iOS 26.1 – Notifications stopped working again after 10 hours of updating

Hello,

I previously reported that notifications stopped working on iOS 26.0.1. The issue unexpectedly fixed itself the next day, and everything worked normally afterward.

However, I updated to iOS 26.1 at around 8 AM on November 10, and by 8 PM the same day, the notification issue reappeared.

Most apps (Messenger, Zalo, Gmail, etc.) no longer send notifications unless I open them manually.
All notification settings, Focus modes, and Background App Refresh are properly enabled.
I have restarted the phone and reset all settings, but the issue persists.

It’s disappointing because I updated to iOS 26.1 expecting better stability and performance, yet the same notification bug has returned.

Please check this recurring problem for iPhone 12 users — it seems tied to iOS 26.1.

Device details:

Model: iPhone 12 (128 GB)
iOS version: 26.1 (official release)
Update time: 8 AM, November 10 2025
Issue started: around 8 PM, November 10 2025
Free storage: ~30 GB

Thank you.

Posted on Nov 10, 2025 12:54 PM

Top-ranking reply

Marc007@

Level 1

43 points

Posted on Nov 18, 2025 2:51 PM

Hi Lobster, just to close this off and for anyone else following this epic ramble ☺....

So after restoring my iPhone using iTunes (Erase and Firmware reinstall), I reinstalled from recent backup prior to this action and setup using iPad. Result: Total Fail. Exactly the same problem with no notifications or badge icons.
Finally had to resign myself to the fact that I was going to have to completely erase, reinstall firmware again, but this time did not restore from backup. Result: Success!

I now have badge icons back and also actual sounds with notification banners!

So totally gutted that I have lost data from my Apps as a result of manually reinstalling them. Anything non cloud-based has obviously gone to oblivion. So in this case, regular iPhone backups were a total waste of time given that potential bugs are seemingly carried through into the overall backups. Now I see why people suggest not to restore backups in many other assorted threads with certain issues.

So I feel vindicated that this is totally Apple's fault and that I sorted the issue myself. Not ideal, and I know what I'll be doing for the next 72 hours.....

Thanks for reading and contributing ☺

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24 replies

Nov 27, 2025 11:18 PM in response to lobsterghost1

I do. Exactly the same. Settings etc. checked and rechecked as above. Not only that, notifications on the watch have become erratic. Often I look at the phone and have multiple messages and none of my 3 i-things have made a noise or buzz of any kind. Very strange.

TNJen

Level 1

8 points

Dec 2, 2025 4:50 PM in response to Lethuydung

I know this is an older thread, but I wanted to share a similar experience with notification issues. After a device failure, I recently upgraded my iPhone13 Pro to an iPhone 17 Pro that came with iOS 26.1. I restored from backup, and everything seemed to be working well. My husband upgraded his iPhone 13 Pro to an iPhone 17 Pro at the same time.

My 12-year-old uses a Libre 3 Plus continuous glucose monitor. The primary Libre app runs on

an Android phone that stays connected to our home WiFi. To receive her high and low glucose alerts, my husband and I use the LibreLinkUp app on our iPhones. Before iOS 26, notifications (banner,

sounds, etc.) worked reliably. After upgrading our phones (running iOS 26.1), although the app was receiving cloud data and seemed to be working fine, we just stopped receiving any notifications. We did not realize these critical notifications weren't occurring until we discovered (by accident) that we had missed a critical low blood glucose alert. Fortunately, we were at home at the time, and the loud alarm on her primary Android device woke us up. Both iPhone 17 Pros remained silent. At first I assumed a setup or connection issue with the Libre apps; however, this has proven not to be the case.

Troubleshooting so far (that hasn’t worked):

+Restarted the iPhone and apps multiple times, restarted WiFi and Bluetooth on the primary device

+Deleted and reinstalled the LibreLinkUp app on the iPhone

+Checked iOS app and global notification settings for LibreLinkUp (Allow Notifications on, banners allowed, sounds enabled, Notification Summary OFF, etc.)

+Reviewed Focus/Do Not Disturb settings to make sure theywere not silencing alerts (LibreLinkUP overrides these settings anyway)

+Removed my child’s LibreLinkUp invitation and set it up again from scratch to completely rebuild the connection

+As a workaround and test for the issue, I also tried a third-party diabetes app (Gluroo) that reads data from LibreLinkUp apps on our iPhones and uses its own alarm thresholds. I do get banner alerts from that app, but I still do not get audible alerts even though sounds are enabled. App FAQs indicate known iOS notification issues. I see that someone in this thread recommends not restoring from iPhone backup (which would be a difficult and lengthy project) but the workaround app was not a part of the backup, and notifications are still not working

properly.

Needless to say, reliable app notifications are extremely important for our family. If anyone has found a configuration or workaround that restores reliable audible notifications for LibreLinkUp (or similar apps) on iOS26.1, I would really appreciate the details. Since notification issues appear to be a well-known bug impacting iOS 18x+, I ask Apple to please take this seriously and post any updates asap. Thank you.

haruyu

Level 1

8 points

Dec 11, 2025 3:19 PM in response to lobsterghost1

Could we please not deflect from the issue at hand? This is impacting all 3rd party apps. As a result, this is very much an Apple problem.

Currently, this is impacting everything: Outlook, Teams, Authenticator, Slack, Duo, PagerDuty

Currently, I am not able to use my phone for work at all. Fortunately, I was able to discover this issue before it hit me in PagerDuty. I have had to switch over to Android in the meantime.

I heavily regret upgrading to iOS 26.