diff --git a/src/components/player/KSPlayerCore.tsx b/src/components/player/KSPlayerCore.tsx
index 4cbef4b..7107e89 100644
--- a/src/components/player/KSPlayerCore.tsx
+++ b/src/components/player/KSPlayerCore.tsx
@@ -643,6 +643,46 @@ const KSPlayerCore: React.FC = () => {
     controls.seekToTime(value);
   };
 
+  // Progress update throttling:
+  // - Always keep a ref updated (cheap, no re-render)
+  // - Only push to React state at a lower frequency (prevents full-tree re-render storms)
+  const currentTimeRef = useRef<number>(currentTime);
+  const bufferedRef = useRef<number>(buffered);
+  const lastUiProgressUpdateAtRef = useRef<number>(0);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    currentTimeRef.current = currentTime;
+  }, [currentTime]);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    bufferedRef.current = buffered;
+  }, [buffered]);
+
+  const handleProgress = useCallback((d: any) => {
+    const t = d?.currentTime ?? 0;
+    const newBuffered = d?.buffered ?? 0;
+
+    currentTimeRef.current = t;
+    lastPlaybackTimeRef.current = t || 0;
+
+    // Keep buffered updates coarse to avoid churn
+    if (Math.abs(newBuffered - bufferedRef.current) > 1) {
+      bufferedRef.current = newBuffered;
+      setBuffered(newBuffered);
+    }
+
+    // Don't fight the slider while the user is dragging it
+    if (isSliderDragging) return;
+
+    const now = Date.now();
+    const needsTightUi =
+      showControls || paused || customSubs.useCustomSubtitles;
+    const minIntervalMs = needsTightUi ? 250 : 1000;
+
+    if (now - lastUiProgressUpdateAtRef.current < minIntervalMs) return;
+    lastUiProgressUpdateAtRef.current = now;
+
+    setCurrentTime(t);
+  }, [isSliderDragging, paused, showControls, customSubs.useCustomSubtitles, setBuffered, setCurrentTime]);
+
   return (
     <View style={{ flex: 1, backgroundColor: '#000000' }}>
       <StatusBar hidden={true} />
@@ -695,17 +735,7 @@ const KSPlayerCore: React.FC = () => {
               hasAviOSFailed.current = false;
             }
           }}
-          onProgress={(d) => {
-            if (!isSliderDragging) {
-              setCurrentTime(d.currentTime);
-            }
-            lastPlaybackTimeRef.current = d.currentTime || 0;
-            // Only update buffered if it changed by more than 0.5s to reduce re-renders
-            const newBuffered = d.buffered || 0;
-            if (Math.abs(newBuffered - buffered) > 0.5) {
-              setBuffered(newBuffered);
-            }
-          }}
+          onProgress={handleProgress}
           onEnd={async () => {
             setCurrentTime(duration);
             await traktAutosync.handlePlaybackEnd(duration, duration, 'ended');
@@ -749,16 +779,7 @@ const KSPlayerCore: React.FC = () => {
                 : ({ type: 'disabled' } as SelectedTrack))
           }
           onLoad={onLoad}
-          onProgress={(d) => {
-            if (!isSliderDragging) {
-              setCurrentTime(d.currentTime);
-            }
-            lastPlaybackTimeRef.current = d.currentTime || 0;
-            const newBuffered = d.buffered || 0;
-            if (Math.abs(newBuffered - buffered) > 0.5) {
-              setBuffered(newBuffered);
-            }
-          }}
+          onProgress={handleProgress}
           onEnd={async () => {
             setCurrentTime(duration);
             await traktAutosync.handlePlaybackEnd(duration, duration, 'ended');
diff --git a/src/components/player/controls/PlayerControls.tsx b/src/components/player/controls/PlayerControls.tsx
index 3ed342f..4ee3d2e 100644
--- a/src/components/player/controls/PlayerControls.tsx
+++ b/src/components/player/controls/PlayerControls.tsx
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ interface PlayerControlsProps {
   useExoPlayer?: boolean;
 }
 
-export const PlayerControls: React.FC<PlayerControlsProps> = ({
+const PlayerControlsInner: React.FC<PlayerControlsProps> = ({
   showControls,
   fadeAnim,
   paused,
@@ -625,4 +625,15 @@ export const PlayerControls: React.FC<PlayerControlsProps> = ({
   );
 };
 
+// Key optimization:
+// When controls are hidden, we don't need to re-render this tree on every progress tick.
+// This removes a large chunk of unnecessary work (and heat) during playback.
+export const PlayerControls = React.memo(
+  PlayerControlsInner,
+  (prev, next) => {
+    if (!prev.showControls && !next.showControls) return true;
+    return false; // when visible, allow normal updates
+  }
+);
+
 export default PlayerControls;
diff --git a/src/components/player/hooks/useWatchProgress.ts b/src/components/player/hooks/useWatchProgress.ts
index 5b70282..e0339f4 100644
--- a/src/components/player/hooks/useWatchProgress.ts
+++ b/src/components/player/hooks/useWatchProgress.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ export const useWatchProgress = (
     const [savedDuration, setSavedDuration] = useState<number | null>(null);
     const [initialPosition, setInitialPosition] = useState<number | null>(null);
     const [showResumeOverlay, setShowResumeOverlay] = useState(false);
-    const [progressSaveInterval, setProgressSaveInterval] = useState<NodeJS.Timeout | null>(null);
+    const progressSaveIntervalRef = useRef<NodeJS.Timeout | null>(null);
 
     const { settings: appSettings } = useSettings();
     const initialSeekTargetRef = useRef<number | null>(null);
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ export const useWatchProgress = (
             };
             try {
                 await storageService.setWatchProgress(id, type, progress, episodeId);
-                await traktAutosync.handleProgressUpdate(currentTimeRef.current, durationRef.current);
+                await traktAutosyncRef.current.handleProgressUpdate(currentTimeRef.current, durationRef.current);
             } catch (error) {
                 logger.error('[useWatchProgress] Error saving watch progress:', error);
             }
@@ -128,20 +128,26 @@ export const useWatchProgress = (
 
     // Save Interval
     useEffect(() => {
-        if (id && type && !paused && duration > 0) {
-            if (progressSaveInterval) clearInterval(progressSaveInterval);
+        // Important: do NOT depend on currentTime here; we use refs for currentTime/duration.
+        // Otherwise we recreate the interval on every progress tick, causing heavy re-renders.
+        if (progressSaveIntervalRef.current) {
+            clearInterval(progressSaveIntervalRef.current);
+            progressSaveIntervalRef.current = null;
+        }
 
-            const interval = setInterval(() => {
+        if (id && type && !paused && duration > 0) {
+            progressSaveIntervalRef.current = setInterval(() => {
                 saveWatchProgress();
             }, 10000);
-
-            setProgressSaveInterval(interval);
-            return () => {
-                clearInterval(interval);
-                setProgressSaveInterval(null);
-            };
         }
-    }, [id, type, paused, currentTime, duration]);
+
+        return () => {
+            if (progressSaveIntervalRef.current) {
+                clearInterval(progressSaveIntervalRef.current);
+                progressSaveIntervalRef.current = null;
+            }
+        };
+    }, [id, type, paused, duration, episodeId, addonId]);
 
     // Unmount Save - deferred to allow navigation to complete first
     useEffect(() => {
@@ -151,7 +157,7 @@ export const useWatchProgress = (
             setTimeout(() => {
                 if (id && type && durationRef.current > 0) {
                     saveWatchProgress();
-                    traktAutosync.handlePlaybackEnd(currentTimeRef.current, durationRef.current, 'unmount');
+                    traktAutosyncRef.current.handlePlaybackEnd(currentTimeRef.current, durationRef.current, 'unmount');
                 }
             }, 0);
         };
diff --git a/src/components/player/ios/components/AVPlayerSurface.tsx b/src/components/player/ios/components/AVPlayerSurface.tsx
index 153de9b..90db700 100644
--- a/src/components/player/ios/components/AVPlayerSurface.tsx
+++ b/src/components/player/ios/components/AVPlayerSurface.tsx
@@ -113,7 +113,9 @@ export const AVPlayerSurface: React.FC<AVPlayerSurfaceProps> = ({
           onEnd={onEnd}
           onError={onError}
           onBuffer={(b: any) => onBuffer(!!b?.isBuffering)}
-          progressUpdateInterval={250}
+          // 250ms progress updates can cause excessive JS work and device heating.
+          // We throttle UI updates in JS anyway; a slightly higher interval reduces event pressure.
+          progressUpdateInterval={500}
           // Keep background behavior consistent with the rest of the player logic
           playInBackground={false}
           playWhenInactive={true}
diff --git a/src/components/player/ios/components/KSPlayerSurface.tsx b/src/components/player/ios/components/KSPlayerSurface.tsx
index 8ca9875..f06a858 100644
--- a/src/components/player/ios/components/KSPlayerSurface.tsx
+++ b/src/components/player/ios/components/KSPlayerSurface.tsx
@@ -97,10 +97,7 @@ export const KSPlayerSurface: React.FC<KSPlayerSurfaceProps> = ({
         }
     };
 
-    // Debug: log textTrack prop changes
-    React.useEffect(() => {
-        console.log('[KSPlayerSurface] textTrack prop changed to:', textTrack);
-    }, [textTrack]);
+    // Note: avoid debug logging here; this component receives frequent updates during playback.
 
     // Handle buffering - MPVPlayerComponent exposes buffering only via events we wire up
     const handleBuffering = (data: any) => {