Junie is answering in plainer wording
She is more literal than usual, or says she cannot set anything repeating. Here is how to find out why.
The symptoms: she is noticeably more literal, she misses looser phrasing she used to catch, or she tells you she cannot set anything repeating yet.
That means she has dropped to a lower brain. She does this silently and on purpose, so that a slow network never leaves you staring at a spinner.
Find out which brain is running
Go to Settings > How Junie thinks and read the row labeled Junie. It always names the brain actually in use, so it is the one reliable diagnostic. If it says Built-in wording, it usually gives the reason in parentheses.
Then work down this list
- Is
Let Junie use her full brainswitched on? - Are you signed in with Apple? The switch is greyed out until you are, because her full brain authenticates per person. Check
Settings > Account. - Did you agree to the consent card? If you tapped Not now, turning the switch back on shows it again.
- Do you have a working connection? If our server does not reply within about twenty seconds, she moves on rather than waiting.
Nothing is lost meanwhile
In every mode she can still add things, move them, park them on the Shelf, mark them done, and log refills. Only the wording gets plainer, and recurring tasks need the full brain.
If the Settings row says needs iOS 26, that is about Apple Intelligence specifically, and it does not affect the full brain at all. See how Junie thinks.