like listening to music on spotify or using instagram,tiktok etc or camera

Every app you list above you are using uses a lot of battery power to run. When you push the battery harder, it generates heat, which is COMPLETELY NORMAL. Watching videos, streaming music, taking photos or recording videos are battery intensive.

I got my first iPhone 16 Pro on the launch day, and it was a disaster from the start. I ended up demanding a new device after 2 weeks. I have now had a new iPhone 16 Pro and it’s better, though not by much.

Overheating and battery life is less of a problem - though still not great - but the camera is unusable. Most of the time I am unable to use the camera, as it just crashes after I try to take a photo. It’s like there is a problem with the camera saving the photo and the app just crashes.

Quick additional response: my original IPhone 16 Pro was replaced as a faulty device and I now have a new one. Everything else is working fine, but the camera was unusable. Every time I’d take a photo, the camera app would crash and it would disconnect all Bluetooth, etc connections as well.

I set up the new device from my old iPhone, so I figured there was network settings clash. I reset network settings and it fixed the issue!

Bobobobo57 wrote:

SO if you burn your hand off I guess you're still alive and functional.

If you are burning your hand, why haven't you taken your iPhone to your Apple Store Genius Bar and showed it to them? If you think anyone here has a solution for a phone which gets so hot as you claim it could burn your hands, this user to user forum isn't where you're going to get the help you need.

Getting hot while charging is completely normal.

Likewise, speaking on the phone, particularly on a 5G network takes a lot of power, and even more under low signal conditions.

Both are completely normal.

So I’m guessing there’s really been no fix??? I’ve had the 16 Pro for a couple weeks now and while it’s stopped overheating on most apps, I can’t use the camera or camera related apps like say…CapCut or any app that had to upload something for more than a couple minutes before the phone overheats like crazy. After 3-5 minutes I can barely hold the phone and the functionality is nil and I literally have to set it in front of a fan to cool off in order to use it. I’ve scoured the interwebzdotcom and haven’t found a fix yet.

metsno1fan83 wrote:

In addition to becoming very hot while at rest, the camera is essentially unusable. Once I open the camera app and hit the button to take a photo the screen goes black and the camera app quits.

What happened when you installed iOS 18.1, which was released on Monday, which most people have commented fixed the camera issues?

I had the same issue with my iPhone 16 pro max getting hot and also my camera button was not responsive.

then I found out that after turning on apple intelligence in settings you have to long press the side button to activate apple intelligence. After that the camera button was working great and my phone was no longer getting hot.

I don’t know why apple does not inform everyone about this. They should include this in the instructions on how to turn on apple intelligence. There is nothing wrong with iPhone 16. Just have to know how to use it. Apple take note of this.