Stickers broken on iOS 18 / iPhone 16 after restoring from backup

[Detailed feedback FB15232205]

Since I restored my new iPhone 16 Pro from a previous iPhone 15 Pro backup, I can't use stickers any more.

The stickers gallery is filled with clear stickers that I can't interact with. Deleting does nothing. I also can't add new stickers. They appear for a second and then disappear again. iCloud sync is also not working. Other devices are fine.

When restoring the phone without backup, everything works fine. Is it possible this is caused by the iOS 18.0 version that's shipping with the new iPhones? I was only offered another iOS 18.0 update in Settings later on. Updating to 18.1 beta 5 today did not fix it either.

From what I gather from the logs, there's a database corruption happening. I've seen various posts across the internet who have this issue specifically after setting up their new iPhone.

fehler 22:08:24.677501+0200 stickersd error: (11) Fatal error. The database at /private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb is corrupted. SQLite error code:11, 'database disk image is malformed' fehler 22:08:24.677615+0200 stickersd error: exception fetching row for object with ID: Fatal error. The database at /private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb is corrupted. SQLite error code:11, 'database disk image is malformed' with userInfo of { NSFilePath = "/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb"; NSSQLiteErrorDomain = 11; } fehler 22:08:24.677679+0200 stickersd error: Unhandled error occurred during faulting: Error Domain=NSSQLiteErrorDomain Code=11 "(null)" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb, NSSQLiteErrorDomain=11} ({ NSFilePath = "/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb"; NSSQLiteErrorDomain = 11; }) fehler 22:08:24.677700+0200 stickersd fault: Unhandled error (NSSQLiteErrorDomain, 11) occurred during faulting and was ignored: Error Domain=NSSQLiteErrorDomain Code=11 "(null)" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb, NSSQLiteErrorDomain=11} problem 22:08:24.677736+0200 stickersd CoreData: Unhandled error (NSSQLiteErrorDomain, 11) occurred during faulting and was ignored: Error Domain=NSSQLiteErrorDomain Code=11 "(null)" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb, NSSQLiteErrorDomain=11} fehler 22:08:24.678107+0200 stickersd database corruption at line 79182 of [1b37c146ee] fehler 22:08:24.678757+0200 stickersd error: (11) Fatal error. The database at /private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb is corrupted. SQLite error code:11, 'database disk image is malformed' fehler 22:08:24.678783+0200 stickersd error: exception fetching row for object with ID: Fatal error. The database at /private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb is corrupted. SQLite error code:11, 'database disk image is malformed' with userInfo of { NSFilePath = "/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb"; NSSQLiteErrorDomain = 11; } fehler 22:08:24.678807+0200 stickersd error: Unhandled error occurred during faulting: Error Domain=NSSQLiteErrorDomain Code=11 "(null)" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb, NSSQLiteErrorDomain=11} ({ NSFilePath = "/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb"; NSSQLiteErrorDomain = 11; }) fehler 22:08:24.678826+0200 stickersd fault: Unhandled error (NSSQLiteErrorDomain, 11) occurred during faulting and was ignored: Error Domain=NSSQLiteErrorDomain Code=11 "(null)" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb, NSSQLiteErrorDomain=11} problem 22:08:24.678858+0200 stickersd CoreData: Unhandled error (NSSQLiteErrorDomain, 11) occurred during faulting and was ignored: Error Domain=NSSQLiteErrorDomain Code=11 "(null)" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb, NSSQLiteErrorDomain=11} fehler 22:08:24.678878+0200 stickersd database corruption at line 79182 of [1b37c146ee] fehler 22:08:24.678903+0200 stickersd error: (11) Fatal error. The database at /private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb is corrupted. SQLite error code:11, 'database disk image is malformed' fehler 22:08:24.678931+0200 stickersd error: exception fetching row for object with ID: Fatal error. The database at /private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb is corrupted. SQLite error code:11, 'database disk image is malformed' with userInfo of { NSFilePath = "/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb"; NSSQLiteErrorDomain = 11; } fehler 22:08:24.678953+0200 stickersd error: Unhandled error occurred during faulting: Error Domain=NSSQLiteErrorDomain Code=11 "(null)" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb, NSSQLiteErrorDomain=11} ({ NSFilePath = "/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb"; NSSQLiteErrorDomain = 11; }) fehler 22:08:24.678972+0200 stickersd fault: Unhandled error (NSSQLiteErrorDomain, 11) occurred during faulting and was ignored: Error Domain=NSSQLiteErrorDomain Code=11 "(null)" UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Stickers/stickers.stickerdb, NSSQLiteErrorDomain=11}

For science I did a few more restores and I think I found the issue.

iPhone 16 ships with a pre-final special build of iOS 18. During setup I restored my iPhone 15 backup onto the device. After setup I was greeted with a new iOS 18.0 update, which brings it up to the final, public build. I think the pre-release build broke the stickers database.

When I tried to restore the iPhone 16 backup again (with the broken database) it obviously did not work.

So I tried restoring the iPhone 15 iCloud backup (where the stickers still worked) to the now final iOS 18.0 update. And guess what, everything's fine and dandy.

It appears the issue truly is that iOS 18.0 build the phone is shipping with. Why or how many people experience this issue, I don't know, but from what I gather from forums, it's quite a few.

So, if I do ‘t want to restore from a backup, reset settings, or jump through hoops (I’m just an average user, not a developer), is this something that Apple can fix with an iOS update?

I am also having this issue, as are a bunch of people online... https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1fmql4y/imessage_stickers_have_disappeared_on_ios_18_16/

Hopefully they do figure out a way to push a fix, it is a fun feature, and I would be fine reseting the database of stickers, but it is a bummer to not be able to use them at all.

Stickers broken on iOS 18 / iPhone 16 after restoring from backup
 
 
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