Update iOS Now to Fix Your iPhone's Charging Problems

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At WWDC 2026 next week, Apple is almost assuredly going to reveal iOS 27 for the first time. But even with just days to go until that announcement, the company is still actively updating iOS 26. Astute observers may have noticed a new update hit their iPhones on Monday, iOS 26.5.1, and while it isn't the feature-filled new experience iOS 27 will be, it does ship with an important bug patch for anyone with the newest iPhones.

What does iOS 26.5.1 do?

According to Apple's release notes for iOS 26.5.1, the update fixes exactly one problem. It seems a "small number" of users with an iPhone 17 device (meaning iPhone 17, 17 Pro, or 17 Pro Max) or the iPhone Air are experiencing an issue with wired charging. Apple says that when these devices' batteries are "nearly drained," iOS may prevent wired charging. That means if your iPhone's battery is about to hit 0% and you plug it into power, nothing may happen, leaving your iPhone to wither away—at least, until you get it on a wireless charger.

Apple may say that this issue only affects a small number of iPhone 17 and iPhone Air users, but it was a big enough problem to make headlines a few months ago. Back in April, I covered how some iPhone 17 and iPhone Air users weren't able to charge their iPhones once their batteries ran out—unless they tried charging with wireless charging first. The bug iOS 26.5.1 aims to squash is almost assuredly the same one affecting these iPhones, though it's surprising it took this long for Apple to roll out a fix.

The good news, at least, is that this was clearly a software problem, rather than a hardware issue. When I first wrote about this quirk, that wasn't a foregone conclusion; had it been a hardware problem, Apple would have had more of a dilemma on its hands. But now that the charging glitch can be solved with a simple software update, affected iPhone 17 and iPhone Air users will be all set.

How to fix an iPhone 17 or iPhone Air that won't charge

The solution is simple: update to iOS 26.5.1 (or newer). To do so, open your iPhone's Settings app, then head to General > Software Update. Here, let iOS look for an update, then follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the latest version.