Unable to change 'Wired Accessories' setting on iPhone due to organization restrictions

After a chat with Apple support, the only solution was a Reset All ( Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings)

They said Apple is aware of the issue and are working on a fix to be implemented in an iOS update.

for Jadzia-Adrienne-Dax

I was hesitant to do the rest all settings because I didn’t want to reset up my phone like others. But I grew impatient waiting on Apple so I backed up my phone and reset all settings. It did not totally erase everything, it preserved my display set up, kept all my folder organization and any added apps. But little changes like in the control window had to be redone, also the phone appeared as a new device on our internet but the wired accessories problem was indeed solved. There were other little things I found as I went along but it’s no where near as bad as setting up a new phone. Hope this helps!

Talk to your IT department about the MDM policies they are pushing out.

Do you have a corporate Exchange email account set up on your phone? Either in the native mail app or Outlook for iOS?

If so, the administrators can enforce policies on your phone even without installing a management profile.

I can confirm that turning Lockdown Mode on and off again enables access to this setting on my iPhone 16 Pro Max.

It makes your iPhone (and Apple Watch if you have one) reboot each time, but it works!

I took the plunge and did reset all settings. Because I'm blind, I spent an hour retweeking Voiceover and changing other iphone settings, and then more time recustomizing app behaviours, but the setting is now working. I was going to take the advice of letting Apple resolve it and just being careful, but I had nothing better to do I suppose. Hope it does get resolved for those that are still struggling, but the reset all settings did work in this case.

@Jadzia_Adrienne_Dax

I was hesitant to do the reset all settings because I didn’t want to reset up my phone like others. But I grew impatient waiting on Apple so I backed up my phone and reset all settings. It did not totally erase everything, it preserved my display set up, kept all my folder organization and any added apps. But little changes like in the control window had to be redone, also the phone appeared as a new device on our internet but the wired accessories problem was indeed solved. There were other little things I found as I went along but it’s no where near as bad as setting up a new phone. Hope this helps!

I also chatted with Apple Support and they had me reset all settings, and that fixed it. Frustrating to have to set everything up again, but worth the peace of mind. Odd that this only affected my phone, and not the iPad, as I was able to change this setting with no issues on the iPad

I just installed iOS 26.1, which did not fix the issue by itself. I then turned off lockdown mode and restarted. As before, That fixed the issue… Until I turned lockdown mode back off, and I was back to always allow. I keep waiting for Apple to fix this, since I am convinced it is a software bug. In the meantime, I am carrying a power cube and my own USB-C cord, since most locations that offer a USBC connection also offer a conventional 120 V outlet. For what it’s worth, I am using an iPhone 16 Pro Max.

It is overkill to reset to factory settings!If you just reset all settings it fixes this issue. Using iPhone15 running 26.1 and this worked for me. It is less painful than setting up your phone from scratch as it saves your phone layout etc. but you do lose the personalizations. Once done the wired accessories allows you to set it how you want and is not grayed out! 

I cannot change mine from “always allow” either and do not have or ever had any organization associations. It us a brand new 17 that is my own device as transferred from last iPhone. Both have iOS26 running. I see now that phone is also locked on “always allow” and shows the “..organization…” message. The old phone has likewise always been my personal device never associated with organizations or profiles. There are no profiles on either phone.

This seems to be a problem beyond normal MDM profiles, I have seen other reports online that it could be a bug or it could even be hack.

Without any other information here I guess the next step is the Apple Store; at least before I go nuclear and install everything from scratch.

After updating to 26.2, the weird bit about "managed by your organization and cannot be changed" is gone, and I can now set the options. But I still only have 2 options: automatically allow when unlocked, or always allow.

Telling people to reset their phones is unnecessary when it’s a known issue and a fix is coming…

26.2 did fix it for me.