iOS 26: Contact posters cannot be removed and “Phone” storage balloons (~3 GB) — severe regression

Question

Level 1

38 points

iOS 26: Contact posters cannot be removed and “Phone” storage balloons (~3 GB) — severe regression

Problem summary

On iOS 26, Contact Posters (contact photos/posters) that are set cannot be removed or reverted to the default/basic avatar. The only way to remove a poster is to delete and recreate the entire contact. In addition, the system’s Phone storage usage grows unexpectedly large (I measured ~3 GB) after setting posters for only four or five contacts. These issues together create poor usability and unnecessary storage waste.

Steps to reproduce

Device / OS: iPhone 16 Plus / iOS 26.0
Set a Contact Poster (system or custom image) for a contact.
Attempt to remove the poster or restore the default avatar in the contact/poster editor — there is no “Delete poster / Restore default” control.
Check storage: Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Phone — the Phone app’s storage usage is significantly increased (approx. 3 GB in my case).

What I tried (brief)

Looked for a poster deletion option in the contact and poster editor; none found.
Restarted device and rebuilt indexes — no meaningful change.
Deleted and re-added the contact: this removes the poster but is an impractical/workaround solution.

Suggested fixes (concise & actionable)

Add an explicit “Delete Poster / Restore Default” control in the Contact Poster editor (or restore the previous swipe-up delete interaction).
Allow removing or replacing a poster without deleting the contact.
Optimize poster storage: deduplicate, compress, and cache posters on demand; provide a settings path to clear contact media (Settings > Storage > Phone > Clear Contact Media).
Fix the underlying persistence/cache logic that causes the Phone app’s storage to grow to GB levels and document temporary cleanup steps in release notes.

Severity

High — the change removes a basic, previously available interaction and causes substantial storage bloat from a small number of posters. This impacts usability and storage-constrained users and should be prioritized.

iPhone 16 Plus, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 19, 2025 1:24 AM

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Answer 1

LD150

Level 10

99,487 points

Nov 9, 2025 2:58 PM in response to dsmapple2020

Delete the contact and add back.

This should take a minimum of storage. If it is several GB contact Apple support https://support.apple.com or report it https://apple.com/feedback

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Answer 2

Sep 26, 2025 9:17 AM in response to v2nayeah

I agree. There needs to be an option to delete your own image, poster and your iPhone contact information if need be. For privacy. This did not used to be so hard to do. Now I can only change it to another photo or poster, I can’t just delete it. It’s a really simple option that is just nonexistent right now: Please fix this asap.

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Answer 3

Kurtosis12

Level 9

76,258 points

Sep 21, 2025 1:01 AM in response to v2nayeah

You can make a suggestion to Apple here -

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

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Answer 4

Nov 6, 2025 4:06 AM in response to v2nayeah

I never had ANY avatars or posters but after the iOS v26.0 and v26.0.1 - I still have some funky background color, which I think is taken from my wallpaper, but no matter where its from, I can barely read my contact detail information on my OWN contact

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 5

VKarnes

Level 1

8 points

Dec 2, 2025 6:41 AM in response to v2nayeah

Here’s a new issue.

I just upgraded to iOS 26 last night

When I scroll down to the bottom of my contact the poster color is extended all the way down to notes.

This happens on contacts that didn't even have a poster!!!

For an older person who needs good contrast having dark gray blue where the white area used to be makes things very hard to see!

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Answer 6

LD150

Level 10

99,487 points

Dec 2, 2025 6:45 AM in response to VKarnes

VKarnes wrote:

Here’s a new issue.

I just upgraded to iOS 26 last night

When I scroll down to the bottom of my contact the poster color is extended all the way down to notes.

This happens on contacts that didn't even have a poster!!!

For an older person who needs good contrast having dark gray blue where the white area used to be makes things very hard to see!

Contact legibility, white on grey for example, is not solvable without adding a contrasting contact photo .

You can put in a feature request here https://apple.com/feedback eg please make contacts readable!

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Answer 7

Dec 5, 2025 8:10 AM in response to LD150

This is not ideal as I do not have time to delete and re-enter each contact. I am having this issue on my state issued iPhone used for work. I do not want client photos showing up when they call and I would prefer all of the contacts to appear the same when receiving a call.

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Answer 8

Brongo

Level 1

27 points

Sep 20, 2025 1:50 AM in response to v2nayeah

All agreed. This is a serious lapse in Apple consumer care. Urgent fix needed!

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Answer 9

v2nayeah Author

Level 1

38 points

Sep 21, 2025 12:44 AM in response to v2nayeah

Add a screenshot for reference.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 10

v2nayeah Author

Level 1

38 points

Sep 21, 2025 1:28 AM in response to Kurtosis12

I have already tried, but the issue of storage usage is present on iOS 18 and has not been fixed even after a year.

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Answer 11

v2nayeah Author

Level 1

38 points

Sep 25, 2025 6:27 PM in response to v2nayeah

Update: It has become larger, and I haven't done anything to the contacts in the past few days.

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Answer 12

Ehhwhy

Level 1

8 points

Sep 26, 2025 5:23 AM in response to v2nayeah

I know iOS26 is still in development but that is a huge step back in UX, would be nice to have possibility in managing the contact looks and the amount of storage it is taking is very confusing

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Answer 13

Nov 9, 2025 2:40 PM in response to v2nayeah

I’m still having this problem. There should be a way to delete a contact’s photo that I added years ago and replace it with the default avatar.

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Answer 14

Dec 5, 2025 8:57 AM in response to callyfromgray

callyfromgray wrote:

This is not ideal as I do not have time to delete and re-enter each contact. I am having this issue on my state issued iPhone used for work. I do not want client photos showing up when they call and I would prefer all of the contacts to appear the same when receiving a call.

If a contact has created their own Contact Poster, it will show on your phone when they call you. That is their choice and not one you have any control over. Since this is a user to user only forum, we can't give you what you want. But you can share your thoughts with Apple here --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

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