Overview
- New roundups from Macworld and 9to5Mac highlight forum posts describing instability after installing iOS 26.2.1.
- The issue appears limited in scale, with two Apple Support threads showing about 141 and 46 “me too” responses and a Reddit post drawing roughly 277 upvotes and 78 comments.
- Reported symptoms include frequent app crashes, freezing and lag, connectivity failures, severe battery drain, lost Apple Maps favorites, Face ID gaps in third‑party apps, unresponsive Control Center and HomeKit triggers, irregular storage readings, and repeated reboots.
- Apple has not commented, and 9to5Mac says it has asked the company for a statement, as scrutiny increases following last week’s separate iOS 16.7.13 connectivity problem for older iPhones in Australia.
- iOS 26.2.1 primarily added AirTag 2 support, and affected users are being advised to delay updating or to downgrade to iOS 26.2 while it is still being signed, which requires wiping the device.