Slow performance and lag after iOS 26 update on iPhone

You have a lag problem on your phone. Millions of users with iOS 26 do not have a lag problem, or they would tell us. So you need to troubleshoot the problem, or contact Apple support for help.

• Reading the rest of this thread would be a good starting point.
• If you have any apps to “improve” the performance or management of your iPhone, get rid of them.
• If you have an antivirus or similar app get rid of it.
• If you have VPN installed delete the VPN profile, don’t just turn it off or delete the app; it’s the profile that has to go

This was exactly it. The transparency setting is causing functional lag even in higher processing devices. It’s a bug not a feature.

While toggling helped it didn’t eliminate lag in say the search/text pop up but leaving it off does.

you found the culprit.

Same issues, 1TB 15 Pro.. iOS 26.0.1, running caseless 24/7.

What fixed it for me is to completely turn off Apple Intelligence. Phone doesn’t get near as hot and doesn’t suffer through thermal throttling issues anymore. Up until that I was experiencing severe lag and then thermal throttling when charging and also when connected to wired CarPlay. No VPN profiles, more than 50% left in storage. Tried turning on reduce transparency, slightly helped. Try turning off Apple Intelligence.

Have you contacted Apple Support. If not why? This is not Apple Support and Apple and Apple Support do not participate here. Everyone commenting and posting are fellow Apple users just like you.

If you’re in the US please call  1-800-MY-APPLE or outside the US, consult the support articles below. In Canada call 1-800-263-3394

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

shianne277 wrote:

A few days? But after updating mine it’s still being slow and laggy for like a month now and I jsut updated it to the iOS 26.01 and it’s still so slow and laggy and kicking me off apps

Check your battery health at Settings > Battery > Battery Health > Maximum Capacity. If it is below 80%, then you will need your battery replaced, and that would have been true on iOS 18 as well. You may be experiencing increased demands on a battery that is not capable of providing the power and there may also be a message under Peak Performance Capability that also says that the performance is being limited.

iPhone battery and performance - Apple Support

I have an iPhone 15 Pro. I tried reducing Transparency in Accessibility. I tried removing my VPN profile. These did not work.

What worked was turning off Apple Intelligence. As soon as I turned it off my phone lag was gone.

Hope this works for you.

Following up on my previous comment even after turning off Apple Intelligence my iPhone still experiences lag. I have now reduced transparency and deleted my VPN profile again in

conjunction with turning off AI. My iPhone seems more responsive but only time will tell. Apple need to release a patch. I have only had my iPhone 15 Pro for about two weeks and find that my iPhone 13 responded so much better.

THIS SOLVED IT FOR ME THANK YOUUUU. I was late to update to 26 like did it beginning of this month and have been so disappointed because my phone ran so smoothly before. Turn reduce transparency on!! Saved my phone!

It’s the IOS26 update. I have the iPhone 17 pro and it’s doing the exact same thing. ughhh slow as heck, lag, freezing on the simplest task, heating fast and the battery life sucks. Glad I haven’t traded in my iPhone 13 Pro Max, nor have I done the update on it.

If it was the iOS update there would be a million posts about it, as there are 500 million users who have updated and presumably don’t have a problem. Have you read the thread to see how others have solved this?

Hi, this is not Apple Support. Apple and Apple Support do not participate here. Everyone posting and commenting are fellow Apple users, just like you. If you’re in the US, please call  1-800-MY-APPLE, or outside the US, consult the support articles below. In Canada, call 1-800-263-3394.

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

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...i'd like to add one detail I've noticed that I think has to be part of the problem or where the problem partly lies: if my phone is fine, not too many apps open and its having one of its better moments (for the sake of this post lets say that means when its not quite as laggy), and I plug it in to charge, within minutes the battery/phone starts to heat up like never before and then, its slow as a slug... so just sitting there, charging, using just Apple bricks and charge cables, it starts to hear up a lot to the point where I have to unplug it... while in the car, It even gets so hot it gives that "too hot" warning and shuts off... only solution is to unplug it and let it cool off... if it stays plugged in it wont cool off... and please note, this same phone NEVER had that experience before the update...

Along the same lines... once my battery got down to around 7% and I plugged it in to charge up... it heated up, but this time seemed ok, but then I noticed that slowly but surely, the battery drained while it was plugged! It drained to 1% and I left it, no apps on nothing. Came back 30 minutes later and still at 1%...

The only thing that got it to charge up was switch Apple brick to the more powerful Apple brick, the 60W one. Then it charged up quite quickly and smoothly...

So again, I dont know what the new iOS did to create all these issues, but maybe how it handles the Battery is part of the problem, because as many have said, this behavior was non-existent before iOS26...

Yes. I’m not getting all my calls or voicemails. My daughter called about 5 times. So she had to call me on Facebook Messenger. My focus will just come on and it wouldn’t let me turn it off. My hotpot just turns on.I went to settings to make sure it was off and it was. Couple hours later it just pop back on.

I’m having so my issues with this new Update 26.0.1

I also been asking a lot of other people with it. Some has and some hasn’t no issues with the new update.

Contrary to what is said in the ' best answer' the ios 26 update ís horrible, buggy and laggy. It's a month now and I'm pretty sure it indexed and optimized whatever there was to optimize. The difference with my girlfriends 12 mini on 18.7 is shocking. I have an iphone 13 mini with a new original battery that lags and is empty earlier. I have 15 iOS versions and numerous devices to know that iOS 26 underperforms.

I would actually pay to be able to revert back to 18.7

[Edited by Moderator]

sma333 wrote:

Please do not blame jailbreaking, dropping heat etc. I upgraded as required to use new apple watch and immediately after upgrade iPhone 13 connects to wifi but not internet. Even if only on cellular, it is very very slow and almost useless.

Are you using a VPN? That is going to give you network issues and turning off will not help, they must be removed. Check at Settings > General > VPN & Device Management. Seeing a connection to Wifi just means you have connected to your router, it means nothing as far as internet connectivity.

Not sure why your referenced jailbreaking or dropping the phone. If that is the case you are likely experiencing problems that go far beyond the iOS 26 update and those conditions are likely not going to get resolved here.