Bedrock 26.50 freezes on title screen on iPhone 13 – skin does not load and buttons are not working

After updating Minecraft Bedrock to version 26.50 on my iPhone 13, I can no longer play the game.
Minecraft starts and reaches the title/start screen, but my character/skin does not load. The menu buttons are visible, but none of them respond when I tap them. The game is effectively frozen/soft-locked at the title screen, so I cannot reach the main menu or access my worlds.
This started immediately after updating to Bedrock 26.50. The game worked normally before the update.