iPhone 16 Pro Max stuck in reboot loop iOS 26

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iPhone 16 Pro Max stuck in reboot loop iOS 26

I changed the date and year forward, and after that my iPhone 16 Pro Max started rebooting in a loop and won’t get out of this state. In recovery mode, it only offers to restore the device, which would erase all data. This isn’t normal — such a simple action shouldn’t be able to break the operating system of a device this expensive. Please advise what I should do.

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Título Original:iPhone 16 Pro Max stuck in reboot loop ios 26

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 26

Publicado el 14/11/2025 05:03 a.m.

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Answer 1

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cebra0

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15/11/2025 03:17 a.m. en respuesta a GoogleMANS

The situation you are describing is a known vulnerability in iOS that can cause the device to crash and enter a boot loop. This occurs because the operating system's internal certificate validations and time-sensitive processes (like background app updates or certificate expirations) become invalid when the date is wrong, causing critical system processes to fail repeatedly.

The Only Viable Solution: A Full Factory Reset

Unfortunately, when an iPhone enters this specific boot loop state due to an invalid date configuration, the data on the device becomes inaccessible. The core system software is corrupted in a way that prevents it from booting correctly to a state where data can be backed up or the date settings changed back.

Restoring the device is the only method to fix the operating system and make the phone usable again. This process will completely erase all data on the iPhone.

How to factory reset your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

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Answer 2

GoogleMANS Autor

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15/11/2025 02:50 p.m. en respuesta a cebra0

Thank you for the explanation, but I want to clarify that in my case a full factory reset was not required. I was able to restore the phone to a fully working state with all data and information preserved, without using any backups or reinstalling the operating system. I managed to fix the issue by updating the device through Apple Configurator. It’s very upsetting that such a small issue almost caused me to lose all the data on my device, that there is still no proper fix for this problem, and that Apple Support was unable to provide any help

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