I bought my iPhone 16 Pro 256GB in early May this year. Everything was running smoothly until I installed iOS 26. After the update, my phone started lagging — both in apps and on the home screen. I thought it just needed some time to settle, so I waited for iOS 26.1 hoping it would fix the issue. Unfortunately, even after updating, the phone is still lagging.
Is there any solution to this problem?
iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 26
Try to reset the iPhone to factory settings, to rule out, that the iOS software caused the issue.
To rule out defective data from the backup, set it up as a new device and test the behaviour.
If it is working as expected, restore from the latest backup and test again. If the lagging comes back, this issue is defective data in the backup, and setting it up as a new device is the way to go again.
Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings using a computer - Apple Support
Try to reset the iPhone to factory settings, to rule out, that the iOS software caused the issue.
To rule out defective data from the backup, set it up as a new device and test the behaviour.
If it is working as expected, restore from the latest backup and test again. If the lagging comes back, this issue is defective data in the backup, and setting it up as a new device is the way to go again.
Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings using a computer - Apple Support
In iOS 26 a new feature was introduced, it is recovery assistant, you boot into recovery mode and then the iOS looks for issues, you can all so reinstall iOS from there. Here is how to boot into it:
You can also check Settings → Battery to see if there is an app or service that is using too much power.
Did you already force restart your iPhone after the latest update?
The Recovery Assistant can not be started manually:
About Recovery Assistant for iPhone and iPad - Apple Support
The animated graphic from above explains the Force restart of an iPhone, which might be needed if the phone has to be connected to the computer in Recovery mode to restore it.
Explained in this article:
If you can't update or restore your iPhone or iPod touch - Apple Support
Hello I’m here after some days after forced restart, basically it was good for one day and now I noticed that it still lags but this time in other way, in every app I open it lags, but when I go to Home Screen it lags for a second more and goes back to smooth. What can I do in that case?
Ingo2711, Thanks for the correction. I didn’t read the whole article because when I found it I was simply trying to figure out how to boot into recovery mode at that time. I have no experience with recovery assistance or recovery mode on iPhone. But how else to learn, Right? We all make mistakes so I am sorry about that. (I guess that macrumors article was wrong or something, or I totally misunderstood it.) I do however, have experience on iOS 26.1 and I know it is ok on iPhone SE 2nd and 3rd generation, iPhone 15 plus, iPhone 15 pro max, iPhone 16 pro and iPhone 17.
Correction: the iPhone 3rd generation had some trouble that has not been resolved, it was fine on iOS 26.0.1, but it is not operated near me so I won’t be able to see the full problem until Thanksgiving.
Gandolf243 wrote:
Ingo2711, Thanks for the correction. I didn’t read the whole article because when I found it I was simply trying to figure out how to boot into recovery mode at that time. I have no experience with recovery assistance or recovery mode on iPhone. But how else to learn, Right? We all make mistakes so I am sorry about that. I do however, have experience on iOS 26.1 and I know it is ok on iPhone SE 2nd and 3rd generation, iPhone 15 plus, iPhone 15 pro max, iPhone 16 pro and iPhone 17.
Don't worry, it's all part of the learning process.
i usually just post "Sorry, My bad" - happens regularly!
i haven't, i restarted it by clicking the power off button in right top, and then turned on phone again.
i will try to Force restart it and let you know !
Totally understand.
No problem 🙂
iPhone 16 Pro lagging since iOS 26 update
