iPhone 7 Plus hot during light use

[keviig]

I've had my iPhone 7 Plus since launch. The last few weeks it has started getting uncomfortably hot after 5-10 minutes of use.

Something as light as Safari browsing causes both the top right corner (where the CPU is) and the bottom half to get hot to the point where it's uncomfortable holding it.

This is also reflected in the battery life, i'm no longer able to make it more than a day on a charge, despite only roughly 3-4 hours of screen on time, and light Safari, Facebook and Instagram usage. It's never in the sun, and ambient temp is roughly 15-20c.

What i've tried:

- Update to 10.3.3
- Factory reset and restore from iCloud backup
- Hard reset (off button + volume down)
- Soft reset (off button)
- Removed all apps from the multitasking menu
- Made sure nothing is syncing or backing up


Any suggestions?
I'm afraid if i send it in for repair they won't classify this as an issue/or be able to reproduce it. I live somewhere without physical Apple Stores, so that's not an option.

 

[eyoungren]

Have you tried the usual suspect, Location Services?

If you have an app that has been allowed 'Always' for LS then LS would be hammering your radios which would cause the CPU to heat up and hammer your battery.

 

[44267547]

I've had my iPhone 7 Plus since launch. The last few weeks it has started getting uncomfortably hot after 5-10 minutes of use.

Something as light as Safari browsing causes both the top right corner (where the CPU is) and the bottom half to get hot to the point where it's uncomfortable holding it.

This is also reflected in the battery life, i'm no longer able to make it more than a day on a charge, despite only roughly 3-4 hours of screen on time, and light Safari, Facebook and Instagram usage. It's never in the sun, and ambient temp is roughly 15-20c.

What i've tried:

- Update to 10.3.3
- Factory reset and restore from iCloud backup
- Hard reset (off button + volume down)
- Soft reset (off button)
- Removed all apps from the multitasking menu
- Made sure nothing is syncing or backing up


Any suggestions?
I'm afraid if i send it in for repair they won't classify this as an issue/or be able to reproduce it. I live somewhere without physical Apple Stores, so that's not an option.

Perhaps you could explain your situation to Apple to see what there response might be and explain what it's doing, they may just issue a replacement device if it's getting 'Hot'.

 

[keviig]

GH

Have you tried the usual suspect, Location Services?

If you have an app that has been allowed 'Always' for LS then LS would be hammering your radios which would cause the CPU to heat up and hammer your battery.

Good suggestion! I actually hadn't thought of that. All apps are either set to "Never" or "When in use" (or whatever it translates to in English). I disabled some of the system location services though, like frequently visisted places. Maybe that'll help.
[doublepost=1500493136][/doublepost]

Perhaps you could explain your situation to Apple to see what there response might be and explain what it's doing, they may just issue a replacement device if it's getting 'Hot'.

Might give them a call if tinkering with the location settings don't work.

I'm perfectly OK with the phone getting warm, or hot when doing intensive stuff like games. But it's getting hotter now from simple Safari browsing than it used to do from gaming. It's not painfully hot, but definitely not comfortable holding it. All a bit strange

 

[eyoungren]

GH

Good suggestion! I actually hadn't thought of that. All apps are either set to "Never" or "When in use" (or whatever it translates to in English). I disabled some of the system location services though, like frequently visisted places. Maybe that'll help.

This may not apply in your case, but I have also found from time to time that even though some apps are using 'When in use' or 'Never' I have to actually switch LS off, wait a bit and then switch it back on again.

Sometimes it can get stuck 'on' and won't let go.

 

[keviig]

This may not apply in your case, but I have also found from time to time that even though some apps are using 'When in use' or 'Never' I have to actually switch LS off, wait a bit and then switch it back on again.

Sometimes it can get stuck 'on' and won't let go.

Okay, thanks for the heads up! I've enabled the setting that shows the location icon in the status bar when LS is in use. I'll keep an eye on it the following days

 

[AFEPPL]

Yes, I have the same on all my 6 or so phones from the 5S, the only way is power off and wait a few minutes.

 

[keviig]

Yes, I have the same on all my 6 or so phones from the 5S, the only way is power off and wait a few minutes.

Okay, seems odd. Having to turn it off every 10 minutes i use it sounds like quite the hassle

 

[AFEPPL]

Not every 10mins, just when it happens. Something clearly goes rouge and killing the process doesn't work.
You feel the heat through the back and the battery takes a pounding too.

Its become worse than windows - just reboot once a day

 

[keviig]

No every 10mins, just when it happens. Something clearly goes rouge and killing the process doesn't work.
You feel the heat through the back and the battery takes a pounding too.

Yeah i got that. Thing is, any time i use it for 10 minutes or more it heats up like this. I guess the casing absorbs the heat from the CPU, and manages to stay within comfortable limits for roughly 10 minutes. Seems to happen constantly

 

[AFEPPL]

When did it start and what changed?

Have you tried earasing the device completely ?
Then Add on the apps back on in batches - see if you can't track it down?

 

[eyoungren]

Yeah i got that. Thing is, any time i use it for 10 minutes or more it heats up like this. I guess the casing absorbs the heat from the CPU, and manages to stay within comfortable limits for roughly 10 minutes. Seems to happen constantly

If this is the case then something may be wrong hardware wise. I'd have it checked.

I suggested Location Services because that's been the usual culprit for me. But if you keep having to switch it off like that then it means something is keeping it on or it's malfunctioning. In either case, probably good to have it checked at this point.

 

[keviig]

If this is the case then something may be wrong hardware wise. I'd have it checked.

I suggested Location Services because that's been the usual culprit for me. But if you keep having to switch it off like that then it means something is keeping it on or it's malfunctioning. In either case, probably good to have it checked at this point.

I've gotten more and more convinced that it's some hardware fault these last weeks. Just thought i'd ask here to see if there was anything i had missed. It's not so hot that i have to turn it off, and it's not giving any warnings. I think the best way to describe it is that it heats up like it would when playing a game, despite me only doing light stuff, that should be done by the small cores of the A10 Fusion

I'll see how it fares tomorrow with the LS tweaks. If it doesn't help i'll give Apple a call.

Thanks for the help so far! I'll check back with this thread once i've got it figured out.
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When did it start and what changed?

Have you tried earasing the device completely ?
Then Add on the apps back on in batches - see if you can't track it down?

Started a couple of months ago. Can't pinpoint it exactly, as the first few times i just thought it was doing a backup or something. But then i started seeing a pattern when use >10 mins made it heat up a lot.

I've tried erasing it, but i did restore from an iCloud backup. Don't want to start over, as i need to have my archive of messages.

 

[Zaft]

I have had the same thing at random. Heats up near the camera and battery drains. Not sure whats up.

 

[44267547]

Might give them a call if tinkering with the location settings don't work.

I'm perfectly OK with the phone getting warm, or hot when doing intensive stuff like games. But it's getting hotter now from simple Safari browsing than it used to do from gaming. It's not painfully hot, but definitely not comfortable holding.

I would certainly call them and see what they have to say. If it's getting uncomfortable to hold when the device heats up, then it's abnormal. I would utilize all your options st this point.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I've had my iPhone 7 Plus since launch. The last few weeks it has started getting uncomfortably hot after 5-10 minutes of use.

Something as light as Safari browsing causes both the top right corner (where the CPU is) and the bottom half to get hot to the point where it's uncomfortable holding it.

This is also reflected in the battery life, i'm no longer able to make it more than a day on a charge, despite only roughly 3-4 hours of screen on time, and light Safari, Facebook and Instagram usage. It's never in the sun, and ambient temp is roughly 15-20c.

What i've tried:

- Update to 10.3.3
- Factory reset and restore from iCloud backup
- Hard reset (off button + volume down)
- Soft reset (off button)
- Removed all apps from the multitasking menu
- Made sure nothing is syncing or backing up


Any suggestions?
I'm afraid if i send it in for repair they won't classify this as an issue/or be able to reproduce it. I live somewhere without physical Apple Stores, so that's not an option.

If you just did all that, no wonder your device is running warm. Let it relax for a day or two. Right now its indexing and having to shuffle a lot of information around because of the restore and restoring the backup.

I have had a 7Plus replaced for overheating, but it was getting about 100F in my pocket without anything running on it. I think your device needs to relax for a little bit before anything else.

 

[keviig]

If you just did all that, no wonder your device is running warm. Let it relax for a day or two. Right now its indexing and having to shuffle a lot of information around because of the restore and restoring the backup.

I have had a 7Plus replaced for overheating, but it was getting about 100F in my pocket without anything running on it. I think your device needs to relax for a little bit before anything else.

I didn't do all this at once. I've tried all these things over a period of a couple of months.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Yeah i got that. Thing is, any time i use it for 10 minutes or more it heats up like this. I guess the casing absorbs the heat from the CPU, and manages to stay within comfortable limits for roughly 10 minutes. Seems to happen constantly

There is no way your 7+ should be getting "hot" unless you are doing something CPU intensive. I have owned my 7+ from the first day they were introduced and I remember it getting only "warm" when I first restored it. The only other time I feel it getting slightly "warm" is every Sunday when I do 60-90 minutes of Face Time. That, I would expect would make it slightly warm but never hot.

All you can do is make sure it is backed up and then erase and set up as new for a day or two to see if it still heats up. If it does, it would be hardware if it does not heat up then something in your apps was causing it. You will still have your backup if you want to use it.

 

[keviig]

There is no way your 7+ should be getting "hot" unless you are doing something CPU intensive. I have owned my 7+ from the first day they were introduced and I remember it getting only "warm" when I first restored it. The only other time I feel it getting slightly "warm" is every Sunday when I do 60-90 minutes of Face Time. That, I would expect would make it slightly warm but never hot.

All you can do is make sure it is backed up and then erase and set up as new for a day or two to see if it still heats up. If it does, it would be hardware if it does not heat up then something in your apps was causing it. You will still have your backup if you want to use it.

Yeah your experience seems more in hand with what i'd expect. Also matches how mine was up until a few months back. Might go set it up as new when i have a day off and see if that helps!

 

[Newtons Apple]

Yeah your experience seems more in hand with what i'd expect. Also matches how mine was up until a few months back. Might go set it up as new when i have a day off and see if that helps!

Setting up as new is the only way I know of to know for sure. Even taking it to Apple to diagnose may not show this problem.

Best of luck, let us know how it is going.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I didn't do all this at once. I've tried all these things over a period of a couple of months.

10.3.3 just came out yesterday. If you are referring to a beta version running warm. That's pretty normal as it's doing extra stuff in the background.

 

[keviig]

10.3.3 just came out yesterday. If you are referring to a beta version running warm. That's pretty normal as it's doing extra stuff in the background.

Not running beta. Just installed it yesterday. Didn't seem to make a difference though, which is why i noted it down under things i had tried.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Not running beta. Just installed it yesterday. Didn't seem to make a difference though, which is why i noted it down under things i had tried.

Well installing a new version of iOS will cause the phone to Index. This will cause the phone to run hotter than usual and lack in performance. This can last 10 minutes or an entire day depending on what you have on the device. That's why I mentioned above you gotta let it sit.

Also, by installing a new iOS version without restoring as new. You have created another variable. The only way to truly test the device is to restore as new and do not restore from a backup. Use the device for a week and see how it goes. Restoring a backup is probably restoring corrupt data which is causing the problem.

As I mentioned above, I had a 7Plus replaced for overheating. But it would overheat sitting in my pocket or on my desk without being used. No apps open or anything.

 

[mk313]

The other thing to check is in settings, look at battery usage & see if there is an app that is using up a ton of battery life. I've had this issue on & off since I got my 7. It happened to me earlier this week & it turns out something was up with mail. it had use 51% of my battery over the previous 24 hours, WAY more than normal. I killed the app & everything went back to normal.