Apple released iOS 27.0.1 on September 28, a bug-fix update whose first listed item is a problem that made some iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max units restart whenever Face ID failed to recognize the owner. The fix arrived a week after the glitch was first documented and five days after Apple told a tech site that a repair was coming.
It is the first point update to iOS 27, and Apple’s release notes name two other fixes: a camera color artifact on some Pro models and a touchscreen freeze that could be triggered from any iPhone running the new software.
What Apple’s release notes say
According to MacRumors’ report on the release, Apple’s notes say that “iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max may unexpectedly restart when Face ID fails to authenticate.” The second item concerns a color artifact that could appear in photos taken at 2x zoom under specific lighting conditions, affecting a limited number of devices, and MacRumors’ summary ties it to shots taken at an f/1.48 aperture, a narrow set of conditions rather than a general color problem. The third covers a situation in which opening Notification Center and Control Center at the same time left the touchscreen unresponsive.
The update installs over the air through Settings, General, Software Update. Apple’s own security releases page lists iOS 27.0.1 as released on 28 Sep 2026 and says the update has “no published CVE entries,” meaning Apple did not attribute any security vulnerability fixes to it. The same page lists the supported hardware as iPhone 11 and later, so the touchscreen fix reaches far more phones than the two Pro models named in the restart bug. Macworld’s account of the release likewise describes the Notification Center and Control Center freeze as affecting every device running iOS 27, which makes it the most widely relevant of the three fixes even though the Face ID restart drew the headlines.
Owners’ reports of the Face ID restart loop
The problem first drew wide attention on September 21, when 9to5Mac reported that iPhone 18 Pro units could “freeze and reboot after a failed Face ID attempt.” The trigger was easy to reproduce: cover the face during a Face ID prompt for a protected app such as Passwords or a private Safari tab, tap the prompt to try again, and the phone locks up and restarts. Multiple owners had described the behavior on Reddit, and the site said it reproduced the problem itself on at least one device.
The bug did not hit every phone, so the scale of it never became clear, and neither 9to5Mac nor Apple has offered a count of affected owners. What owners could see was the symptom, and in a few cases the advice they received from support was worse than the problem. One user reported being steered toward a hardware replacement, a diagnosis the site’s writers called “probably a misdiagnosis.”
MacRumors’ September 24 report added a wrinkle that Apple’s notes do not address: some iPhone 17 Pro owners reported similar Face ID failures, suggesting the fault may not be limited to the newest hardware. The iOS 27.0.1 notes name only the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, and the security page’s compatibility list is broader simply because it covers every device that can install the software, not because Apple linked the restart bug to them.
From confirmation to fix in five days
On September 23, 9to5Mac wrote that Apple had confirmed to it that a software update was in the works. The site described the fault as a software glitch in the shipping release of iOS 27, connected to the redesigned Face ID hardware that moved the infrared camera behind the display on the newest Pro models, and said replacing the phone would be unnecessary. MacRumors followed on September 24, crediting 9to5Mac’s Benjamin Mayo for the confirmation and adding that Apple appeared to be testing iOS 27.0.1.
The timeline held. 9to5Mac’s summary of the release confirms that the three fixes match what Apple had described in the run-up, and that iPadOS 27.0.1 shipped alongside with a generic note about bug fixes. The same summary observes that Apple’s notes are not always comprehensive, so owners of older iPhones may find changes that are not listed.
Apple’s notes do not describe the cause of the Face ID fault beyond calling it a restart. The company’s release notes give no timeline for a second update, and iOS 27 itself was released only two weeks earlier, on September 14, according to MacRumors. Whether iOS 27.0.1 fully closes the Face ID restart problem is something iPhone 18 Pro owners will now be able to test the same way the bug was found: by failing a Face ID attempt on purpose and seeing whether the phone stays on.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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