If you’re wondering ‘Why is my iPhone so slow?’, we’ve got some pretty solid answers for you. iPhones are generally considered fairly efficient and fast devices, requiring barely any fiddling to increase performance. But even the latest iPhones can sometimes suffer from slowdowns. There can be a variety of reasons your iPhone is slow, ranging from age of the phone to something seriously gone wrong with the device.
Let’s get into some of the most common reasons behind your slow iPhone.
Before Anything, Do a Reboot!
Using your iPhone constantly for weeks or months without a restart can hamper its performance considerably. Your iPhone’s battery and operating system (OS) need a reboot every now and then to keep things fast. So if you haven’t restarted your phone in a long time, it’s best to give it a reboot before you move to the other steps.
Top Reasons Your iPhone is Slow
Even iPhones are not immune to the march of time. As they age, they can start showing signs of sluggish performance which could be due to a number of reasons. If you’re experiencing slowdowns on your phone, you should start by performing some easy fixes to eliminate some of the reasons that could be causing the slowdowns.
Below we discuss the top reasons that could be the culprits behind slowing down your iPhone. It’s advisable to proceed through them in the below sequence.
1. Outdated System Software
One of the most common causes of a low-performing iPhone is an outdated OS. If you haven’t updated your phone for a long time or your model has stopped receiving iOS updates, this might be crippling your phone’s potential.
To check whether your phone has the latest version of iOS, follow the steps below:
- Open the Settings app
- Tap General
- Select Software Update to check for any available updates
- If there’s an update available, the device displays it for you to Download and Install
- Once the update is installed, select Install Now. The device will take some to update and then restart automatically
2. Low Storage Space
Storage can run out faster than you think it would. From temporary files to photos & videos, our phones have become our one-stop storage hub. What all this leads to is your storage space getting filled up and your device starts struggling even in everyday tasks.
To clear some space from your iPhone’s storage, follow the steps below:
- Open the Settings app
- Tap General
- Select iPhone Storage
- You can now see exactly which apps are occupying the most space on your phone. You can remove apps you no longer use or delete old data for the apps you still want to keep.
3. Background Apps Consuming Memory
Your iPhone has some apps running in the background to help you pick up from where you left when you return to them. But having too many apps in the background can severely hurt available system memory. If you don’t have enough memory available for what you’re doing in the foreground, you’ll start experiencing a dip in your phone’s performance.
Moreover, background apps also consume your device’s battery unless you manually close them. To close the apps you don’t need running in the background, simply view the open apps and swipe to close the ones you don’t need.
Another thing you can do to limit background memory usage is switching off automatic downloads for Music and Apps. While you’re at it, you can also turn off Background App Refresh to prevent apps from using mobile data in the background. Simply follow the steps below:
- Open the Settings app
- Tap iTunes & App Store and switch off automatic downloads for Music, Apps, and Updates
- Go back to Settings and tap General
- Tap Background App Refresh and turn it off
4. Browser and App Cache
Your Safari browser can gradually build up a lot of cache consisting of recently visited web pages, cookies, login information, etc. Plus, all your apps store their own cache. When your cache size gets too big, your phone’s performance takes a hit due to less storage being available for the phone to function smoothly.
Simply follow the steps below to clear your browser cache:
- Make sure you remember your important passwords as this process will delete saved passwords as well.
- Open Settings and tap Passwords & Accounts
- Tap Safari and select Clear History and Website Data
- Tap on the confirmation message to delete your Safari browsing data
For doing the same thing for other apps, you can follow the steps in the Low Storage Space section above and delete data from apps occupying the most storage space.
5. Graphics Taking a Toll on Your iPhone
Your iPhone does a lot of heavy lifting in the background to display your graphics-heavy animations. Dialing down those graphics settings can improve your device’s performance without taking too much of a hit on graphical fidelity.
To do this, follow the steps below:
- Open Settings and tap General
- Tap Accessibility
- Turn on Reduce Transparency
- Turn on Reduce Motion
6. Always-On Location
Your iPhone almost always tracks your location. Thanks to a multitude of apps that need access to your location to work correctly, your phone’s location is always being accessed by some or the other app, consuming battery and system resources in the background.
You can tweak your location settings so that apps can only access your location while you’re actively using them. Follow the steps below to do this:
- Open Settings and tap on Privacy
- Tap Location Services
- Turn the Location Services slider off if you don’t want any app to access your location
- To selectively manage location access for individual apps, simply tap the respective app in the previous step and select Never, While Using the App, or Always, according to your preference.
7. Malware Infection
iPhones, compared to Android devices, are less prone to Malware attacks but it can still happen, especially if you’re not careful with your browsing behavior. Malware almost always impacts a phone’s performance by either using your system resources or by stealing data in the background.
You can spot a malware infection in various ways: the presence of unusual apps on your phone, unusually low storage space, suspicious bills not related to your activity, etc.
Once you’ve confirmed that your phone has malware, you can follow the steps below to safely remove it:
- Delete all unfamiliar apps
- Clear your Safari history
- Install a security software
- Replace your iPhone, if all else fails
8. Declining Battery Health
If you’ve tried all the methods above and are still not seeing any tangible improvements, then your iPhone’s battery might be the culprit. Besides not holding charge for as long as it used to, your battery can also be responsible for impacting your iPhone’s performance.
You can easily check your battery’s health in your iPhone settings:
- Open the Settings app
- Tap Battery
- Tap Battery Health to see the results
If the phone reports that your battery health is not good, you can opt for a battery replacement from Apple Support or an authorized Apple service provider like iDevice Repair.
Last Resort: A Factory Reset
Besides opting for a battery repair that’ll cost you a few bucks, a free but invasive way you can try to restore your phone to its former glory is a factory reset. Factory Reset will restore your phone to a new-like state and remove all your data including apps, photos, videos, settings, and basically anything else you can think of. Hence, this method should only be considered as a last resort.
You can restore your iPhone to factory settings either through the phone settings or with the help of iTunes after connecting your phone to your computer.
