Should the iPhone or iPad seem slower after an operating system update or after a few years of constant use? Unfortunately, every update can bring to light some problems that maybe didn’t exist before, caused perhaps by some app installed or by settings incorrectly configured.If after a few days and some reboots after installing the update we still notice insufficient performance or, in any case, lower than before, in this guide we will show you how to speed up the iPhone and optimize iOS, so as to make it come back as fast as before. The advice can also be applied to iPhones older than 3 years, so as to be able to recover most of the fluidity we were used to at the time of purchase.
READ ALSO: Options on iOS to change or disable (iPhone and iPad)
How to speed up the iPhone and optimize iOS
If the operating system of the iPhone starts to give problems while starting the app or we notice slowdowns while typing or browsing the Internet, we advise you to check and apply the following suggestions, which can speed up any iPhone supported by Apple.
Restart the phone
The first method to restore the proper functioning of the iPhone (and any other device) is the reboot. We turn off the iPhone using the power button, wait 2 minutes then turn the phone back on. This simple procedure will help bring the iPhone back fast, especially if it hasn’t been turned off for more than 7 days.
Decrease apps in the background
If we have too many apps in the background (such as WhatsApp, Facebook or other similar apps), they take up CPU and RAM constantly checking for new messages or updates.
So let’s try to turn off all updates in the background or turn off the background update for apps that we don’t use often.
To make this change let’s get in Settings> General> Update app in the background and we remove the check mark from the apps in the list; we can make the update more selective by tapping up on Update app in the background and selecting Wifi, so that the apps can update automatically only when we are under Wi-Fi network.
Uninstall unused apps
Hooking up with the speech seen in the previous chapter, if we have apps that we haven’t used for more than 2 weeks, it doesn’t make sense to leave them on the iPhone to take up space in RAM and CPU and to constantly update.
If we have unused apps we can uninstall them by holding down on an app with your finger and using the X-shaped button to remove them from the system; the more useless apps we remove, the faster the iPhone will return.
Decrease the widgets on the Today screen
Having many active widgets at any time, even when the phone is not in use, can slow down any type of iPhone. We can then remove some unused widgets on the screen Today (obtainable by scrolling to the right on the home or in the lockscreen) scrolling through the screen until you find the Edit button and tapping on the Xs next to the widgets.
Disable energy saving mode
The energy saving mode decreases the performance of the iPhone to ensure greater autonomy; it is activated automatically when there is little charge, but if we activate it manually (even by mistake) we will see our iPhone slow down dramatically.
To turn off energy saving, when you don’t need it, take us on the path Settings -> Battery and remove the check mark from the item Energy saving.
Disable graphic animations
This is certainly one of the most effective ways to speed up the iPhone and optimize iOS, but we will have to give up the graphic effects developed by Apple for the transitions between the screens and other graphic trappings.
To turn off the graphic animations let’s get on the path Settings -> General -> Accessibility and we activate the voices Reduce transparency, Reduce movement is Increase contrast, so as to make the iPhone very fast in switching between apps and in tabs, but less beautiful to be seen.
Turn off the raise function to activate
From the iPhone 6S onwards we can find the functionality Raise to activate, which is very useful to immediately check the notifications on the screen, but it can consume more energy than necessary, quickly discharging the battery and occupying CPU more time than necessary (since it must always be active in order to show us the notifications).
If we want to disable the option let’s get in Settings -> Display and brightness and we deactivate the item Raise to activate.
Turn off search suggestions
If you frequently use the search, you gain speed in searches by turning off suggestions from all the apps.
To apply this suggestion let’s take the path Settings -> Siri and Search then we turn off the entries Spotlight suggestions, Search suggestions is Screen lock tips; alternatively we can remove the suggestions only to certain apps by scrolling through the page, selecting the unwanted app and deactivating the entries Suggestions and Siri is Allow on the screen lock.
Empty the RAM
The iPhone is like any other computer device, so it accumulates more and more apps in RAM memory until it runs out (which coincides with a slowdown in the system). If we keep multiple apps active, the iPhone will inevitably slow down.
In this regard we can free up the RAM by pressing the Home button twice (On iPhone 8 or earlier) or by scrolling up from the bottom of the screen, stopping in the middle (on iPhone X and later), so as to open the screen of apps open in memory; to empty the RAM run to the right or to the left and swipe upwards on all the apps to close them. We don’t have to do this operation often, but only when we notice significant system slowdowns (since iOS uses RAM to open and maintain apps in the background).
Perform the restore
If the iPhone remains slow even after all the suggestions suggested above, the only method left to speed up performance is to restore it to factory settings, so as to return the phone as it was purchased.
To restore the iPhone, let’s take the path Settings -> General -> Reset and select the item Initialize content and settings. We will be asked for the Apple password, which we will have to confirm in order to start the actual recovery procedure.
After about 10 minutes of recovery, the iPhone will restart and the initial welcome screen will appear, so you can use the iPhone as it was just purchased.
In another article we investigated the matter, showing you how do the iPhone factory reset.
Conclusions
Following the suggested suggestions we will be able to speed up even the oldest iPhones (iPhone 6 and 7) and get the most out of the latest iPhones (iPhone 8 and the X series).
In another article we showed you how to optimize the battery on the iPhone with energy-saving, so you can increase battery life on iPhones that are over 2 years old. If instead we look for a guide to configure a new iPhone from scratch, we advise you to read our article on New iPhone configurations and iOS settings to get the most.