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The Recovery Assistant in iOS 26 will help users if their iPhone won't boot properly, which could lead to users not needing a Mac or PC for future fixes.

Unlucky iPhone users can sometimes experience severe software issues that prevent an iPhone from properly booting up. The usual fix for this sort of problem usually requires a Mac or PC, but Apple is gradually making it less of a necessity.

Mentioned in for the second developer beta of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, Recovery Assistant is described by Apple as a "new way to recover your device if it doesn't start up normally."

The notes don't go into detail, but advise that the Recovery Assistant "can look for problems and attempt to resolve them if found."

The introduction of Recovery Assistant is a step forward for Apple, as it can help reduce the effort needed by consumers to fix their devices for a very common situation.

There are many people living their digital lives via their iPhone and using it as their main computing device. There's no guarantee that they will have access to a computer to go through the currently-used recovery procedures.

It also appears to be a natural expansion of an that allows an iPhone to be restored using a nearby iPhone or iPad. However, this new feature seems to even do away with the need for other devices altogether.

The standalone dream

This is not the first time Apple has been toying with the idea of a standalone recovery system for the iPhone and its hardware. The idea has surfaced a few times over the years.

In February 2020, a beta for iOS 13.4 revealed software hooks for an "OS Recovery" feature, which would rely on using an external server instead of a Mac or PC.

This was also raised one year later, in February 2021. Rumors claimed that an "Internet Recovery" mode would perform a complete reinstallation on an unresponsive iPhone, with multiple ways used to wirelessly restore iOS.

The facility would be highly beneficial for the occasionally-rumored port-less iPhone, which has also appeared in rumors. Indeed, the expected iPhone 17 Air was also thought at one point to be planned as a portless device, but EU regulations allegedly scuppered the idea.