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.

I was able to activate the settings using the lockdown suggestion above. I Turned Lockdown on, which automatically changed my setting to "Always Ask". Then I turned off lockdown and even though the setting changed to Always Allow when unlocked I was now able to change it back to Always Ask.

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 had hoped iOS 26.1 would address the issue. It did not. So I finally caved and performed "Reset all Settings" to fix. I had tried Turning on Lockdown, but USB settings would work briefly allowing changes, then it would revert to "Always" and be greyed out.

I've been using iPhone since the beginning, and the last two releases just seem to pile on more bugs, or leave some unaddressed. I'm still a fan boy but it's getting harder to be one.

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 do not have a profile anymore, but my last phone carrier used a messaging profile to route SMS and MMS text messages over the shared networks in my area. I don’t have that anymore. But I intercepted shortcuts still running behind the scenes, when my device got hot. Allowing all accessories means that if they can act like a computer and do malicious activity, they will.

I found that I could force the Wired Accessories, from Always Allow (grayed out by fraudulent administrator controls still lurking on my device), by re-enabling “Lockdown Mode” and restarting the iPhone. The new default is “Ask for New Input Accessories.”

Do not enable Allow when unlocked or you can’t go back to Ask for new devices, without disabling and re-enabling Lockdown.

I like Ask for everything new. Cables you buy online and chargers can all be suspicious, why else do they sell them so cheap.

No administrator profile should have control over this setting in a personal device, strongly question your third party cables and chargers/accessories. They likely injected a malicious code.

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.