9 Easy Ways to Make Your iPhone and iPad Run Faster

Turn Automatic Updates OFF

Your iPhone and iPad can automatically look for updates and install them without you even knowing it. Although it's helpful, it might be affecting your device's performance, and not to mention, it might also help drain your battery faster. To turn off automatic updates, do this.

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to General.
3. Tap Software Update.
4. Tap Automatic Updates.
5. Disable Download iOS Updates and Install iOS Updates.

Disable Automatic Downloads

Just like with automatic software updates, your iPhone or iPad will also automatically download and install apps and app updates, which can take a toll on performance. You can disable automatic downloads by doing the following:

1. Open Settings.
2. Scroll down and select App Store.
3. Toggle Apps and App Updates off.

Get Rid of Old Text Messages

Tons of old text messages might be one reason why your iPhone or iPad is slower than before. Fortunately, there's an easy way to get rid of them. Here's what you need to do:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and select Messages.
3. Scroll down again and tap on Keep Messages.
4. Select how long you want to keep your messages. Older messages will then be permanently deleted.

It might seem tough at first, but most of us don't read really old messages that often. Plus, you can always change the setting back.

Restart Your iPhone or iPad

Turning something off and back on again might seem like a joke at this point, but it does work. For example, restarting your iPhone or iPad might help it clear RAM that might be causing your device to slow down. Do this if you want to restart an iPhone or iPad with no Home button:

1. Press and hold the side button and one of the volume buttons at the same time until a slider appears.
2. Swipe the slider at the top to the right to turn off your iPhone or iPad.
3. After a few moments, press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo.

If you have an iPhone or iPad with a Home button, do this:

1. Press and hold the side or power button until the slider appears.
2. Swipe the slider at the top of your screen to the right to turn off your iPhone or iPad.
3. After a while, press and hold the side or power button until you see the Apple logo on your screen.

Update Your Device

There's no doubt that updating your iPhone or iPad might give you that quick and easy fix you were looking for. The truth is, it's possible that your device is slowing down because of an iOS-related issue. If that's the case, Apple's probably already trying to fix it. Meaning that you should try to update your iPhone as fast as possible. Here's how to do it:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to General.
3. Tap on Software Update.

If there's an update available, start downloading and installing it and see if that makes your iPhone or iPad run faster.

Delete Unnecessary Media

In today's world, you're probably seeing and downloading hundreds of memes every week. Even though most of them are so funny that you don't want to delete them, they might be what's making your iPhone or iPad slower. When the storage starts to get full, the iPhone or iPad might start to run slower than before. If you want to help your iPhone, you might want to get rid of a few photos and videos from the Photos app. And while you're at it, make sure to delete any unnecessary apps too. Apps also take a lot of space, and there's no point in having them if you're not using them at the moment.

Reduce or Disable Background App Refresh

Background App Refresh is a feature that lets apps run in the background, even if you don't have them open. That way, you can get the content and features of the app instantly. Unfortunately, this feature does not only reduce battery life, but it may also make your iPhone and iPad run slower. The good news is that it's pretty easy to disable. 

1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings.
2. Tap on General.
3. Select Background App Refresh.

You can disable specific apps so they don't use Background App Refresh, or you can tap on Background App Refresh at the top and select Off so that no app can use this feature.

Turn On Reduce Motion

Even if you don't pay attention to them, your iPhone and iPad have a few animations that make the experience a bit smoother. That is, until your device starts to run slower. Reducing the motion on your iPhone or iPad might help with their performance, or at least make it feel snappier. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and select Accessibility.
3. Tap on Motion.
4. Toggle Reduce Motion on.

Tip: Since you're there already, you might want to disable Auto-Play Message Effects too. This is what automatically triggers fullscreen effects on Messages, which might also slow down your iPhone or iPad.

Erase Your iPhone or iPad

If everything else fails, you can always try a fresh start for your iPhone or iPad. Restarting your device will get rid of everything that might be slowing it down. Remember that this will delete everything on your iPhone. That means media, apps, and settings. So make sure to backup your iPhone before you even think about doing this.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to General.
3. Scroll down and tap on Transfer or Reset iPhone or iPad.
4. Tap on Reset All Content and Settings.
5. Follow the instructions on your iPhone or iPad.

Once you're done, your iPhone will restart, and you'll have to set it up from scratch or from the backup you created earlier.