Government of India via CCPA issues notice to Apple on iOS 18 malfunction post LocalCircles escalation
- ● 6 in 10 iPhone users who had upgraded to iOS 18 reported facing issues in LocalCircles survey
- ● 38% of respondents stated that most/some of voice and OTT calls don’t connect or drop
January 23, 2025, New Delhi: The Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued a notice to Apple Inc following numerous consumer complaints about performance issues with iPhones after the iOS 18+ software update. Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi made the announcement via social media post ‘X’, stating that the CCPA had received complaints. “The Department, after examining these grievances, has issued a notice to Apple through the CCPA, seeking a response on the matter,” Joshi stated.
LocalCircles had shared the survey findings along with several complaint screenshots with BIS and CCPA on January 10th urging them to take action and served a follow up on Jan 15th. LocalCircles will also be escalating the issue to FTC as consumers around the globe are raising issues with iOS 18. The CCPA notice asks Apple to provide a detailed explanation about the technical problems and performance issues reportedly caused by the recent software update.
After the first update, which created several problems, the subsequent updates did not resolve the problems. Instead, they added to the problems. For instance, to address some of the problems many encountered post installation of iOS 18, Apple released iOS 18.0.1, a software update, to fix a bug that caused the touchscreen to become temporarily unresponsive in certain situations. It also addressed problems with the ultra-wide camera that caused it to freeze when recording macro mode videos in 4K without HDR, messages app to quit unexpectedly when replying with a shared Apple Watch face, memory allocation problems or security issues.
The next upgrade iOS 18.1.1, which introduces a feature called Apple Intelligence, while offering convenience through tailored suggestions and deeper Siri integration, has also raised important questions and concerns about user privacy. Thereafter, the next version released was iOS 18.2, which had an updated advanced Intelligence feature, such as image generation tools and system-wide ChatGPT integration. However, according to many iphone users, the upgrade has also failed to resolve some of the problems. iOS 18.3 beta was released after that, and many users of iPhone are still reporting facing a variety of issues.
After over a hundred posts and comments were received in different online communities related to issues faced after upgrading to various versions of Apple iOS 18, LocalCircles conducted a pan-India survey of iPhone users. The survey received over 31,000 responses from users of Apple iPhone devices located in 303 districts of India. 64% respondents were men while 36% respondents were women. 46% respondents were from tier 1, 29% from tier 2 and 25% respondents were from tier 3 and 4 districts.
6 in 10 apple iPhone users surveyed who have upgraded to iOS 18 or higher are having difficulties; Call connection and drop issues top challenge reported
The survey first asked iPhone users, “If you are an Apple iPhone user and have upgraded to iOS 18 or higher, are you facing any issues?” Out of 14,775 who responded to the question 25% stated “yes, most voice and OTT calls don’t connect or drop”; 13% stated “yes, some voice and OTT calls don’t connect or drop”; 12% stated “yes, screen of the phone goes dark”; 12%”yes, apps are hanging”; 12% stated "yes, facing other issues”; and 38% stated “no, not facing any issues though I upgraded to iOS 18 or higher” software. To sum up, 6 in 10 apple iPhone users who have upgraded to iOS 18 or higher are having difficulties, while call connection and drop issues are the top challenges reported. Qualitative feedback from the users clearly indicates that users are facing these issues independent of the mobile network or WiFi internet and these issues have reported started occurring after upgrading to a version of iOS 18. While complaints have been reported against multiple iPhone models the highest number of complaints are for iPhone 13.

Nearly 9 in 10 apple iPhone users surveyed who have upgraded to iOS 18 and are having difficulties attribute it to the iOS; No one attributed it to their WiFi or mobile network
The survey next asked iPhone users, “If you are an Apple iPhone user and have up graded to iOS 18 or higher and are facing issues, what do you attribute them to?” Out of the 17,088 who responded to the question, 88% stated “upgrade to iOS 18 or higher” and 12% stated “other root causes” not mentioned. To sum up, nearly 9 in 10 apple iPhone users surveyed who have upgraded to iOS 18 and are having difficulties attribute it to the iOS; No one attributed it to their WiFi or mobile network.

In summary, the survey found that over 60% of Apple iPhone users who went in for upgrade to iOS 18 or higher are facing multiple problems which have so far not been resolved, and the iOS 18.3 beta version is reportedly not working for users having issues either. Nearly 9 in 10 apple iPhone users surveyed who have upgraded to iOS 18 and are having difficulties attribute it to the iOS. No one attributed the problems to their WiFi or mobile network.
Based on the survey findings, Apple needs to figure out the root cause of the problem as multiple upgrades haven’t fixed the issues leaving many users angry and dissatisfied. Apple must figure out a way of giving an option to users to roll back the iOS version or initiate a recall of all devices where users are having issues as status quo is not an option.
LocalCircles is happy that government has initiated action to help Apple users get some resolution the findings of the survey with the CCPA, BIS and MEITY so that appropriate government interventions can take place to resolve the matter in consumer interest. It will also be escalating the matter to FTC in United States where Apple is located such that issue can be resolved for all Apple devices world-wide
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LocalCircles, India’s leading Community Social Media platform enables citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions and enables Government to make policies that are citizen and small business centric. LocalCircles is also India’s # 1 pollster on issues of governance, public and consumer interest. More about LocalCircles can be found on https://www.localcircles.com
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