My iPhone is overheating after iOS 18.1.1 update

Hi Nickiemaarie

welcome to the Apple (user-to-user) Community!

Re:" iOS 18.1.1 issues:

I updated my 16 pro max and my 12 pro max to iOS 18.1.1 yesterday. Ever since I updated, both phones overheat randomly, the screens freeze and become completely unresponsive. Not app specific, happens completely random. No temperature warning comes up at all when it happens, it’s literally the hottest I’ve ever felt my phone get."

There are various possible reasons why your iPhones could be having these issues

Your iPhones may need more time and space in which to re-index Spotlight and more after the update

See: If your iPhone or iPad gets too hot or too cold - Apple Support

Each iPhone needs at least 8Gb available storage / memory in which to operate smoothly.

See: How to check the storage on your iPhone and iPad - Apple Support

Unnecessary third-party (non-Apple) apps like ad-blockers, virus checkers, cleaners, and the like,

and even VPN, often cause issues ... if installed: try turning them off, or uninstalling them.

What to do: If your iPhone won't turn on or is frozen - Apple Support

Any third-party apps you find necessary may need updating in order to remain compatible with iOS 18.1.1.

If nothing above seems to be the cause:

if your phones have had a few days in which to complete update procedures, and the issues continue:

You may want to contact Apple Support: eg: using the link at top right or bottom left in this discussion thread.

or

You might want to let those who work behind-the-scenes at Apple know by sending feedback: They will likely not reply, yet your feedback will reach those who can make changes, if others are also experiencing similar issues: There's a web-form for feedback online: Feedback - iPhone - Apple

All the best :-)

See what to do:

If your iPhone or iPad gets too hot or too cold - Apple Support

If you want to: You may want to try updating your iOS version to iOS 18.2

(NB: Wise to back-up your iPhone data before updating iPhone's iOS)

No I haven’t, but sorry to hear that it’s ended up so badly for you. However there are indeed tons of reports about overheating with this 18.1.1 security update that simply did not occur to people that were previously doing okay on 18.1(including myself). There was “supposedly” not much that would’ve changed between the 18.1 and 18.1.1 besides responding to 2 WebKit bugs that were being actively exploited, so it is extremely odd to say the least. 

I’m very sorry to hear about your XR though, don’t let anyone gaslight you here trying to imply that there’s nothing out of the ordinary considering there are many reports that I had even heard about before I experienced it myself. And I’m very aware that reindexing after updates can be taxing for up to several days after… this was definitely not that. Best of luck, hope you can recover your device somehow. 🤞 

[Edited by Moderator]

Im going through the same thing. I’ve had an iPhone 12 for 2 years and an Xr for 4 years, and both have been overheating. The iPhone 12 always ran hotter than the Xr (I’ve read that OLED iPhones tend to run warmer than LCD ones), but now it’s excessively hot—uncomfortably so. Charging is often limited, and I’ve always used low-wattage chargers to try and avoid overheating.

I’ve tried everything, but sometimes it gets so hot that I have to put it on an ice gel pack to cool it down. It overheats even when I’m not using it. I’ll remove it from the charger, and it will drop to 85% on its own.

My Xr, on the other hand, isn’t nearly as bad—it’s always been a cooler device. The ironic part is that the Xr, with 78% battery health, is performing better than my newer iPhone 12.

What’s frustrating is how hard it is to find people discussing this issue online or getting good results on Google (I wonder why, Apple). All of my family and friends that have noticed this issue and are on 18.1.1. The problem seems to be affecting a range of iPhone models, but we’re constantly told it’s not related to the iOS version.

Heat damage to batteries has to last over a prolonged and extended period. A few occurrences has negligible to no effect. If it did, no one would be able to drive in Florida.

If the heat disturbs you, limit your charging, use a lower wattage charger or use an active cooling method when you charge your device.

Also having the same problem after 18.1.1 on iPhone 15PM as well as reported to me happening on a family member’s iPhone 13. I(with the 15PM) have been using the Public Betas from 18-18.1 but jumped off public betas on 18.1. So I was on 18.1 General Release and then updated from that to the 18.1.1 General Release. 

I mention all that because I did not have ANY considerable battery life issues and especially no overheating over that whole time with a Public Betas and only until just the last few days did I experience any issue which was from 18.1.1. I opted to not go with 18.2 Public Beta specifically because I was concerned with the actively exploited WebKit bug that 18.1.1 supposedly addressed and I saw no mention anywhere that 18.2 would fix the same issue regarding both CVE-2024-44308 and CVE-2024-44309. 

So I chose 18.1.1 and General Release iOS solely out of precaution… but now it’s the General release version that actually seems to be damaging my battery’s lifespan. Not a happy camper. Overheating DOES stress batteries and can/often irreversibly harms their health/expected life. 

No I haven’t, but sorry to hear that it’s ended up so badly for you. However there are indeed tons of reports about overheating with this 18.1.1 security update that simply did not occur to people that were previously doing okay on 18.1(including myself). There was “supposedly” not much that would’ve changed between the 18.1 and 18.1.1 besides responding to 2 WebKit bugs that were being actively exploited, so it is extremely odd to say the least. 

I find it also quite strange that these bugs do not appear to have been corrected  “elsewhere” [edited out] either. Or at least have not made that public knowledge if so. 

The overheating has not happened (as seriously) again since I posted, but my 15PM is still often a bit warmer than it was before on 18.1 and all the prior iOS 18 “versions”[edited out]. Upon hearing your experience though, I am very tempted to go back to “another option”[not allowed to mention apparently] because of this issues just as a precaution(whether necessary or not). I hesitate to do so because of security reasons, but if it means potentially avoiding something like what you’ve experienced happening, then it may be a worthwhile temporary trade off for me. 

I’m very sorry to hear about your XR though, don’t let anyone gaslight you here trying to imply that there’s nothing out of the ordinary occurring considering there are many reports that I had even heard about before I experienced it myself. And I’m also very aware that reindexing after updates can be taxing for up to several days after… but this was definitely not that. Best of luck, hope you can recover your device somehow. 🤞

My iPhone 13 is beta so with that being said the update does make my phone kind of hot. But usually that’s when I am already in a warm environment or if I’m charging or if I’m on it a lot, could just be user error. My battery is also a year plus old and I never really let it fully die which I remember hearing that you’re supposed to let it fully die before you charge it to protect battery health, but I have no idea if that’s true or not?

15Pro and yeah same. 18.1 was so good. 18.1.1 has caused extreme heat every day. Hot enough that I have to put it down after literally checking something in Safari for 2 minutes. And the battery no longer lasts a full day.

Getting really hot absolutely can harm batteries just within in a relatively short amount of time. 🙄

But no, I’m not talking about heat “while charging” here, this is just light use or even with the screen off. And it likely would last a long time if I didn’t catch it and power down to allow it cool. You’re not talking down to some noob.

I already do limit the wattage of my chargers and have opted not to use wireless/MagSafe charging in order to preserve battery longevity/lifespan.

My iphone XR did the same! In fact, it got over heated so much that it felt like it's going to blow up! And the next thing I know, is that the phone couldn't be power up and has went dead! Anyone with XR experience that???

Thank you for chiming in with that… that’s been very similar to my experience as well on my 15PM. And we’re getting gaslit over it acting like they don’t know there’s a problem here blaming charging habits. 🙄

I think you have a misunderstanding as to who is responding here. No one replying is an Apple employee. Apple has a moderation staff that only has an observation role to moderate posts that go above and beyond what the terms and conditions permit. Many posters aren’t sensitive to the fact that many school children and younger teens are present.

So with that out of the way, how do you figure Apple is gaslighting you?

You would think that someone with a high rank and status would have basic grasp of elementary English skills, especially if they’re trying to call others out for the same. I never used the word Apple or employee one time.

Same here …I updated my iPhone 15 pro max to 18.1.1 and the phone doesn’t charge beyond 80% it says battery is too hot to charge . I have no idea what’s going on. My battery doesn’t last more than 3 hours now and it doesn’t charge beyond 80%…it freezes very often too. How to resolve this ?