iPhone requires passcode when I am doing nothing

[Joe's kitchen]

I'm using iPhone SE2 (iOS26). Something very weird thing happening a few times recently.

When I was not touching nor doing nothing with the iPhone (just charging battery), suddenly I heard usual notification sound from iPhone (that was the same sound I hear when I connect lightning cable to charge). Then I picked up and checked the screen, but it did not show any notification messages, but instead the screen was requiring me to enter passcode. After I entered passcode, I saw no change on my iPhone.

When this happened it was only connected to wall (for charging battery) and mobile network, but no other wireless connections like wi-fi, bluthooth, airdrop. I know the most iPhone apps are working in the background but I think this never happened before until very recently (this year).

So what is this? Is this some sign that my iPhone is under attack or already infected by malware or something?

 

[UliBaer]

Seems like your iPhone rebooted in the background and requires to enter your passcode just like after switching it on or after a manual reboot. This could be software or - possibly unfortunately - hardware related.

 

[NoBoMac]

Been some people reporting resprings (aka Sprinboard) issues in some of the releases.

Search results for query: Springboard

forums.macrumors.com

There is the 72 hour reboot if phone not used in that time frame, but does not sound as if this is the case here.

 

[Joe's kitchen]

Thanks. I'm using iPhone daily. I recently saw this problem again when all the networks are off (including mobile network). It's so weird....

 

[JonaM]

Have a look in Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > Analytics Data to see if there's any log entries timestamped about the time that you get the passcode prompt.
As others have mentioned it's exactly what you'd expect if Springboard or the hardware rebooted, so it sounds like that is likely happening. The logs might tell you what is happening if you're happy trawling through piles of text to look for clues