Why Is My iPhone So Slow? 7 Ways to Make Your iPhone Faster

What to Know 

  • There are several Settings to make an iPhone faster, including clearing Safari cookies and data. Just open Settings, tap Safari, and tap Clear History and Website Data.
  • Another way to speed up an iPhone is to open Settings, tap General, tap Background App Refresh and confirm, and tap Off. 

Want a faster iPhone? A slow iPhone doesn't necessarily need to be replaced. Here's how to make your iPhone faster, whether it's your newer or older iPhone running slowly. Speed up your iPhone with these seven easy steps!

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Why Is My iPhone So Slow? How to Make Your iPhone Faster

Here's how to speed up an iPhone, even an older iPhone! Whether you have an iPhone 6, iPhone 7, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 13, or the latest iPhone 15, we'll fix your slow iPhone. Before we get started, let's cover the easiest fixes to make your iPhone work faster again. Update your iOS, turn off Siri, and use Low-Data mode one at a time to see if they make your iPhone run faster. If not, follow the steps below. 

1. Check Wi-Fi & Cellular Coverage

It's possible that you have a slow iPhone because your Wi-Fi or Cellular signal isn't strong enough. To check this, look at the top-right corner of your iPhone screen. The icon to the far right indicates how full your battery is; to the left of that is the Wi-Fi icon, and to the left of the Wi-Fi icon is the cellular coverage icon. The more white bars on your cellular and Wi-Fi icons, the stronger the signals are. If you don't have strong signals, move somewhere with better Wi-Fi and cellular coverage to see if that will speed up your iPhone.

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why is my iphone so slow it might be low wifi and cellular signal

2. Close All Nonessential Apps

In my Phone battery-saving tips roundup, I told everyone to forget closing apps all the dang time, because it uses up your battery. But those background apps (whether refreshing or not) do take up iPhone memory. The middle-ground viewpoint on how to make your phone faster and save on battery is to close all nonessential apps, but leave open the ones you consistently return to throughout the day. That way, your iPhone will use less battery opening up those essential apps and save on memory when you close out a game you’re finished playing, or a social media feed you don’t need to check again for a while. To do this, open the app switcher and swipe up to close out any nonessential apps.

make iphone faster

3. How to Make Your iPhone Faster with the iPhone Restart Trick

This isn’t the same as simply restarting your iPhone or powering it down; this is how to clear your iPhone’s RAM. To do this, follow the steps for your iPhone model in the article linked above until your screen goes black and then pops back up. Before you try this tip, make sure you have closed all your unused apps per the above tip: if you leave a lot of apps open, your iPhone will reopen them when it reboots, which takes up a lot of memory. 

4. Make Your iPhone Faster by Clearing Safari Cookies & Data

It’s good to note that doing this will mean Safari won’t suggest URLs when typing unless they’re bookmarked. Some websites may also forget preferences, and you will have to log in to your online accounts again, but, regardless, it’s good practice to clear your cookies and data every now and again.

  1. Open the Settings app.

  2. Tap Safari.

    Safari
  3. Select Clear History and Website Data.

    clear cookies

5. Turn Off Automatic Downloads & Background App Refresh

This trick can speed up iPhone performance and improve battery life. Since Automatic Downloads and Background App Refresh run in the background, turning them off means there’s less happening out of sight that could cause a slow iPhone. To turn them off:

  1. Open the Settings app.

  2. Tap General.

    General
  3. Tap Background App Refresh, then tap Background App Refresh once more.

    Background App Refresh
  4. Tap Off.

    App refresh Off
  5. Go back to Settings and tap App Store.

    App Store
  6. Toggle off Apps and App Updates under Automatic Downloads.

    toggle off app downloads app updates and in-app content

6. Free Up iPhone Storage

One way to make your iPhone faster is to check how much iPhone storage space you have, and optimize storage space on your iPhone if there's not enough. One way you can make an iPhone run faster is by deleting attachments. Particularly focus on messages with lots of images, GIFs, or videos, as they take up the most space and memory. To do this:

  1. Open your Messages app.

    Messages
  2. Go down the list of Messages and swipe left.

    Swipe left
  3. Tap Delete on any you can discard.

    Delete

To automatically take care of this step in the future, you can choose how long messages are saved:

  1. Open the Settings app.

  2. Tap Messages.

    Messages
  3. Tap Keep Messages.

    Keep Messages
  4. Select either 30 Days or 1 Year instead of Forever.

    30 Days or 1 Year

I’ve also consistently found that deleting music, pictures, and apps will help as well. You can easily manage this by opening Settings and selecting General. Then, choose Storage & iCloud Usage. Under Storage, choose Manage Storage. You’ll see how much space you have available on your iPhone and how much space your apps are taking up. If an app uses a large amount of space, it’s probably using a lot of memory too. So delete any apps you don’t need. I’ve also read that deleting apps such as Spotify and Twitter and then re-downloading them helps clear their caches and instantly takes up less memory.

If it’s Music that takes up lots of space on your iPhone, you can also tap Music to manage and delete what’s taking up too much memory and storage or simply isn’t needed anymore.

If it’s Photos & Camera taking up too much, then use this article to get those photos from your iPhone to a computer and delete them afterward.

7. Enable Reduce Motion

I saved this one for last because, in my mind, it’s the most extreme. The iPhone does a beautiful job of seamlessly transitioning between apps with animations. But these animations take up battery life and can contribute to a slow iPhone. If you don’t mind the difference, you can easily choose to Reduce Motion in Settings.

  1. Open the Settings app.

  2. Select Accessibility.

    Accessibility
  3. Tap Motion.

    Motion
  4. Toggle Reduce Motion on.

    Reduce Motion

Even though this solution didn’t create any extra memory, the iPhone feels faster because no time is being spent on the animation of zooming in and out of apps. The screen just changes.

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FAQ

  • Why is my iPhone so slow and laggy? You may have a poor network connection, frozen apps, not enough storage, poor battery health, Low Power mode may be on, or your iPhone could be too hot or cold.
  • How can I make my iPhone faster or speed up an older iPhone? You can clear browser cookies and data, uninstall unused apps and close apps you aren't using, free up storage by deleting image-heavy messages, unneeded music, pictures and apps, and more.
  • Why is my iPad slow? If you have a slow iPad, it's for many of the same reasons your iPhone is running slow. Check out Why Is My iPad So Slow? Learn How to Fix & Speed Up Any iPad to learn more. 

Now, you know how to make an iPhone faster, smoother, and quicker. If not, the last resort is to factory reset your iPhone, and contact Apple Support if even that doesn't work. You might even be able to put off upgrading for another few years! 

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Author Details

Conner Carey's picture

Author Details

Conner Carey

Conner Carey's writing can be found at conpoet.com. She is currently writing a book, creating lots of content, and writing poetry via @conpoet on Instagram. She lives in an RV full-time with her mom, Jan and dog, Jodi as they slow-travel around the country.