There is nothing more annoying than a slow smartphone. If you want to fix a slow iPhone, don’t lose our tips to increase the speed of your Apple device and improve the level of performance. It will be like having a new iPhone!
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Surely you, like most readers, have an iPhone, you came here hoping to find a solution to a situation that disturbs anyone- a slow smartphone. A little while ago we wrote about how to clear the cache on the iPhone or iPad, a process that can speed up your device and free up some space.
Usually, when your iPhone starts to slow down it’s because the free space in memory is about to run out, even if it’s one of the newer models or if you’ve just installed the latest version of your operating system.
It is a fact that all electronic devices end up losing speed over time when they are filled with files and programs. iPhones are no exception, although it is true that they usually do less than an Android device. If you really believe that your interface does not respond as it should, don’t miss the little tricks that we present below.
Slow iPhone? 12 tricks to increase speed
Check for operating system updates
Assuming that your iPhone is compatible with the latest version of the iOS operating system, we recommend that you always have it installed as it will fix the problems with the latest patches.
To check that you have downloaded it, simply go to “Settings” on your iPhone, select “General”, followed by “Software Update”.
This is a good solution only for the newer models since for the smartphones that already have a few years, the installation of the new version could cause the opposite of what you want and your device could go even slower.
On the other hand, it is true that Apple has ensured that with the new iOS 12 this will no longer be the case and that, if installed, you will notice a clear improvement in performance even in previous models.
Close all open applications
Once you have verified that your iPhone has installed the latest version of iOS, you can continue with the tricks that we present below, starting by closing all the applications you have opened on your smartphone.
Doing it is as simple as double-clicking the start button and scrolling through the applications to close them. On the iPhone X, you have to slide from below, hold your finger until a red cross appears and slide up each app.
Apple says that having many apps open does not slow down the speed of their devices, but our experience tells us that following this little trick can help. We only hope that in the future there will be a way to close them all at once.
Turn your iPhone on and off
The time has come to completely turn off and on your iPhone. To do this, you must first press and hold for a few seconds the top button – in the iPhone 5s or earlier – or the side button – in the iPhone 6 or later – and a volume button with the X version.
So, you have to slide the switch that appears on the screen next to the “Scroll to turn off” message. Wait about 10 seconds to stop turning off and press the same button again for a while.
You will know that your iPhone is restarting correctly when you see the Apple icon. We don’t recommend doing it very often, but if you do it from time to time you will notice an improvement in the performance of the applications and of the system in general.
Remove applications you no longer use
If you are running out of space on your iPhone, it’s time to delete those applications you no longer use. Having little free memory on your smartphone is certainly one of the main reasons why you have noticed that it is slower than normal.
If you don’t know which apps to delete, you can check which ones are taking up more space by going to “Settings”, followed by “General” and “iPhone Memory”. It will not be difficult to identify the applications on the list that are making your iPhone go slow.
Select the app you want to delete and, in the new screen, tap the “Remove app” button. If those applications that you occupy the most are “Photos” or “Music”, we recommend that you delete some of your songs and images.
You can also go back to the main screen and delete those applications by holding down any application for a few seconds until a small cross appears in the upper left corner. You must confirm the action by tapping on the “Remove app”.
Delete history and data from Safari websites
You should also try to clear the cache that has been saved on your device after browsing Safari, as this will also help you free up space on your iPhone and, therefore, make it go faster.
To do this, open the “Settings” and scroll down until you find the “Safari” option. In the new screen, also scroll down and click on the “Delete history and website data” button. You must confirm the action by tapping ‘Delete’.
Keep in mind that this means that you will use Safari as if it were the first time, so you will not have any record of your habits and preferences and it will take a while to come back to suggest searches based on your interests.
Disable background processes on your slow iPhone
Turning off all those processes taking place in the background will help you increase the speed of your iPhone, in the same way, you will also see the battery life extended.
First, you can disable automatic downloads by going to ‘Settings’, select the ‘iTunes Store and App Store’ section and turn off the green switch visible next to the ‘Updates’ option.
Second, you should disable the background update by going to “Settings”, selecting the “General” section, followed by “Refresh in the background”. Tap “Refresh in the background” and, in the new screen, select “No”.
Disable graphic effects
Starting from the iOS 7 version, several visual effects have been introduced which, while creating an incredible interface experience, have direct consequences on the speed of the iPhone. That’s why, when you deactivate them, you should notice an improvement.
First of all, we recommend that you turn off the “Reduce movement” option by going to “Settings”, selecting the “General” section, followed by “Accessibility”. Tap “Reduce movement and turn off the switch you will see next to “Reduce movement”.
In this way, you will stop seeing the parallax effect included in the icons and notifications. However, most people find it easier to use the device once it is turned off.
On the other hand, it is also convenient to adjust the effects that the iPhone includes to improve interface contrast and readability. Open the “Settings”, select “General”, followed by “Accessibility” and “Increase contrast” and activate the “Reduce transparency” option.
Restore your slow iPhone
To take a step beyond simply turning the iPhone off and on, we recommend trying to restore the device. The process will take longer, but it is much more effective in solving problems.
To restore, simultaneously press the upper button – with iPhone 5s and earlier – in the iPhone 6 and later versions – and wait for the screen to go black and keep pressing until the Apple logo is displayed.
In iPhone X, you must first press the button to turn up the volume and release it, press the button to lower the volume and release, and finally hold down the side button until you see the Apple logo, this is a great method when your iPhone is slow.
Delete text messages, photos, music…
Once again, one of the best tricks to improve the performance of your iPhone is to free up space from memory. As already announced, this can also be achieved by eliminating photos and music, as well as text messages.
How to delete text messages
Logically, the first thing you need to do to delete a text message is to open the “Messages” app and locate the SMS you no longer need to have on your iPhone. See especially those that include images, videos and voice notes.
Then, slide your finger on the SMS you wish to delete on the left until you see the two options displayed. In this case, you need to select the new red button called “Delete”.
On the other hand, it is true that getting rid of text messages with more multimedia content will help you free up space, but you may not be interested in keeping the photos, but keeping the messages.
Just press a moment on the image you want to delete, select the “Other” option and select all the photos you want to delete from the device. You can do the same if it’s video.
As for the audio, we suggest you change the settings so that these notes are deleted after listening to them. Go to “Settings”, select “Messages” and choose the “After 2 minutes” option that you will see next to the “Expiry” option.
How to delete songs
Surely, one of the reasons you have little space on your iPhone is the large number of songs you have stored on your device. Have all your favorite music is a luxury, but sometimes it is better to opt for the services Streaming.
To delete songs from your iPhone, you don’t need to connect it to iTunes. It’s as easy as opening the application, finding the one or those topics you want to delete, sliding it to the right and tapping ‘Delete’. Or you can transfer music from your PC to your iPhone or iPad using iTunes.
How to delete images and videos
To solve the problem of the slow iPhone just save all the images and videos you make with your iPhone and send them via WhatsApp. However, keeping them all will leave you with no space.
There are several ways to manage all these multimedia contents. You can simply delete them from the “Photos” app. Click “Select”, choose the photos and videos you want to delete and finally tap the icon as a trash can.
Don’t forget to go to the ‘Deleted’ folder to delete all deleted images again. If you don’t, your iPhone will do it automatically 30 days after deleting them from the main folder.
On the other hand, you can also take advantage of the process of copying your iPhone’s images to your PC / Mac to save those that you no longer need to have on your smartphone. Connect your iPhone, open the ‘Image Capture’ program and select ‘Delete after import’.
Then you need to select the photos you want to copy and drag them to the folder you want to save to PC or Mac. You can also select the ones you want to delete, but don’t copy by clicking on the red circle.
Change the battery of your iPhone
Since the release of iOS 10.2.1, Apple has slowed down the old iPhone models to try to extend battery life. Old batteries, low temperatures, and a slow charging process can cause irreparable damage to the device.
It is therefore advisable to check if it is already time to change the battery of your smartphone, which can be done simply by going to the “Battery” section in the “Settings”. You can visit Apple technical support to make the change if necessary.
Restore a backup
The problems with your slow iPhone may be easier to solve than you think if you restore a backup you recently made of your smartphone.
To do this, you need to connect your phone to your Mac and open iTunes. Then, click on the iPhone icon and select the ‘Restore copy…’ option in the ‘Perform backup and restore manually’ section.
It is necessary to keep in mind that, logically, when you perform this action, you will restore the status of your iPhone when the copy was made, which means that you will lose all the changes made since that time.
Restore your iPhone to factory settings
For your slow iPhone, one of the last resources at your disposal is to completely restore your iPhone to factory values. This will delete all the data you have on your smartphone and will return it to the state in which you purchased it.
Therefore, it is essential that you have first backed up all your data with the help of iTunes or iCloud or any other cloud storage service. If you don’t mind losing photos, contacts or songs, you can skip this step.
When you are ready, you can go to “Settings”, touch “General”, followed by “Restore”. Finally, select “Delete contents and settings”, enter your password, confirm the action and in a few seconds your iPhone will be restored.
Wait a few minutes and you can reconfigure the phone like you did after you purchased it. To do this, you need to choose the location, connect to WiFi, connect it to your Apple ID account, among other things.
