iPhone Running Slow?

1 Restart Your iPhone

The simplest fix - clears memory and stops stuck processes:

1. Hold Side Button + Volume Down
2. Slide to power off
3. Wait 30 seconds
4. Hold Side Button to turn back on

Tip: Restart weekly to keep your iPhone running smoothly.

2 Free Up Storage

iPhones slow down when storage is nearly full:

1. Go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage
2. Target at least 5-10GB free space
3. Delete unused apps, old photos, downloads

See our full guide: How to Free Up iPhone Storage

3 Close Background Apps

While iOS manages apps well, closing unused ones can help on older iPhones:

1. Swipe up from bottom and pause (or double-click Home button)
2. Swipe up on app cards to close them
3. Focus on recently used apps

4 Reduce Motion & Animations

Visual effects slow down older iPhones:

1. Go to Settings → Accessibility → Motion
2. Enable Reduce Motion
3. This removes parallax effects and fancy transitions

5 Reduce Transparency

1. Go to Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size
2. Enable Reduce Transparency
3. Makes menus solid instead of see-through

6 Disable Background App Refresh

Apps updating in the background use CPU:

1. Go to Settings → General → Background App Refresh
2. Turn OFF completely, or disable for heavy apps

7 Limit Location Services

GPS tracking slows performance:

1. Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services
2. Change apps from "Always" to "While Using"
3. Disable for apps that don't need location

8 Update iOS

Updates often include performance improvements:

1. Go to Settings → General → Software Update
2. Install any available updates

9 Update Apps

Old apps can have performance issues:

1. Open App Store
2. Tap your profile icon at top
3. Scroll down and tap Update All

10 Clear Safari Data

Browser cache builds up over time:

1. Go to Settings → Safari
2. Tap Clear History and Website Data

11 Reset All Settings

If nothing else works (keeps your data):

1. Go to Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone
2. Tap Reset → Reset All Settings
3. You'll need to reconfigure WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.

12 Check Battery Health

Degraded batteries cause performance throttling:

1. Go to Settings → Battery → Battery Health & Charging
2. If under 80%, consider battery replacement
3. Check if "Peak Performance Capability" shows throttling