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iPhone 16 Pro Max stuck at "Charge Battery" screen on startup after installing iOS 26

J

jhanford

macrumors newbie
Original poster
The download and install seemed to go well. The iPhone was on a wireless charger and was at 100% battery.

Upon reboot and install, it didn't come back up and is now stuck on low battery screen. No magic button presses get it into recovery or anything.
 
Tried doing a hard reset and/or getting into DFU mode. In each case, it seems to ignore the buttons and keep flashing up the low battery screen. At the moment, I cannot turn it on at all. If I plug it in, it shows that a charge is going to it - the screen no longer shows the cable, just the low battery - but it never turns on.

Something seems to have glitched in the update.
 
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Yup, having the same issue 😭

Tried everything I can think of (different chargers, wireless charger, etc.) and unable to get it into DFU mode. It is registering when i plug in it (the plug in indicator goes away when i do plug it in) but nothing. Battery was at like 70% too when i started the update.
 
Okay... I just got it in to DFU mode. Here's the timing:

  1. Plug in to Mac or PC (I was at work and so only had the PC available, but it had the Apple Devices app installed)
  2. Quick press and release the Up Volume
  3. Quick press and release the Down Volume
  4. Press and hold the Power button
  5. When the Low Battery screen goes away, immediately press and hold the Down Volume
  6. I waited another two or three seconds and released the Power button while still holding the Down Volume
  7. After a couple more seconds, the PC screen showed that it had a device in DFU mode
I really hope this helps. The timing is in the #5 and #6.

Currently downloading the "iPhone Software Update". I'm on slow internet at work so this may take some time
 
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I'm glad that worked out. Please post your experience after the restore. You'll probably get there before me!
 
ok the restore worked, back on a fresh copy of iOS 18. i am glutton for punishment, so going to restore my backup and try to update to the beta again
 
Just to save some time, had same issue - tried OTA again and even dfu restore to ios26 - same issue each time. Prob best to stay stock after dfu until they push fix.
 
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i1100 said:
Just to save some time, had same issue - tried OTA again and even dfu restore to ios26 - same issue each time. Prob best to stay stock after dfu until they push fix.
Click to expand...
ahh ok... interesting! curious if you tried from a fresh iOS 18 => 26? going to take your advice and just use ipad 26 for now
 
Just wondering if any of you having this issue have had your iPhone batteries replaced? I’ve seen a few posts on various places online and here on MacRumors of people having these issues IF they have had their phones battery replaced at all….
 
pilotkid said:
Just wondering if any of you having this issue have had your iPhone batteries replaced? I’ve seen a few posts on various places online and here on MacRumors of people having these issues IF they have had their phones battery replaced at all….
Click to expand...
All original - no replacements for any part. Also thought it was because I had it charging when i did first update - tried w/o being plugged in as well same issue
 
pilotkid said:
Just wondering if any of you having this issue have had your iPhone batteries replaced? I’ve seen a few posts on various places online and here on MacRumors of people having these issues IF they have had their phones battery replaced at all….
Click to expand...
Original battery as well
 
I just borked my iPhone 15 Pro Max - glad to have found this thread! Finally got it into DFU mode, connected to my MBA. Restoring now… (original battery)
 
15 pro max also. My 16PM and 16e installed fine.

The 15PM won’t finish dfu and keeps throwing an error the phone can’t be restored. 😓

Going to try dfu one more time. Hopefully I can avoid a trip to the Apple Store for a new phone.
 
Registered to confirm that this same issue happened to my iPhone 15 Pro Max. Original battery. Was at 100% charge when downloading iOS 26 and plugged into power. Followed the solution offered by jhanford (thank you!!!) and was able to finally get my phone into DFU mode via my MacBook Air after trying multiple times to hard reset, etc. Even took it into a reseller technician this morning and he had no clue what could have happened, nor a solution. Phone has just finished restoring and syncing from iCloud. Have never had an issue trying out the first developer beta of a new iOS with previous phones.
 
mydoggiedoggiedoggie said:
Registered to confirm that this same issue happened to my iPhone 15 Pro Max. Original battery. Was at 100% charge when downloading iOS 26 and plugged into power. Followed the solution offered by jhanford (thank you!!!) and was able to finally get my phone into DFU mode via my MacBook Air after trying multiple times to hard reset, etc. Even took it into a reseller technician this morning and he had no clue what could have happened, nor a solution. Phone has just finished restoring and syncing from iCloud. Have never had an issue trying out the first developer beta of a new iOS with previous phones.
Click to expand...
And just to follow up, out of curiosity I did try to install the beta again once several hours had gone by after the previous restoration of iOS. It all looked promising, as it downloaded fairly quickly and asked if I wanted to install the beta now or wait until tonight - which didn't happen last time. But after it restarted and began installing the beta, within a few minutes it cut to black and then went to that same battery depleted screen. So I'm back to restoring the iOS once again.
 
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