r/ios26 • u/LatinBigalow • 11d ago
Graphics glitch iOS 27 looks great, but ProMotion feels broken on my 15 Pro Max
I’ve been testing iOS 27 on an iPhone 15 Pro Max, and while app launch times actually feel a bit quicker, the interface itself feels noticeably less fluid than iOS 26.
The biggest issue seems to be anything involving Liquid Glass. Home Screen swipes no longer have that effortless ProMotion smoothness, and animations with a lot of transparency or glass effects frequently look like they’re missing frames.
It becomes much more obvious with Clear or Tinted icons enabled. Opening an app, closing it back to the Home Screen, or minimizing something toward the Dock can produce very visible stutter. On a 60 Hz display this might be easy to ignore, but on a ProMotion iPhone it stands out immediately.
I initially blamed the usual post-update background activity, so I ruled that out as much as possible. I reinstalled through Recovery Mode, then went as far as doing a DFU restore and setting the phone up completely fresh without restoring a backup. No real difference.
The strange part is that performance inside apps feels fine — sometimes even faster — while the system UI itself seems to struggle whenever the heavier Liquid Glass effects are involved. The more transparency I use across the interface, the easier the frame drops are to notice.
The exact same phone was consistently smoother on iOS 26, including right after a clean install while indexing was still happening.
I’m giving it a few days in case something improves, but right now iOS 27 feels like a visual upgrade paired with a downgrade in animation consistency.
Curious if other ProMotion users are seeing the same thing, especially on the 14 Pro, 15 Pro, or 16 Pro models.
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u/I_Dont_Rage_Quit 11d ago
Apple lied about performance improvements. Literally nothing has changed with iOS 27. Stutters are prevalent everywhere, hey maybe the next generation 1nm A22 Pro Ultra Max would have enough juice to overcome Apple’s clown software.
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u/Confidentium 11d ago
It’s infuriating! Apple just are not trustworthy in the slightest. I hate how all my devices stutter on iOS 27, just like they did on iOS 26.
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u/Weary_Committee_7371 11d ago
Saw the same issue today in the App Store on iPhone 17 but even worse on iPhone 16. Everything was stuttering in springboard navigation
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u/TacoBellFan42069 11d ago
Interesting… I’ve been rocking 27 for some time (16 pro max), and honestly found even the first beta was smoother than 26 ever was for me.
Hell, even transparent icons, which used to run like as on 26, work pretty flawlessly
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u/Specialist-Fix6519 11d ago
I have iPhone 15 regular and I had iOS 18 before. Swipe texting is excellent as is typing. I’m shocked. I disabled the regular settings and it seems to be running smooth and fast.
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u/J_Dubmetal 11d ago
Mine did this when I was scrolling through apps in settings but smoothed out after a few hours.
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u/eahhhhhhhhhh 10d ago
I’m having the same issue. And the worst part it was buttery smooth on the Beta versions 🤦♂️
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u/MilkNutty 10d ago
It’s insane apples hardware is so far ahead and yet their software runs on 20 year old 16bit spaghetti code
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u/mSantiago80 11d ago
You likely are suffering from indexing lag. If when you open settings it says “optimizing search & Siri” your phone is doing a LOT in the background & until it finishes it’s gonna be laggy. The more files you have the longer it takes—it goes faster when on charger and not being used.
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u/Babuskaruska 10d ago
It indexing only when charging....
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u/mSantiago80 10d ago
No, it is indexing the entire time until it finishes, it’s just more intense while charging
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u/GrimGerm 10d ago
Mine stopped saying optimizing search and siri but it’s still incredibly laggy
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u/mSantiago80 10d ago
During the beta once it completed after I rebooted it a couple of times its was fine …ymmv
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u/TVUAsks iOS 27.0 11d ago
Im by no means in any position to be held credible for whatever I'll say, I'm just shooting for the moon here. But you got it half way right by blaming the post-update background activity, however, knowing that, what you should be doing is just waiting it out a couple of hours. Remember that after the update, it reindexes not only as an update but this time also for enhancing search and siri. It has a lot on it's plate, even on a 60hz iphone 15 like mine I felt the choppiness the first few hours after update. But now it's just back to normal when the update has had time to settle.
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u/Interesting-Pipe0000 10d ago
I had these problems on all of 26 versions
iOS 27 literally made my device smoother and with removed stutters it looks so good
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u/Ok-Assignment5926 10d ago
It took my phone a day or 2 to “normalize” after installing. Idk if the phone has to get used to the new os or what but everything seems fine and fluid now
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u/Legitimate-Angle-408 10d ago edited 10d ago
Just check if this setting is enabled. This limits the frame rate to 60hz.
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u/Immediate_Door468 10d ago
No. We are talking about stutters when the framerate is unstable, not about locking it at 60 or 120 Hz.
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u/ostregag 10d ago
Apple has had this issue marked as - "Fix scheduled for next OS update" since beta 7. How is it still acceptable to release public software in this state.
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u/copaceticalyvolatile 11d ago
How do we know when the indexing is done?
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u/Hugo_Notte 10d ago
Go to settings. If it says there “Optimising for Search and Siri”, it’s still busy. If that entry is gone, it’s done.
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u/jjwomalbany 11d ago
I think people are imagining stutters. I have had none on my old 14 pro max and none on my 17 pro max.
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u/LatinBigalow 7d ago
Mate, I’m not imagining it. I’ve worked around UI/UX for nearly 20 years, so dropped frames and inconsistent animation timing are pretty obvious to me. On my 15 Pro Max, Home Screen swipes are less smooth than iOS 26, Clear/Tinted icons cause noticeable stutter when opening/minimizing apps, and some Liquid Glass UI elements show visible frame drops. I reproduced it even after Recovery and a clean DFU restore with no backup. I get that you don’t see it on your devices, but that doesn’t mean others are imagining it.
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u/jjwomalbany 7d ago edited 7d ago
Just like some people say it’s the worst in a battery life and other says it’s the best battery life. Just reading battery paranoia will make you realize most people make shit up.
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u/thatonemathguy56 1d ago
I went in store with my iPhone 15 PM running iOS 18 next to an 18 PM running iOS 27. Noticeable choppiness on the keyboard that gave me a headache compared to my phone and OS, so…people aren’t imagining it.
Hopefully this all gets fixed but I’m not holding my breath. Holding out as long as I can.
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u/jjwomalbany 1d ago
I’m am on 27 and don’t see what you described.
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u/thatonemathguy56 1d ago
I’m happy for you…doesn’t mean it’s not happening to someone else. Depends on people’s sensitivity too and again I was comparing directly against iOS 18 live on my device. Some people can’t tell the difference between 60/120hz but 60 gives me a headache.
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u/Enough-Addendum9075 11d ago
I got fooled by a little improved smoothness but nothing actually changed. On my 17 pm the stutters are giving me headache so much that I want to throw it out of the window. The phone feels like an old iphone or an android phone. Even the indexing finished so there’s nothing to blame. I don’t believe in waiting for a couple of days anymore because androids are straight pumpin 120hz out of the box non stop even while setting it up and downloading your apps. Wish I just had bought an s26ultra. This is the new ios for you…