I have read other people having the same problem with slow wi fi speeds. It’s only resolved with a phone restart. Then the issue comes back after a few hours.
Is this a hardware problem or software? Only had the phone a few days so I can return it. But need to be quick. Please help.
iPhone 17 Pro Max, iOS 26
GingerGremlin wrote:
Thanks. I don’t have any VPN installed.
Im surprised the iPhone 16 also has issues. As my old iPhone 14 had the new iOS update and it didn’t have any WiFi issues at all.
My partner has iPhone Air. And has exactly the same problem. Seems to be an issue with the new phones.
You need to remember there are millions of devices that have been updated and if there was a systemic issue with WiFi speeds on either or both phones, then it would be widely reported and affect everyone's device. That is not the case, so the trick is to find out what the specific circumstances are in your environment where that seems to be an issue.
I am not ruling out a bug, but WiFi networks comes in many different flavors such as the band being 2.4ghz, 5ghz, or 6ghz and also the WPA security for the network, so troubleshooting will involve reviewing those settings and also checking performance on other WiFi networks that may help narrow down the cause. Have you also tried unplugging your router for 30 seconds and plugging back in?
I would also recommend taking your phones to Apple where they can perform diagnostics on it and you can then compare the speeds of your WiFi access. There are many apps/websites where you can test the speed of your internet connection, so that makes it easy to quantify a difference between networks. If you are getting good speed there, then you need to look more closely at your home setup.
Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple
GingerGremlin wrote:
Thanks. I don’t have any VPN installed.
Im surprised the iPhone 16 also has issues. As my old iPhone 14 had the new iOS update and it didn’t have any WiFi issues at all.
My partner has iPhone Air. And has exactly the same problem. Seems to be an issue with the new phones.
You need to remember there are millions of devices that have been updated and if there was a systemic issue with WiFi speeds on either or both phones, then it would be widely reported and affect everyone's device. That is not the case, so the trick is to find out what the specific circumstances are in your environment where that seems to be an issue.
I am not ruling out a bug, but WiFi networks comes in many different flavors such as the band being 2.4ghz, 5ghz, or 6ghz and also the WPA security for the network, so troubleshooting will involve reviewing those settings and also checking performance on other WiFi networks that may help narrow down the cause. Have you also tried unplugging your router for 30 seconds and plugging back in?
I would also recommend taking your phones to Apple where they can perform diagnostics on it and you can then compare the speeds of your WiFi access. There are many apps/websites where you can test the speed of your internet connection, so that makes it easy to quantify a difference between networks. If you are getting good speed there, then you need to look more closely at your home setup.
Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple
Providing an update.
As people here have suggested, I have tried rebooting the router. Changed from 2.4 GHZ and 5Ghz. Tried different wifi networks in different places. No difference. Same problem.
I today went to the Apple Store. I showed the problem to the Apple technician. He was very surprised this was happening. He had not seen customers presenting with this problem before now. He ran tests and could not find any hardware problem. So, it is most likely a (serious) big in the phone software.
He offered to replace the phone with a new one but I said there is no point as the same issue would be on the new phone as my partner has the same problem on a brand new iPhone Air.
I will reset the phone and set up from new rather than migrate from a backup to rule out a possibility of some sort of software corruption when doing a transfer from an old phone. This is very unlikely to solve the problem but worth a try.
IF the problem persists, I may replace the phone or return for a refund.
Very disappointed in Apple releasing phones with such a high price tag where the most basic of things do not work properly.
A lot more iphone 17 customers will show up at stores with this problem over the coming weeks. They just don't know they have this problem. But, they do have it.
Perhaps a long shot:
Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN, then restart your device. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN, but probably shouldn't.
I’m having this exact same problem on an iPhone 17 pro max. It’s absolutely infuriating. WiFi speed halves and the only solution appears to be restarting the phone. Then anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days later the problem repeats. My previous phone was a 13 pro and I’m annoyed at myself for upgrading. I’m wandering if it’s somehow related to CarPlay as I often seem to notice the problem after going out in the car. My CarPlay has not been crashing like some people have reported (and I’ve had the phone since launch), but maybe there’s still something there that’s triggering it.
Anyway, please update this thread if you find a solution.
Hi Terbium. Sorry to hear you also suffering with the same problem with your 17 Pro Max. I dont think it is related to using CarPlay. It happens so randomly its not one specific thing that causes the wi-fi problem. Last night I rebooted the phone before going to bed, and the wi-fi was fine. I checked the wi-fi this morning, and the problem already came back. Of course, the phone was not used during the night. So, you do not need to use the phone for the problem to surface.
Can I ask if you transferred your old phone data, and apps, etc to your new phone? Or did you set up the phone as new and re-install everything?
Ever since the new update my iPhone 16 pro max has been having this problem along with others. I’m hoping they fix this issue soon. Internet is very slow both WiFi or cellular has become very slow since major update. Very frustrating.
Thanks. I don’t have any VPN installed.
Im surprised the iPhone 16 also has issues. As my old iPhone 14 had the new iOS update and it didn’t have any WiFi issues at all.
My partner has iPhone Air. And has exactly the same problem. Seems to be an issue with the new phones.
Sorry for the slow reply. I chose to do the quick setup on the new iPhone where you scan an animation on your old phone to begin setuo. I chose to transfer data/app etc using iCloud Backup as part of that process. The process seemed to complete successfully and it also transferred over my watch to the new phone. One thing to note, the watch did seem to have some problems at first after transferring over: missing icons and notification issues. I reinstalled third party apps on the watch and updated everything to 26.1. The watch seems okay now but I’m wandering whether all these WiFi problems on the iPhone are somehow linked to the watch transferring to the new phone in some way.
Thank you so much for the update. I have Sky Broadband as well so this is all starting to make sense!
I’m not sure what way forward is best for me. I have Sky Q with multiple mini boxes. It’s provided really reliable WiFi across our whole house. It will be a headache to try and switch everything out just because of this phone!! I really hope Apple see this and can fix it with a software update.
Terbium - I also have Sky Q with several mini boxes. Everything works perfectly with the new router. It was not that difficult. The wifi is WAY faster than the rubbish sky router. Max wifi speed on the sky router was 450 Mb with the Flint 2, the wifi speed is 800 Mb. Almost double. And the signal reaches so much further than the sky router ever did.
The only tricky part is extracting your username and password from your sky router as you need that to put into any new non sky router. Although some people say, that any random username/password works. And only some routers work with sky (Option 61). Personally, I am super happy I changed routers. The difference is out of this world.
Hi Terbium. Thanks for the update! That is great that you have not had any wi-fi slow downs on the latest ios release. Really good news. I hope its fixed the issues. Keep us updated if anything changes.
A quick update to say after 3 days on iOS 26.2, so far the problem ‘appears’ to be fixed. I haven’t had to restart my phone once and zero slowdowns. My sky router model is also SR203.
UPDATE
My issue has been resolved. It was not the fault of the iphone after all. Well, not completely. Sky Broadband is my ISP and I they still use very old routers (Wi fi 5). Model SR203
There is clearly an issue with the new modem in the iPhone 17 range and some old routers. This was causing the iPhone to slow down. When going to a different area, and connecting to a different wifi network, the problem did not go away. Which is why I thought it was the sole fault of the iphone. A phone reboot did resolve it but when I returned back home. The issue came back. A router reboot did not solve it. Which was the first clue that this is a router and iphone compatibility issue.
I have now bought a new router (Flint 2) and the problem has completely gone away. In fact, my wi fi speeds are now 850 MB compared to a max of 400 MB with the old router. I am also now connecting with Wifi 6 and not the old Wifi 5.
So, the new iphones software has issues with some routers. Probably old ones like Wifi 5. But, other users will have to do some testing and see if this is the same cause of their slow downs.
iPhone 17 slow wi fi problem
