Overview

• Users of the iPhone 17 lineup and iPhone Air say Wi‑Fi momentarily switches off when unlocking or viewing the Lock Screen, sometimes taking Bluetooth down with it.
• The brief cuts are disrupting wireless CarPlay sessions and causing audio skips with AirPods and other Bluetooth accessories.
• Many affected reports note the behavior occurs only while wearing an unlocked Apple Watch, pointing to a cross‑device interaction rather than a hardware fault.
• Testers say the iOS 26.1 developer beta stops the dropouts on affected units, though Apple has not issued a public statement or a general‑release fix.
• All new models use Apple’s N1 wireless chip, but the scope and root cause remain unclear, and a near‑term iOS 26.0.1 update is expected to address launch bugs.