iOS 26.2.1 has rendered my phone unusable

panthers179 wrote:

I'm struggling to do my job because my phone is sluggish. Opening an app takes forever, and phone seems to "pause" before it responds to anything I'm trying to send or do. Please Apple, fix this mess!

Which iPhone?

Have you installed a VPN app here, and then tested performance again after its temporary removal?

Tjn73rd wrote:

I have 512 storage very few apps on my phone and this has been a horrible experience.

Send your feedback to Apple, as they may or may not see it around here in ASC: Feedback - iPhone - Apple

I disagree LD150. My iPhone 11 worked completely fine before the upgrade. Once upgraded, the freeezing, sluggish odd

behaviour occurred and started randomly restarting with increased frequency over the first 48 hours to a point that my battery started to swell. Being an older iPhone 11, I don’t have Apple Care. I made an appointment and took it to Apple Store to which I was told that couldn’t help because the battery was no good. That’s true, but it easily held a full days work prior to upgrade and it wasnt swollen!

[Edited by Moderator]

Hello~ Yes…what model iPhone? In the meantime… click on below and review…

If your iPhone or iPad is running slow - Apple Support

~Katana-San~

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~Katana-San~

My wife recently updated her phone to iOS 26.2.1, and immediately after, she couldn't make calls or use cellular data. She uses two eSIMs (different carriers and countries), and both stopped working.

She contacted Apple Support, and they ran hardware analytics and several tests, including toggling the eSIMs and enabling roaming. Even though the issue happened on both lines, Apple insisted it was a carrier issue and told her to get a new eSIM QR code.

After finishing the tests and trying to reset her settings, she noticed the eSIM had actually removed itself from the phone. She managed to get a new QR code from the local carrier to restore it, and the phone is finally making calls again.

However, since the update, the GPS is also acting up. Apps like Waze, Google Maps, and Uber aren't working properly.

I’m 100% sure the 26.2.1 update broke both the eSIM and GPS functionality. The main problem is that Apple won't admit it's a software bug, and they haven't provided a fix or a way to downgrade without wiping the phone's data.

SadIPhone-user wrote:

Yes, thank you for your input. This is a discussion forum after all.

I was being perfectly serious with you. The huge majority of iphones do not suffer from "every few minutes you have to restart the phone and when it does come up, the keypad freezes and you have to restart" If yours does then your phone or your app portfolio need technical attention. Apple support can help you with diagnosis.

Sarcasm is also the lowest form of comedy.

Apple Care covers hardware defects in materials and workmanship. Software is not a hardware defect and thus your comment on hardware issues is irrelevant.

Yes, resetting your device to factory defaults is a correct solution for an iOS installation issue. But resetting software is irrelevant to an iPhone user with a hardware issue.

In most countries including the US, emergency services can be contacted without an active SIM or eSIM. The two exceptions are the device must be within range of a cell tower and the hardware (cellular radio) must be functioning. If the radio is not functioning that’s a hardware issue that the owner needs to address with Apple Support.

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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Official Apple Support

Yes, upgrading will put an iPhone battery under increased stress for several days afterwards. This isn’t the upgrades fault. Think of it as similar to stressing a car battery by starting your car on several successive cold mornings. Finally it’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. Your battery was old and needed to be replaced.

https://apple.com/feedback

My phone just won't boot up and says to attach to laptop. Once I try that and try to update it does not work and is indicating phone needs to be restored. I have much in iCloud but not everything so am very concerned. Going all the way back to my first iPhone (3) I have never had a catastrophic failure like this.

Using 12 Pro Max with 1TB of storage.

Daniel Murphy wrote:

First post, my mistake. Hope serious damage not done.

Not at all. But you will get better help if you start your own thread with a specific subject line. Posts with titles like this one tend to attract way too many different issues and a lot of drek.

Best of luck.