For the past two weeks I've noticed my phone gets pretty hot when I use these apps for more than 30 minutes. I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max and it's barely a year old. Could it be a software issue or is the battery failing?
It's not that rare for it to heat up with those apps, but if it's only been a year and you never noticed it before, before you reinstall anything check Settings > Battery to see if your iPhone is throttling performance due to battery degradation (sometimes Apple does this automatically).
That could be forcing the processor harder than normal.
Also lower the video quality in both apps to standard resolution and turn off autoplay, because that actually uses way more than clearing cache, which honestly is the least of your concerns here.
Try clearing the cache of those apps first (uninstall and reinstall, or go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and tap the app to offload without deleting data) because they often build up junk that makes the processor work harder and heats things up.
If it keeps happening anyway, those apps might have some software bug that keeps them running in the background eating up resources, so check if there are pending updates for both iOS and Instagram and TikTok.
It's pretty unlikely the battery's failing at 12 months, but if it's still doing it after all this, go to an Apple Store and have them check it out because there could be an internal component with an issue, though honestly I think it's weird on such a new device.
Cache usually isn't as much of a problem as it seems, but what you should definitely check is whether you have high-quality video playback enabled in both apps, because that really cranks up the processor and your battery gets hot like crazy; I noticed it myself on my phone when I was watching reels nonstop.
If your iPhone is still just as hot after lowering that setting, then it starts to actually look like a battery issue and you should get it checked out.
With two weeks of intense heat it's probably more software than hardware, but there's a detail nobody mentioned: Instagram and TikTok constantly use the accelerometer and gyroscope for vertical videos, camera effects and all that infinite scroll stuff. If you also have auto brightness turned on, the processor is working at full capacity non-stop. I noticed something similar with my iPhone last year and it was because I had a ton of tabs open in Safari in the background while I was watching videos.
First thing I'd do is check Settings > Privacy > Motion & Activity to see if those apps have access. Turn off "Motion & Orientation" just for Instagram and TikTok and set brightness to manual when you use those apps. Also check Settings > Display & Brightness > Graphics Performance, though on the 14 Pro Max it shouldn't be an issue. If you see the heat is concentrated in the camera area (back top), then it could be the battery or something more physical.
A hack that works: open both apps but with no sound for a few minutes (total silence) and see if the heat goes down. If it does, it's almost definitely video processing. If it stays equally hot, it's more likely the battery. In that case you'd need to get it checked because even though the phone is relatively new, batteries sometimes come out defective from the factory and get worse fast. In the meantime, use those apps with your phone in dark mode because it uses less battery and generates less heat.
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