SIM Cards Automatically Lock During Sleep Mode on iOS 26

Hello,

Since updating to iOS 26, I’ve noticed an unusual behavior regarding SIM card management on my iPhone. Whenever the device enters prolonged sleep mode (typically overnight), both SIM cards automatically lock. Upon waking the phone, I’m prompted to re-enter the PIN codes for each SIM, as if the device had rebooted.

This issue:

• Did not occur under iOS 18.

• Interrupts mobile connectivity during sleep hours.

• Happens consistently after several hours of inactivity.

iPhone 15

Posted on Sep 18, 2025 9:19 PM

Top-ranking reply

campuslugentes Author

Level 1

52 points

Posted on Nov 9, 2025 11:57 AM

Hi everyone,

I wanted to update and share my experience and some small testing I’ve done regarding the SIM lock issue that occurs overnight on iPhones running iOS 26.

I confirm that my phone does not restart overnight — Face ID works immediately in the morning, which means the device hasn’t rebooted. Yet, I’m still prompted to enter the SIM PIN.
I disabled my physical SIM (work number) and kept only my eSIM active (same carrier), and the issue still occurred. So it’s not related to dual SIM usage or physical SIMs.
I reported the issue to Apple in late September and to my carrier, but I’ve received no response from either.

I’ve noticed something else:

I sometimes wake up during the night and check my phone, and I’ve started to get the impression that the SIM lock happens around midnight. It’s not exact, but the cutoff seems to occur sometime between 00:00 and 01:00.

This might suggest a scheduled background process or security check in iOS 26 that’s triggering the SIM lock — possibly tied to sleep mode, network handshakes, or even Focus profiles.

Even though the eSIM appears to be the trigger, the fact that your physical SIM also gets locked suggests that:

iOS may apply SIM security policies globally, not per SIM. So if one SIM (e.g. eSIM) enters a locked state, the system might enforce a lock on all active SIMs — regardless of type.
There could be a shared SIM management process that resets or reinitializes both SIMs during sleep. iOS treats both SIMs as part of a unified security context, and when one fails, the other gets pulled in.

After my son tried to call me at 1am due to a car issue and couldn’t reach me because my SIM was locked, I decided to disable the PIN on my eSIM.

Since then — no more SIM lock issues overnight (knock on wood :-).

If staying reachable at night is important to you and you’re okay with disabling your SIM PIN, this might be a workaround worth trying.

Thanks to everyone who’s contributed so far — let’s keep pushing for a fix.

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85 replies

Feb 26, 2026 9:54 PM in response to campuslugentes

iPhone 13. Both eSiM and physical SIM locked during the night.

It happened several times with the physical SIM only. For two weeks I’ve been using an eSIM as well and it happened to it as well last night : Both SIMs locked !!

I am on call and now I’m very worried that people won’t be able to reach me during the night ! Disabling the pin is not a fix, it is an unacceptable work around !

Jul 26, 2026 11:51 PM in response to campuslugentes

Update:

I switched to an iPhone 17 in January, and since then everything worked perfectly again — both SIMs, both PINs enabled, no overnight lockings at all. For months, zero issues.

Then in late June I travelled to Germany. I had only my private eSIM active, connected to a German operator network. After the first night there, my iPhone 17 suddenly showed the eSIM as locked. I had to re‑enter the PIN. After that single incident, it never happened again.

There is no logical explanation for this. It cannot be related to being on a foreign network, because I also travelled to a lot of other countrys in Europe — with SIM PIN enabled — and everything worked flawlessly.

So this remains a big question mark and a serious issue, especially because the phone can work fine for months and then suddenly, overnight, the SIM lock triggers without any reboot or user action. That unpredictability is the real problem.

Oct 4, 2025 4:53 AM in response to campuslugentes

… both SIM cards automatically lock …

To ensure that we fully understand your issue, confirm that your phone has 2x nano SIMs? (or do you mean 2x separate iPhones)

LD150

Level 10

105,402 points

Nov 10, 2025 3:44 AM in response to AchDuJe

Probably - ignore diagnostics logs

Advice remains

Unlock your SIMs until it is fixed
Never lock eSIMs (pointless)

grish160

Level 1

8 points

Nov 24, 2025 8:35 PM in response to campuslugentes

I experienced two outages this month and finally changed my SIM card with my phone provider today. I have to wait and see if the issue will occur again or not. Yes, this happened after IOS 26

Soborg

Level 1

8 points

Sep 30, 2025 11:43 PM in response to campuslugentes

Same here.. Several mornings after updating to IOS 26 on my IPhone 14 Pro Max the phone prompt for the PIN for SIM-card to unlock it. (Never happened before IOS 26)

I have also missed calles during the morning because of this.

revikas

Level 1

8 points

Oct 3, 2025 10:10 PM in response to campuslugentes

Same problem with ios 26.01 in iphone 13 mini, after updating to iOS 26, it didn't happen to me before.

It only happens some nights, but I think the phone doesn't restart, it's just a problem with the SIM.

LD150

Level 10

105,402 points

Oct 4, 2025 2:16 AM in response to revikas

revikas wrote:

It only happens some nights, but I think the phone doesn't restart, it's just a problem with the SIM.

I think you are wrong. SIMs only require PIN after a restart (not on a forced restart because power is never interrupted)

Oct 10, 2025 10:50 PM in response to campuslugentes

I’ve been experiencing the SIM lock issue intermittently. It first happened 2 or 3 times around the 12th of September, then everything was fine for several weeks—no lock, no other problems. But then it occurred again on the 9th and 10th of October. Interestingly, when I woke up this morning (11th October), everything was normal again—no lock, no issue at all.

I haven’t changed anything on my end, so I’m curious if others are seeing similar fluctuations or if there’s a known cause behind this behavior.

Jorojoro

Level 1

8 points

Oct 11, 2025 8:02 PM in response to campuslugentes

Same here. iPhone 14, iOS 26.0.1

My phone has one nano SIM and one eSIM, both active in the same device. Asking for both SIMs every morning.

Don’t know how long I’ve been unreachable every night, but I’m an emergency contact for several elderly. Absolutely life threatening bug!

Oct 15, 2025 2:23 AM in response to campuslugentes

Same for me. iPhone 14 Pro Max asks for pin in the morning. Just about every day.

this is very annoying as I need to be reachable during the night.

I tried switching back from the wireless charger to a cable. Worked for one day. Now same problem.

fix this. A + 1k phone should work longer than 3 years. This issue is making me consider buying an other brands phone!

Oct 18, 2025 11:23 PM in response to campuslugentes

I confirm the issue. Never happened for me (iPhone 14 Pro) before iOS 26. Now it can happen so randomly, even 2-3 times per week. This is critical as I am an oncall and if I do not know if my connection is alive or not is simply not acceptable.

I wanted to replace my SIM card as I figured it perhaps gone bad but I started searching online and stumbled upon this thread which scares me since it seems like replacing SIM will not fix the issue and we actually have no idea when it will be fixed and what is an actual root cause.

jacco225

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2025 10:21 PM in response to campuslugentes

Same here. Iphone 15 with one nanosim and one e-sim. Does not happen every night but about 3-4 times a week which is becoming pretty annoying as i’m also part of response groups and rely on the proper functioning of my device. Because of the 2 sims i use 2 carriers (vodafone and youfone). This actually started after the upgrade to ios 26….

emina66

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2025 11:36 PM in response to campuslugentes

This issue happens for me too, I don't think it's a carrier issue since as far as I can tell in the thread, the issue appears on multiple carriers, I have a pretty obscure carrier. This never happened before. My phone is on the charger for the duration of the night and the phone is in sleep mode. At first I thought I turned off my phone accidentally, but since this is happening pretty regularly right now, I don't think I am turning it off. Not a big issue for me since I don't receive calls at night, it is just annoying

Oct 30, 2025 12:25 AM in response to campuslugentes

Hello, same for me on my iPhone 15. It happens to me at least 1 time per week. I charge my iPhone wirelessly during the night and not with a cable, i’m wondering if it could be the cause, like if the battery would overheat and restart the phone or lock the sim.

But if my iPhone had restarted i would also be asked to type my phone code ton unlock it before, but it’s not the case because faceid still works 🤔

What do you think ?

SIM Cards Automatically Lock During Sleep Mode on iOS 26