If you’re like most users, you’ll agree that some days, your iPhone feels like it’s running at the speed of a snail on a tortoise. This dip in speed can affect the battery’s performance. Therefore, if you know how to make your phone run faster then, you can make your iPhone battery last longer.
In this article, we’ll highlight all the tips and tricks to use when your iPhone starts lagging.
Tips on how to make your iPhone run smoother
1. Get rid of old images
Old images usually take significant storage space on your iPhone, especially if you’re a photo freak.
Therefore, deleting these images is a great way to help you speed up your phone and save your iPhone battery health.
Moreover, you can backup these old pictures on iCloud, and have them for life.
2. Delete all unnecessary applications
Some iPhone users load their phones with irrelevant apps because these devices usually have large storage spaces.
However, why keep an app you don’t use?
To save your iPhone battery, cleanse it of these apps and keep only those you use frequently.
Luckily, you can find out how much space an app occupies on an iPhone.
To do this, head to Settings > General > Storage & iCloud usage > Manage storage.
If you see one unused app is taking too much space, delete it.
3. Erase old text message threads
If you scan through your phone, you’d probably see message threads that are up to a year old.
That’s not good for your phones’ functionality. (Note that text messages can also include pictures, videos and multimedia messages).
Therefore, an excellent way to sort this out is to set a timeframe for how long messages should stay on your phone.
On the iPhone, you can set a schedule for 30 days, one month and forever. To do this, go to Settings > Messages > Keep messages.
Your iPhone is a badass computer, and you should treat it as such.
Ridding the Safari app of its cache also aids the smooth running of your device.
To do this, go straight to Settings > Safari. Then tap “Clear History and Website Data.”
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4. Turn off the auto-update feature
If you notice that your iPhone is running a bit slow, then there could be apps trying to auto-update themselves in the background.
There is an easy way to change the settings. First, go to Settings > iTunes & App Store.
Then switch the toggle off. Doing this will make your iPhone battery last longer.
5. Turn off automatic downloads
Similar to auto-updates, automatic downloads could ruin your iPhone battery.
If you activate the automatic apps update, and you download a file on your iPad, it will automatically start downloading on your iPhone.
While this iPhone feature proves useful to many users, it is bound to slow down the functionality of your device.
To turn it off, head to Settings > iTunes & App Store. Then turn the toggle off.
6. Avoid automatic connection requests
If you’re an experienced iPhone user, you’ll agree that your phone sends notifications requesting you to join Wi-Fi networks.
Anytime your phone automatically connects to nearby networks, it slows down.
If that feature is also automatically updated on your phone, you might want to turn it off to save your iPhone battery.
To do that, go to, Settings > Wi-Fi & Ask to join other networks. Then turn the slider off.
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7. Restart your phone
You restart your computer often, right? Well, you need to do that for your phone as well.
Like we stated earlier, your iPhone works like a computer, and sometimes this might be the easy fix to your problems.
Phones that run 24/7 are bound to slow down after a while.
So, it’s okay for you to restart it once in a while. Moreover, doing this helps to make your iPhone battery last longer.
8. Optimize your iPhone’s user interface
It’s no secret that iPhones are built with a unique user interface (user experience) ranging from animations to app transitions.
The iOS navigation system also makes it super easy for you to use your phone.
To make your user interface run faster, head over to your Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion.
Enabling this would speed up the animations on your phone.
Asides this, you can also disable the ‘Auto-Play Message Effects’. However, doing this would make texting less fun.
Finally, you could also reduce the transparency and blur effects to speed up the performance of your iPhone.
Click on the line above ‘Reduce Motion’ that reads ‘Increase Contrast’ and toggle it off.
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9. Turn Siri off
Siri is every iPhone user’s little helper. She can be super helpful but also a battery-killer.
Sadly, you might have to turn her off and search things manually once in a while to save your iPhone battery life.
To turn off Siri, go to your Settings > General > Keyboard and then turn off Siri.
10. Restore previous backup
If you backup your device frequently, restoring a backup might not be a bad idea.
If you notice your phone behaving sluggishly all of a sudden, then go to File > Devices > Restore from backup.
Apple has some tips for you on how you can back up all your iOS devices here.
11. Update your iPhone
For your iPhone to work properly, you need to update it regularly.
There are numerous advantages to getting these updates.
For one, these updates often come with bug fixes. A lot of times, they are related to why your phone starts acting up.
Updating the software of an old model iPhone can make a phone crash. Why? Because the advanced software will overweigh the old model phone.
12. Reallocate your phone’s memory
Sometimes, it’s possible that the available memory space has a hand in your iPhone battery’s failing health.
According to Macworld, Battery Doctor can show you how fast your phone is running and help to redistribute the space in it.
13. Close apps running in the background
Most iPhones have enough temporary storage space to open multiple programs at once.
However, doing this could slow down its speed by using up much RAM.
Therefore, ensure that you only open one or two at a time.
To do this, head over to your home screen and double click on the home button. This activates the iPhone’s app switcher.
Swipe up to see the apps that are currently open and close those you don’t need.
When you’re down go back to the home screen. Also, check the battery saver settings to see how much memory you’ve freed up.
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14. Disable background app refresh
Asides automatically updating and background running, apps also refresh their content.
For example, your Twitter feed will refresh automatically. This takes up CPU cycles and can make your iPhone slow.
To turn it off, first go to ‘Settings’ then ‘General’ then ‘Background App Refresh’.
Finally, tap the switch toggle switch. This automatically prevents all apps from refreshing themselves in the background.
However, you could also opt to restrict only a few apps from background refreshing.
To do this, go to ‘Settings’, then ‘General’, then ‘Background App Refresh’.
Lastly, turn off the individual apps that you don’t want to be refreshed in the background.
15. Reset your phone
There is a thin line between resetting and restarting your phone.
Therefore, if no other tip works, then consider resetting your iPhone.
How to reset an iPhone 8
First, press and release the volume-up button. Next, do the same thing with the volume-down button.
Finally, press and hold the side button until your phone reboots. Then, you can release it.
Make sure you press all three buttons quickly.
How to reset an iPhone X
1. The first thing to do is to hold down the side button and volume-up key, or the volume-down button.
2. A slider would appear on your screen. Slide down to turn the phone off.
3. You can now turn on your phone how you usually would.
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How to reset the iPhone 11 series
Resetting the iPhone 11 also differs from other methods.
1. Quickly press and release the volume up button.
2. Do the same thing for the volume down button.
3. The final step is for you to press and hold the side button. Once the Apple logo comes up, release it.
In conclusion
No one likes a slow iPhone. However, some users brush it off as nothing only to find that it has affected their iPhone battery life.
We recommend you use the tips we’ve listed above to nip the problems of a slow iPhone in the bud and make your iPhone battery last longer.
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