Steps to replicate the issue (include links if applicable):
- Open the Wikipedia iOS app.
- Log into an official Wikipedia account with "Sync reading lists" enabled.
- Go to the Reading Lists section.
What happens?:
All of my reading lists—containing over a thousand carefully curated pages—suddenly disappeared from my iOS app for no reason.
What should have happened instead?:
My reading lists and all saved pages should be visible, safely stored, and synced correctly.
Software version (on Special:Version page; skip for WMF-hosted wikis like Wikipedia):
[8.2.0 (6087)]
Other information (browser name/version, screenshots, etc.):
*Device: [iPhone 13 Pro Max]
- iOS Version: [iOS 26.3.1 (23D8133)]
- Note: I recently noticed that one of my lists had disappeared. I suspected that my other lists might also disappear in the same way, but I couldn't find a solution. Yesterday, my biggest fear came true. I first sent an email to ios-support@wikimedia.org, but I haven't received a response yet. This sudden data loss has resulted in months of time and effort being wasted. It's extremely frustrating and undermines user trust. A platform as large as Wikipedia shouldn't make such a critical mistake. If this critical error isn't investigated and my data isn't restored, I'll have to stop using Wikipedia.
I'm not sure if this will help solve the problem, but I'll add this: This happened spontaneously without any action being taken, and the "Synchronize reading lists" setting was always on. When I restart the app, the loading progress bar at the bottom appears for a few seconds at halfway through and then disappears.