iOS 26 Allows You To Restore Any iPhone Without a Mac or PC

Apple's iOS 26 introduces Recovery Assistant, a feature that allows users to restore malfunctioning iPhones without requiring a Mac or PC. The system automatically boots devices into Recovery mode when startup issues occur, displaying the message 'This iPhone encountered an issue while starting.'

Users can then initiate recovery through another Apple device like an iPad, which downloads and installs a newer iOS version onto the malfunctioning iPhone. Apple described Recovery Assistant as 'a new way to recover your device if it doesn't start up normally' in release notes for the second iOS 26 beta.

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