iPhone 15 lag and FPS drop after iOS 26 update while gaming

This is not the case of new update and outdated hardware. This is a well known issue across the ios26 public release that Apple has neglected. It’s well documented across Youtube and Reddit. Frame rate tanks on games and can only be fixed by restarting the app or in some cases toggling Game Mode. Frame rate drops are usually triggered by suspending the app either by swiping off the app or locking the phone. Frames run perfectly fine during screen recording, but will drop again after. This can happen on any device, even brand new iPhone 17s. I don’t believe there is a true solution right now until Apple patches it out.

[Edited by Moderator]

Workaround (works on iphone 14) :

swipe down from the top to show the notification bar/panel and then close it.

Frame rates back to normal.

this issue also gets triggered due to an incoming notification (random in nature, not related to any app)

Ever since Apple released iPadOS 26, my iPad 11th generation with the A16 chip has been experiencing serious performance problems in almost all high-end games. The issue started right after the update; before that, everything was running perfectly smooth.

Now, games like Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG, Genshin Impact, and even lighter titles are showing heavy frame drops, touch delay, and random stuttering after just a few minutes of play. This happens even when the device isn’t hot and has plenty of free storage.

I already reported this issue officially through the Feedback Assistant app under “iOS & iPadOS → Game Apps → Incorrect/Unexpected Behavior,” including my full Sysdiagnose logs. It’s clearly not an isolated problem, as several users here are describing the exact same experience.

It really looks like something changed in how iPadOS 26 handles GPU or performance management for gaming on the A16 chip. The frame pacing feels off, and the smooth gameplay we had on iPadOS 25 is completely gone.

I hope Apple engineers will investigate this properly and release a fix in the next iPadOS update. This issue is affecting gameplay quality on a device that should easily handle these games without any lag.

If anyone else here is facing the same problem, please also send a report through the Feedback Assistant. The more reports Apple receives, the faster this can be addressed.

Please read the following article about software updates. It explains why your phone may be lagging and getting warmer than usual after an update.

About Apple software updates - Apple Support

I play World of Tanks Blitz on my iPhone 15 and experience something similar. Specifically, if I open the control center or receive any kind of notification, my game's frame rate drops to the 30-45FPS range and is unresponsive.

My gut reaction was that the notification spikes RAM usage due to the intensity of its animation and its diversion of free RAM, but really it seems as though Apple has just totally mis-engineered whatever components they implemented for memory management in iOS 26.

For me it's simple, either Apple fixes this within a month or I go buy a Xaomi.

I have the same problem today after updating my iPad A16 from iPadOS 18 to 26. I have fixed with 4 steps below. In my case (iPad A16 & iPadOS 26), that's enough for fixing. I tested with 3D game Critical Strike, lag issue has gone. But if the problem is still not resolved, try again after a few days to let the OS finish processing background tasks. Good luck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6zwVuDJ9cw

After updating to iPadOS 26.1 on my iPad Pro 12.9 (2022), I’m experiencing severe FPS drops in games, especially high-refresh-rate titles like Call of Duty Mobile.

The issue occurs in two situations:

1.Mid-game, FPS suddenly drops from 120 to around 10–20 without any user action.

2.Minimizing and reopening the game also triggers the same drastic FPS drop.

Strangely, opening and closing the Control Center temporarily restores FPS, but the issue quickly recurs.

This bug makes gaming practically unplayable and never happened before iPadOS 26. Please investigate this as it seriously affects the experience on a high-end Pro device marketed for gaming.

That article refers to other issues that have more to do with reindexing your phone's database than anything else. This is more of a system architecture flaw.