How to Fix iPhone Lag: A Comprehensive Troubleshooting Guide

A slow iPhone can be incredibly frustrating, but fixing it is often straightforward. With a bit of time tweaking your settings, you can get your device running smoothly again. It’s not just older devices that lag, even a relatively new iPhone can slow down. This guide offers effective strategies to boost your iPhone’s performance.

1. Close Unnecessary Apps

Most iPhones can multitask effectively, but running many resource-heavy apps like photo editors, video editors, or games can cause your iPhone to slow down.

This is especially true for older phones with less memory. Try closing unused apps to speed up your iPhone. Just swipe up and hold to open the App Switcher, then drag the app windows upwards to close them.

2. Clean up Similar Photos and Videos

Searching for easy, fast, and smart cleaning, you can come across special apps for cleaning memory. They perform smart cleaning to increase iPhone storage in a minute. One of the apps with the best ratings on the App Store is CleanUp App – Phone Cleaner and it does what it is supposed to. In other words, it can clean up more memory on your device in a couple of screen taps. It can boost your phone not only by cleaning photos and videos, but also by compressing video files. There is also a secure storage feature where you can put your most valuable documents, and the app will protect them with a password.

3. Clear Safari Data

Clearing your Safari data is a good habit to improve your phone’s performance, although it means Safari won’t suggest URLs unless they’re bookmarked, and some websites may forget your preferences, requiring you to log in again. Here’s how to clear your Safari data:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Safari.
3. Select Clear History and Website Data.
4. Choose the timeframe and profiles for which you want to clear data, and decide whether or not to close all your tabs. Then, tap Clear History.

4. Enable Reduce Motion

Apple’s focus on visual appeal means iPhones come with lots of animations and effects. While they look great, they can sometimes slow down your device. Here’s a specific tip that has helped many users improve performance:

Enable Reduce Motion by following these steps:

1. Open Settings and tap on Accessibility.
2. Select Motion under the Visual section.
3. Turn on the toggle for Reduce Motion.

5. Disable the Low Power Mode

If Low Power Mode is on to save battery life, it might slow down some tasks. To speed up power-heavy apps and processes, try turning off Low Power Mode:

1. Open Settings → Go to Battery.
2. Toggle off Low Power Mode.

6. Avoid Extreme Temperatures

If your device overheats, it’s crucial to cool it down right away—just like you would for someone with a fever.

Here are a few quick tips to prevent your iPhone from overheating:

1. Avoid High Temperatures: Don’t expose your iPhone to extreme heat for extended periods.
2. Limit Intensive Apps: Try not to use resource-heavy apps too frequently.
3. Use a Heat-Protective Case: Invest in a quality case designed to protect your phone from overheating.

7. Check Network Connection

If your app needs a stable internet connection, check your network first. Slow internet can make apps take longer to load, making your iPhone seem slower. Try turning Airplane mode on and off to reset the network or connect to a strong Wi-Fi. For more tips, read our detailed guide on boosting cellular data speed on your iPhone.

8. Restart Your iPhone

Restarting your iPhone can help free up RAM, ensuring a smoother experience.

For iPhone X or later:

1. Press and hold the Side button and either volume button.
2. When the slider appears, drag it from left to right to turn off your iPhone.
3. Turn Off iPhone.
4. Wait about 30 seconds. Press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo.

9. Turn Off Location Services

Some processes, like Background App Refresh and Location Services, can drain your battery and slow down your iPhone. To speed up your device, turn these features off:

1. Open Settings and go to General.
2. Navigate to Privacy & Security, then tap Location Services.
3. Toggle off Location Services and confirm by tapping Turn Off when prompted.

10. Change Brightness

You can also tweak other motion settings for more energy savings. For instance, turning off message effects auto-play can help.

Here’s how to reduce screen brightness to improve your iPhone’s performance:

1. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness.
2. Use the scroll bar to reduce brightness.
3. Enable Night Shift to automatically lower brightness in dim environments.

Conclusion

Regular care and maintenance are essential for getting the most out of your iPhone. These strategies can help prolong battery life and extend your device’s lifespan, ensuring it performs at its best. This guide is particularly useful for older iPhones that no longer receive major iOS updates.