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

iOS 26 adds a new Recovery Assistant feature to all compatible iPhones, and it can help return the device to a working state, with no Mac or PC required.

iOS 26 Recovery Assistant Feature Clean
Recovery Assistant was introduced in the first iOS 26 beta, but Apple only mentioned the feature in its release notes for the second iOS 26 beta today.

"Recovery Assistant is a new way to recover your device if it doesn't start up normally," says Apple. "It can look for problems and attempt to resolve them if found."

Apple says an iPhone running iOS 26 will boot into a Recovery mode if the device has "encountered an issue while starting."

Here is what Recovery mode says on the iPhone's screen: "This iPhone encountered an issue while starting. To aid in diagnosing and resolving it, it has booted into Recovery. Recovery will look for any problems and attempt to resolve them if found."

According to a Reddit post, Recovery Assistant can help you return an iPhone to a working state with help from another Apple device, such as an iPad. This process can be initiated through the menu in the top-right corner of the Recovery mode on the affected iPhone. On the other Apple device, you can follow the on-screen steps to download and install a newer iOS version on the iPhone that is in Recovery mode, to help revive it.

This seems to expand on a recovery feature that debuted on iPhone 16 models last year.

Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26
Related Forum: iOS 26

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Top Rated Comments

Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
3 weeks ago
this is absolutely huge!
there have been code references to this since iOS 13.3 over five years ago.
The fact that you’ve still needed access to a Mac or PC to restore an iPhone or iPad in 2025, 18 years since the original iPhone released and 13 years since it’s been PC free for set up and software updates has never made sense and has been one of the most dated parts of the iPhone. this is one of the best features introduced this year.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
3 weeks ago

I've never seen an iPhone "not start normally".
Maybe they are expecting it to happen more frequently with iOS 26.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ignatius345 Avatar
3 weeks ago

I've never seen an iPhone "not start normally". Is this a beta only thing?
I never have either. But that doesn't mean it has never happened before. I would assume they built this because it can happen.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
winxmac Avatar
3 weeks ago
Reminds me of Recovery/Troubleshooter in Windows 8.x and newer
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nick A Avatar
3 weeks ago
I've never seen an iPhone "not start normally". Is this a beta only thing?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Devyn89 Avatar
3 weeks ago
I wonder if this would work if you’re trying to downgrade from a beta version to a release version of the software. That’s the only reason I still have a Mac haha.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)