Once the initial excitement of owning an iPhone fades away with time, you may begin to notice a decrease in its performance compared to when you first unboxed it. This perception isn’t unfounded – Apple has indeed been known to slow down older iPhones to optimize battery usage intentionally. However, numerous other factors can contribute to your iPhone’s sluggishness, and fortunately, some of them can be resolved. Here are effective and personally tested strategies for increasing iPhone performance.
- Update your iPhone
Keeping your iPhone’s operating system up to date is always a wise move as iOS updates frequently incorporate crucial security patches. Equally vital, these updates occasionally include performance optimizations that can enhance your phone’s speed and battery management.
To ensure that your iPhone is running the latest iOS version, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap on General, then select Software Update.
- Verify that the Automatic Updates option is enabled.
- If there is an update waiting to be installed, tap on Download and Install.
- Free up iPhone storage space
Dealing with low storage on your iPhone can lead to lag in common tasks such as saving videos or photos. The first step is to check the available storage and take the necessary actions to free up space on your device. Do you want easy, fast, and smart cleaning? Yes, there is an option to increase iPhone storage using the application.
Looking to maximize your iPhone’s storage? Consider using Call Recorder for iPhone, an app that not only helps record important calls but also optimizes storage usage by efficiently managing recorded files. With its intuitive interface, you can easily organize and store recordings without compromising on your device’s storage capacity. Wondering if can you record a phone call on iPhone? This app, with its robust functionalities, has you covered, ensuring your crucial conversations are securely stored while freeing up valuable space for optimal performance.
- Close nonessential apps
Background apps, whether they refresh or not, consume iPhone memory. A middle-ground approach to conserve both battery and memory is to close nonessential apps while keeping the ones you use regularly open throughout the day. By doing so, your iPhone will consume less battery when opening these essential apps and save on memory when closing games or social media feeds that aren’t immediately necessary. To follow this approach, open the app switcher and swipe up to close any nonessential apps.
- Check the battery condition
One of the leading causes of lag on an iPhone is a deteriorating battery. All smartphones are equipped with a fixed charging cycle and a Lithium-ion battery. For heavy users, the battery capacity of an iPhone decreases significantly after a few years of usage. To check the battery health of your iPhone, follow these steps:
- Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on Battery.
- Open the ‘Battery Health & Charging’ option.
- Check the Maximum Capacity.
If the maximum capacity of your iPhone’s battery is below 70%, you will continue to experience below-average battery life and lag. In such cases, it is recommended to schedule an appointment at the nearest Apple service center to replace the battery. Additionally, you can enable the ‘Optimized Battery Charging’ toggle in the same menu to reduce battery aging.
- Disable background app refresh
Certain extensions can operate in the background even when an app is not actively running. For instance, content loading for notifications or fetching feeds. To resolve this issue, you can disable the background app refresh feature by following these steps:
- Open the Settings menu.
- Scroll down and find the app that is causing the issue.
- Tap on the app name.
- Disable the Background App Refresh option if it is currently enabled.
- Force restart iPhone
When your iPhone is unresponsive and you can’t turn it off, you can try force restarting it.
Follow these steps:
- Press and quickly release the volume up button.
- Repeat the same action with the volume down button.
- Hold down the side button until you see the Apple logo.
- Turn off Low Power mode
To extend your battery life, Low Power Mode is created to reduce certain features, potentially causing slight delays in completing tasks. If your iPhone has ample charge, it is recommended to keep this feature disabled, allowing your iPhone to operate at its normal speed without any imposed power limitations. To turn off Low Power Mode, go to Settings > Battery and disable it.
- Remove widgets you don’t use
Having an excess of widgets on your home screen can greatly affect your iPhone’s performance. Fortunately, removing them is incredibly simple.
- Find and press the Widget you wish to remove.
- Tap on “Remove Widget”.
- Turn off automatic downloads
To ensure optimal system resource availability and reduce the workload on your iPhone, access the Settings app and navigate to specific app categories such as App Store, Music, Books, and Podcasts. Disable automatic downloads and updates for apps, music, books, podcasts, and more.
- Factory reset iPhone
If the tricks don’t work, it’s time to factory reset the iPhone. First, you need to take a device backup using iCloud or a PC, and then follow the instructions below to erase all content from the phone.
- Open the iPhone Settings and go to the ‘Transfer or Reset iPhone’ option.
- Select ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ and confirm your decision.
- Once you set up your iPhone from scratch, restore the backup from iCloud or your PC, and you’re ready.
Final Words
Your task to optimize iPhone performance is to reduce the load on it. To do this, you should delete, close everything unnecessary, and abandon unimportant background processes. You should also check the battery status and power settings. As a last resort, you have to resort to resetting the data, but this is one of the most effective methods.
