11 Tips to fix iPhone lagging after update

"I upgraded iPhone XS 256GB to IOS 16 some weeks ago. After that, the phone has been lagging a lot, and when I write, everything freezes, and then it all comes at once after like 2 seconds. It was fine before upgrading; what's happening?"

Many iPhone users have been complaining that their iOS device is running slow after the latest iOS 16 update. They are facing various issues, such as the App is not responding or freezing, Apple Music is crashing, battery’s draining fast, touch screen not working, etc.

There is no fixed reason for this error, but different reasons may contribute to drastically affect your iPhone's performance. Some common reasons for lagging iPhones include too many apps running in the background, problematic apps, iPhone low on storage space, low battery, presence of junk files, etc.

A lagging iPhone can be very irritating to use. To tackle this issue, we've narrowed down 11 tips to troubleshoot slow-running iPhones after the iOS update.

11 Tips to Fix iPhone Lagging

11 tips to fix iphone lagging issue after update

1. Restart iPhone

Traditionally, restarting the device helps fix most of the iPhone issues. So, restart or soft reset your iPhone whenever you notice performance issues or UI lag.

For iPhone X and later

Press and hold down the Volume and Power buttons.
When the power-off slider appears, drag it to turn off the iPhone.
To turn your iPhone on, press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo.

restart iphone X and later version

For iPhone 6, 7, 8, or SE (2nd or 3rd generation)

Press and hold the side button of the iPhone until the power-off slider appears.
To turn your iPhone on, press and hold the side button until Apple logo appears.

restart iphone 6, 7, 8, and se

2. Close All the Running Apps

If you use many apps, they have cluttered in the background, and thus iPhone is lagging. And some particular apps like Facetime and Calendar are slow or laggy. So close apps to avoid or end iPhone lagging.

For iPhone X and later

From the bottom of the screen, swipe up to open the app card.
Swipe up on each App's preview one-by-one to close them.

For iPhone SE, eight and earlier

Double-click theHomebutton to view your recently used apps and swipe up to close them.

3. Delete Unused Apps

删除你不使用的应用程序free up some space on your iPhone. To know which App uses how much storage in iPhone, follow these steps.

Go toSettings, then tap onGeneral.
Now move toStorage and iCloud Usageand clickManage Storage.

Here, look at the unused App that is using more space and then delete them by performing these steps:

Long press the app icon until a menu appears.
Click on theRemove Appoption, select删除App,然后点击删除to confirm it.

delete app on iphone

4. Clear Safari History and Data

If your iPhone is lagging due to slow Safari, then follow the below quick fix:

Remove junk files, including cookies, history, cookies, and other browsing data in iPhone Safari Settings.

Go toSettings> Scroll toSafari>Clear History and Website Data.

Enable JavaScript on Safari Browser.

Go toAdvanced Optionon Safari > EnableJavaScripttoggle to green. It will make some websites unresponsive due to the developer demand on JavaScript load.

enable javascript on safari in iphone

5. Clear iPhone Storage

Your iPhone shows signs of declining performance or slowing down when there is little to no storage space available. Henceforth, you need to delete unnecessary videos and photos, applications that are taking up a lot of space. To clear iPhone storage, first, check the space occupied by each application:

Go toSettings>General>iPhone Storage.

6. Turn off Background App Refresh

Apps in your iPhone constantly fetch data from the servers to offer you the best experience. Even if your iPhone is idle, apps are constantly being refreshed in the background in search of the latest update, making it hot sometimes. Turn off the Background App Refresh to improve the performance and battery life of the iPhone.

To turn it off, go toSettings>General>Background App Refresh>Toggle itoff.

disable background app refresh

7. Enable Optimized Battery Charging

People are facing slow battery charging issues in iOS 16, where it takes more than 1 -1:30 hours to charge their devices fully. Moreover, sometimes your iPhone gets overheated during charging, even if it is resting idle. In this scenario, turn on the optimized battery charging mode to do this:

Go toSettingsApp > Tap onBattery.
Tap onBattery Healthand then enable the toggle ofOptimised Battery Charging.

enable optimized battery charging

8. Turn off Auto Updates

The feature of Auto-Update Apps in iPhone consumes processor and memory, which leads to the slowing of the device. Moreover, if the storage gets low, auto-update can affect the performance of the iPhone, so turn it off to do this:

Go toSettingsand scroll down toApps and iTunes Stores.
Now turn offAuto-Update Apps.

turn off automatic updates

9. Enable Reduce Motion Settings

You can try reducing the motion settings of your iPhone to improve or fix the performance issue to some extent. It includes screen transitions, Siri animation, parallax effects of wallpapers, etc. To do so, follow these steps:

For iOS 13 or later

Go toSettingson iPhone >Accessibility.
Look forMotionand tap on it.
Now,Enablethe toggle ofReduce Motion.

For iOS 12 or earlier

Go toSettings, openGeneraland click onAccessibility.
Tap on theReduce Motionto enable it.

10. Reset All Settings

After practicing the above method, if iOS 16 is still lagging, put all your iPhone settings to the system default. TheResetoption will not erase any data from your iPhone like Contacts, Mail, Messages, and more. However, it will reset the home screen layout, Keyboard Dictionary, Display, Privacy, Location, Bluetooth & Wi-Fi settings. To do so:

ForiOS 15

Go toSettings>General> Scroll toTransferorReset iPhone>Reset>Reset All Settings.

For iOS 14 & Earlier

Go toSettings>General>Reset> EnterPasscode>ResetAllSettings.

11. Wipe Your iPhone

This process will take some time, depending on how much data your iPhone saves. In this process, you first need to takeBackupof your iPhone data to iCloud/iTunes on Mac or PC. Afterward,Erase the iPhone你所有的dat和恢复的备份副本a back to the iPhone. To do this:

Go toSettingson the iPhone.
Scroll toGeneraland tap onReset.
Now, tap onErase All Content & Settings. [It will wipe your iPhone completely like it's new].
NowRestore Backup datato iPhone using iCloud or iTunes.

erase all content and settings in iphone

The Bottom Line

iPhone users love using it because of its seamless experience. However, with the recent iOS update, users claim that iPhone is lagging, which is true to some extent. But any of the above tips can help you fix the slow-running iPhone error.

While implementing these tips, if you lose any of your iPhone data or are unable to recover data from iCloud/iTunes, use safe and secureStellar Data Recovery for iPhoneto get back lost data.