If you have a slow or lagging iPhone, don’t panic, there are a few solutions to this problem. Older devices tend to slow down over time, but even newer devices can occasionally experience lagging, which can be pretty annoying. We’ve put down a few reasons that could be causing your iPhone to slow down and how you can speed it up.
- Updating your iPhone
- Restarting your iPhone
- Removing unnecessary apps/files
- Removing background apps and tabs
- Turn off the location service
- Background app refresh
- Turn off push mail
- Network and wifi connection
- Reduce motion
- Turn off low power mode on the internet connection
- Remove widgets
- Last resort
Updating your iPhone
Because software updates bring bug fixes and other performance improvements, updating your iPhone may make it faster. However, ensure you have enough storage space because software updates require it. An iPhone with little storage left can also slow down.
Restarting your iPhone
The best way to fix any electronic gadget is to restart it. For instance, if your iPhone is temporarily glitchy or stuck on a program, restarting it will allow it to become unstuck but will also remove some cache, which will speed up your iPhone.
Removing unnecessary apps/files
You can also speed up your iPhone by cleaning up and deleting unnecessary files and apps. When you remove files and apps from your phone, you free up space for more important things and also improve its performance since a low storage capacity reduces the speed at which software features operate.
Removing background apps and tabs
Apps running in the background could also cause your iPhone’s slowness. Background-running apps consume both power and an internet connection. Because of this, it’s important to close down apps and internet tabs when not in use.
Turn off the location service
In addition to being power-consuming, location services can also slow down your iPhone due to how much power this feature consumes in the background. If you rely on this function because you require apps to track your location (mainly social media and communication apps), you should not disable it. However, if you value speed over location service, you should disable this option.
Background app refresh
Some apps continue to operate in the background in order to notify you when anything new appears. This can result in a poor internet connection, slowing down your iPhone. Go to Settings → General → Background App Refresh, and select the apps you wish to prevent from refreshing in the background.
Turn off push mail
In order to notify you immediately when you receive an email, the mail app constantly refreshes. Using this feature eats up some of your internet connection, reducing the speed of your iPhone. However, you can avoid this problem. Instead, you can choose to refresh the mail every 10 or 30 minutes, which will improve performance. Go into Settings → Mail → Accounts → Fetch New Data, and choose to fetch data either in 30 minutes or Manually
Network and wifi connection
There is a possibility that your iPhone is lagging because of a slow internet connection. Check if your other devices have a slow internet connection to confirm this. A solution to this problem could be to improve your WiFi connection.
Reduce motion
There is also the option to turn on the “Reduce Motion” setting in the settings. Enabling this option won’t increase your phone’s speed much, but it will decrease unnecessary animation and make it more responsive and visually faster. You can enable this function by going into the Settings app → Accessibility → Motion and turning on Reduce Motion.
Turn off low power mode on the internet connection
“Low data usage” is a default option that helps you by reducing your internet usage, which saves data but also slows down your internet connection. This will make your iPhone feel slower than it actually is. You can turn off this feature by going into Settings → Mobile Data → Mobile Data Options → Low Data Mode
Remove widgets
Having widgets on an iPhone is helpful since they display useful information without requiring the user to open an app. However, adding too many widgets will consume more battery life and slow down your internet connection, which will slow down your iPhone.
Last resort
The tips outlined above will not significantly improve performance, and if none of them work, it’s time to get rid of your phone and buy a new one. Electronic devices degrade over time, new and more power-hungry software is released on a continuous basis, and there isn’t much you can do except replace your phone with a newer, better model.