Overview

• Released September 15, the update is available for iPhone 11 and newer (including SE 2nd gen and later) and typically requires about 6–7GB of free space to install over the air.
• Users report faster battery drain, hotter phones, sluggish animations and app freezes, with the new Liquid Glass interface drawing sharp criticism over readability and consistency.
• Apple’s support guidance says major updates can temporarily affect battery life, thermal behavior and perceived speed due to background setup such as indexing, downloading assets and updating apps.
• Apple lists 26 security issues addressed in iOS 26, and security specialists including Jamf’s Adam Boynton advise installing the update promptly to protect against vulnerabilities.
• Help guides recommend restarting, freeing storage, reducing motion/transparency, updating apps, checking for follow‑up patches, backing up data, and—only if the device is unusable—temporarily downgrading to an older signed iOS version.