Phone Running Slow? How to Speed It Up (iPhone and Android)
A sluggish phone is usually caused by storage that's nearly full, too many apps running in the background, or software that needs updating. Most of these fixes take under five minutes.
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Phones slow down for predictable reasons. The fixes are usually simple — and you don't need to buy a new device yet.
Restart the Phone
It sounds obvious, but many people leave their phone running for weeks. A full restart clears cached data, stops runaway processes, and often makes an immediate difference. Power the phone off completely (not just sleep) and let it boot fresh.
Free Up Storage Space
When storage is 90% or more full, performance suffers noticeably — both iPhone and Android need free space to operate swap memory and write temporary files.
- iPhone: Go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage and follow the recommendations. Offloading unused apps and clearing photo duplicates are good starting points.
- Android: Go to Settings → Storage and tap Free up space or use the built-in Files app to find large files.
Update Your Software
Older software versions sometimes contain bugs that cause slowness. On iPhone, go to Settings → General → Software Update. On Android, go to Settings → Software update (Samsung) or Settings → System → System update (Pixel).
Close Background Apps — Selectively
Swiping away every app in the multitasking switcher doesn't always help — iOS and Android manage background apps well on their own. However, if a specific app is misbehaving (a social media or fitness app stuck syncing), force-closing just that one can help. Don't make a habit of closing everything; it can actually slow things down by forcing apps to reload from scratch.
Check Which Apps Use the Most Battery and Processing Power
- iPhone: Settings → Battery shows which apps used the most power recently. An app with unusually high background activity is a suspect.
- Android: Settings → Battery → Battery usage gives similar information.
If one app is consistently at the top and you don't use it often, uninstall or restrict its background activity.
Turn Off Visual Effects (Android)
On older Android phones, reducing animations can help. Go to Settings → Developer options → Window animation scale and set all three animation scales to 0.5x or off. (You may need to enable Developer options first by tapping Build number seven times in Settings → About phone.)
Reduce Motion on iPhone
Go to Settings → Accessibility → Motion → Reduce Motion and turn it on. This simplifies the parallax and animation effects that can make the interface feel sluggish on older models.
Reset All Settings (iPhone) or Cache Partition (Android)
On iPhone, Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Reset → Reset All Settings restores defaults without deleting apps or data — it's often surprisingly effective. On Android, booting into recovery mode and wiping the cache partition (not the data partition) clears accumulated junk without a factory reset.
If your phone is more than four or five years old and slowing down despite these steps, it may be time for a hardware upgrade. Ask us for advice on what to look for.
Frequently asked questions
My iPhone slowed down after a recent iOS update. Is Apple deliberately slowing it down?
Apple did in the past throttle older iPhones with degraded batteries through a feature called performance management — but that feature now requires your consent and is disclosed in Settings → Battery → Battery Health & Charging. More commonly, a fresh iOS update simply needs a day or two to finish indexing files and completing background tasks before performance settles. If it remains slow, check your battery health; if it's below 80%, a battery replacement often restores speed significantly.
Should I install a 'phone cleaner' or 'RAM booster' app to speed things up?
No. On both iPhone and Android, these apps provide little to no real benefit and some actively harm performance by running their own background processes. iOS doesn't even allow third-party apps to clear system RAM. The built-in storage management tools in Settings are more effective and don't introduce new overhead.
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