On Monday, we reported an issue where iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max users were seeing their phone freeze and restart following a failed Face ID attempt. It looked to us like a software glitch rather than an inherent hardware failure.
Apple has now confirmed to 9to5Mac that a software update to fix this issue is in the works and should be available early next week.
While the bug apparently didn’t affect all users, it was reasonably widespread based on reports from social media and 9to5Mac readers.
At the time, we reproduced the issue on an iPhone 18 Pro device by obscuring our face with our hand while attempting Face ID authentication to access the Passwords app. The phone simply stops responding to touch input and restarts after a few seconds. You may then find a panic log in the iPhone Analytics section of the Settings app.
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max feature a redesigned Face ID sensor system, where the infrared camera has moved behind under the screen near where the clock appears in the status bar, resulting in a 25 percent smaller visible dynamic island.
As we reported earlier in the week, some customers had already attempted to fix the rebooting issue by replacing their phone with a new Apple device, thinking it was a hardware failure. To reiterate, this is not necessary with a software fix now confirmed to be on the way.
On a somewhat related note, Apple just released watchOS 27.0.1 to fix a random restart issue with the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4.
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