Unable to move or organize apps after iOS 26 update on iPhone 16 Pro

I talked to the senior rep from Apple yesterday and they said there still has been nothing progress wise on being able to move apps without any problems. And I’m using iOS 26.3. All we can do is hurry up and wait. It’s a shame since it affects so many people’s operating systems when moving apps.

When I use different methods, sometimes I’ll spend as much as five minutes to move one app. At least I can look out my balcony window and not have to worry about it on the cruise.

Just an FYI, I did this, and the problem returned within 2 months. I also wiped my I phone and set up from back ups and as a new phone and same thing. I’ve called Apple at least ten times and not only do they pretend there’s no complaints about this (half of the senior advisors told me there is, this was right after iOS26 and they still have not found a fix.)

I have now been on to seniors in Apple about 5 times and they have spoken to the engineers. The engineers have no fix for this issue at present but are “still working on it”. I’ve lost faith in Apple support and the engineers, who have failed to resolve this issue after 8 or so months. I can manage to move apps etc with difficulty though. It’s most frustrating.

Me too! I regret downloading iOS 26 because of this! I have an iPhone 13 Pro Max and rely HEAVILY on being able to relocate apps and folders to reorganize them. Please fix this ASAP! This is an unacceptable glitch for releasing a new iOS. Apple should have caught this months ago.

I have the same problem with iOS 26.1. I cannot move my apps or put them into folders or move them to a different screen that contains more folders.

Another issue I have found is that the screen is very slow to refresh when I move from one screen panel to the next screen panel, which I have quite a few since I have many apps in folders. This is getting frustrating because any new apps I might add end up at the end screen that has new apps showing. But I can’t move them and put them into folders that I want to put them in elsewhere on my phone.

One more thing I noticed is that it is not always allowing me to create new folders by putting one app over another app.

I wish they’d put a high priority on this fix so that it works for everybody on moving and arranging apps like we used to be able to do. My Home Screens used to look pretty because I had all my apps arranged in folders according to subjects.

Moving apps used to just take a few seconds to do the work instead of many many minutes per app movement. It seems like we’ve moved back some into the past.

I’m starting to lose motivation on even wanting to look for new apps just because of the situation. This means less money for creators of apps as well as the money that Apple gets for their share.

i have a

new phrase: “Let’s make the iPhone great again”.

I still haven’t found any improvement yet even though I have waited since the iPhone Air came out the first day. Yes I have a lot of information on my phone, but I have a lot of extra space left to be able to add apps, etc.. I have lost my ability to be able to move apps from one page to the next page. They just returned back to where they were originally.

I hope they can fix this soon in moving apps. It’s never happened all this time since I started using an iPhone three version years ago only with the iOS 26..0.1 has this happened.

I too can’t get ANY of my apps to move ANYWHERE since the 26.0 update (on both my iPhone 17 Pro and my iPad 12.9” 6th Gen) - the exact same thing happens as the original poster.

I’ve tried all the suggestions here and none have worked.

Please help!!!

I need things organized a certain way and this is so frustrating!!

Your descriptive technique is challenging but perhaps useful. But what is sure is you sound like a madman with tons of humour. Your post reeks of irony.

Apple better get this mess fixed fast. Good Lord !

I spend enough screen time as it is. Apple needs to fix this issue sooner rather than later. I find it hard to understand that something that worked well was messed up to make life more difficult. Cannot fathom such changes. But thank you for your persistence and patience.

One thing I noticed that I cannot do though is to move apps on a page and let them set somewhere else on the page. They always want to connect next to the last app that’s showing on the page. iOS 26 is supposed to let you leave blank spaces in areas on pages where you can choose apps to appear.

I have IOS 18.6.2 and after removing an app today, and reloading it, none of my apps will move when I try to edit them. Some are in even in new folders. I tried the long hold trick people are suggesting, with patience, it won’t work. My app I removed and reinstalled was also my most important widget and it’s no longer a widget option either. Has anyone resolved this issue in any IOS version, and if so, how did you resolve this? I want to reorganize my icons and folders and I no longer can, it’s very frustrating. Thank you

As I think I have previously mentioned the issue is time and I suspect many people don’t have the time to move apps into folders or create folders. I have at least 10 items to move to different folders and the time needed to take to do this is not efficient. Why can’t Apple give us back what was working fine previously. I have always believed that if change is to occur it should be for the better NOT FOR WORSE as has happened with this particular Apple functionality. Apple please get this fixed.

This whole story is getting way out of hand. Such an essential part of a working iphone being in a state of disrepair of this magnitude, due to an official upgrade is scandalous. The people in charge are aware of this fault.

perhaps their priorities in fixing bugs are from another planet.

Still haven’t seen any update since 26.2

I’ve talked to some people about it even in stores and they don’t know what’s going on. One person even said that maybe I have too many apps and that could be causing the problem. However, I don’t understand why that would be the situation because it didn’t happen in the previous operating systems before iOS26 came out. So Apple definitely did change something that is causing the problem.

I even noticed that when I slide between screens since I have a lot of screens with apps on them that it takes time before they refresh with the pictures. Something is slowing down the processing.

Unless it’s a flaw in the new chip that they put in that can’t handle the situation anymore. What do you think?