Some Instagram users report lag when typing in comments section

Instagram users are facing a frustrating new challenge when trying to engage with content on the popular social media platform. Many are reporting significant lag and performance issues when attempting to leave comments, particularly for longer responses.

The problem seems to primarily affect comments that extend beyond a sentence or two. Users describe extreme lag that worsens as they type more, with some reporting that their phones nearly crash when attempting to craft lengthier responses.

“If I get after 3 [sentences], I’m surprised my phone doesn’t crash,” one user reported on Reddit. Others noted that scrolling within comments becomes “uncontrollably” glitchy, often bouncing erratically between the top and bottom of the text box.

The issue appears to have emerged within the past couple of weeks. While some users speculate it could be related to a recent app update, Instagram has not officially acknowledged or addressed the problem yet.

A subset of users also mentioned their phones overheating while trying to type comments, though this seems less prevalent than the lag itself. We recently highlighted the overheating issue occurring on some iPhone 15 devices, primarily. Interestingly, this lag-inducing bug doesn’t appear to be limited to any specific phone model or operating system, suggesting it’s likely a problem with the app rather than certain devices.

It’s worth noting that not all users seem to be affected, and the severity of the lag appears to vary. However, the volume of complaints across social media platforms suggests it’s a widespread issue. The main thread on Reddit for the issue has over 320 upvotes and over 660 comments. It seems I’m also lucky because I wasn’t able to reproduce the problem on three separate phones — the iPhone 13, Pixel 8, and Infinix GT 20 Pro. In fact, even after typing in two whole paragraphs, I didn’t notice any lag whatsoever.

Some frustrated users have proposed theories that the lag might be intentional on Instagram’s part, perhaps as a way to discourage longer comments or limit certain types of engagement. However, there’s currently no evidence to support these speculations, and it’s more likely to be an unintended bug.

I did spot a comment from a user who claims that the issue was fixed for them with the latest Instagram update. They said: “Instagram released a new update just now. I updated and now commenting works as usual and even copy paste function is back yay!” So if you’re frustrated with the bug, I’d suggest heading to the Play Store or App Store and checking to see if you’ve got the latest Instagram version.

For those experiencing severe lag when commenting, some workarounds have been suggested. Typing the comment in another app and then copy-pasting it into Instagram seems to bypass the issue for some users. Others have found that tapping elsewhere in the text box can sometimes force the lagging text to catch up. We’ll keep track of the problem and will post an update if and when there are any further developers.