Slow performance and lag after iOS 26 update on iPhone

After updating my device to iOS 26, I have been experiencing significant lag across apps and system settings. The performance has dropped noticeably, making the device feel slow and unresponsive. This is affecting the overall user experience, and I would appreciate guidance on whether this is a known issue or if there are recommended steps to resolve it


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: After updating to iOS 26, my phone has started lagging significantly across all apps and settings. The overall performance feels noticeably slower—almost like using an Android device


iPhone 11 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 17, 2025 6:11 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 23, 2025 11:29 AM

Jpprado232 wrote:

Nope you are so wrong. It’s the update, as soon as I updated my phone not even a hour ago, I get extreme lag and it doesn’t even run smoothly at all.
AND I HAVE A 15 PRO MAX NOT EVEN 2 years old with extra 350 gigs left

That is exactly what you are supposed to be experiencing after an update of not even an hour ago. Not only lag, but you should be seeing increased battery drain and higher than normal heat being generated from the background indexing being done.

About Apple software updates - Apple Support


You will need to give it 3-5 days to complete. The exact time is not possible to know as it depends on many factors including the size of your photo library where updated algorithms on object detection are also being done. Leave your phone on a charger all night, every night.


238 replies

Oct 31, 2025 5:45 AM in response to Mac Jim ID

Hi can someone help me out here

I’ve been using iPhone 13mini for so long and after the iOS 26 update my battery is draining super fast and my phone is getting so hot it’s been a week. I’ve alrdy turned off most of the settings but it’s still the same. Until today my phone was extremely hot and prompt a notification to turn off my phone and caused a siren sound like that. What am I suppose to do 😭

Nov 6, 2025 6:32 AM in response to haadee

Me too. It’s not a massive issue, but when I now scroll from my widgets screen back to Home screen it buffers awful. Apple devices are that smooth that you notice minor things like this. It’s not the usually smooth experience I’m accustomed to from my wonderful Apple device. Other than that the latest update is brilliant.

Nov 6, 2025 10:21 PM in response to haadee

as soon as i down loaded iOs 26 and 26.1 my phone lags. The apps take forever to open. When i type it’s a delay. I have to keep restarting my phone for it to work out. I have the iPhone 16 and want the 17 but if the new updates make your phone at weird it’s not worth it. I never had this problem in the past. So in wondering why the new update has my phone lagging at everything.

Nov 14, 2025 8:47 AM in response to suchinjack

suchinjack wrote:

I desperately want to downgrade from IOS 26 to 18.X for my iPhone 13 Pro Max. It's truly bad ever I experienced from the apples history of IOS updates from the very first iPhone so called #1 to 13 and surprisingly apple removed stopped the downgrade support for IOS 26 and WHY? WTH

Downgraded has never been supported on any version of software, there has been no change.

Slow performance and lag after iOS 26 update on iPhone

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