6 Ways to Speed up iOS 11 in Older iPhones

So you updated your iPhone to the latest iOS 11 and I bet you're very much happy about it, but then again you noticed that your iPhone is becoming laggy since after you the update. What a bummer!!!, I know, but don't worry, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, tricks that will definitely speed up your old iPhone and still retain those exiting features of iOS 11 that you are currently enjoying. So here are few ways to speed up iOS 11 on older iPhones

1. Free Up Some Space

Have you ever considered the fact that your iPhone started acting sluggish after updating to the new iOS 11 because there are too many junk files? iPhones, just like every other traditional smartphone that is filled or storage capacity is near filled tends to run slower. You can do well to lighten its load by removing a bunch of things like apps you no longer use, erasing some old photos/videos you no longer need or have them backed up to icloud.

Apple did well to introduce few new tools that can come in handy for iPhone users to regain some storage space in the new iOS 11. Head to Settings >>> General >>> Storage & iCloud Usage and select Manage Storage under the Storage section. Here, you'll see a colourful chart that shows you how much space you are using and how much free space you have remaining.

Just below the storage usage chart will be few recommendations about how to save storage. The part I love most is the newfound ability to Offload Unused Apps, enable iCloud Photo Photo Library, Auto Delete Old Conversations (texts and attachments more than a year old) and Review Large Attachments.

2. Keep Your Apps Updated

Some or most smartphone users get reluctant of updating their apps, especially those ones they do not use on daily basis. But the truth is that old and outdated apps may not run as smoothly or quickly on the new iOS 11 without an update. After updating your iPhone to iOS 11, open the App Store app, >> then Updates >> Update All to update any outdated app(s) from your older version of iOS waiting to be updated.

3. Disable Auto-updating

As much as you are advised to always use an up-to-date app, you are advised not to do that automatically. Do not let your iPhone update your apps for you, rather you will have to do the updating manually.

iOS 11 came with newer iPhone models but Apple made it reach every iPhone out there and it runs processes in the background to make takes like app updating easier. BUt in this case, you are using an older iPhone which was not initially designed for such background tasks and these are processes that occupy your device's CPU not to mention battery and your older iPhone might/won't be able to handle these tasks.

4. Use HEIF in Taking Pictures and Videos

Back then when Nokia was the best phone anyone could buy, Nokia phones had this feature that reduces the file size of pictures from 2mb and above to 100kb or even less, without reducing the quality of the image. Now, I do not know what these features was called back then but I am very sure that the new iOS 11 comes with similar feature and it is called HEIF.

iOS 11, Apple introduced file formats for photos and videos that results in smaller file sizes, photos use the HEIF format and videos use the HEVC format. So if you love taking photos and videos, but worried that little photos or videos will eat up your precious storage space, then open your Settings >>> Camera >>> Formats and choose High Efficiency to use the new HEIF and HEVC formats.

5. Transparency and Motion Effects Should be Reduced

iPhones and Android use some motion effects to generally improve users experience, these effects and animations can be seen when navigating through phone menus, opening the app drawer, opening apps, closing apps, when you tilt your phone etc. And Apple uses a number of effects to give iOS a sense of depth and satisfaction to iPhone users.

Reduce transparency and motion effects in iOS 11

But you may have to disable these effects in older iPhones after updating to the new iOS 11 because they are also one of the reasons your phone's being sluggish. Though disabling this will take some of the fun out of texting, you still have to open your iPhone setting menu >> General >> Accessibility >> Reduce Motion and tap the toggle switch to turn on Reduce Motion. You can also toggle off Auto-Play Message Effects.

6. Disable Refreshing of Apps in Background

Several apps (social media apps) like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc refresh in the background so as keep feeding the user with latest contents. Now, this is not a bad feature, but in the case of speeding up your older iPhone, you may have to stop these apps from auto-refreshing when they are not in use.

To turn it off auto-refreshing of apps, go to Settings >>> General >>> Background App Refresh and tap the toggle switch off. Or, you can take the a la carte approach and leave Background App Refresh enabled at the top and turn it off for individual apps from the list of apps you've installed on your iPhone. These apps are better off updating only when the user opens them to make use of them.

Besides these 6 ways older iPhone users can speed up their older iPhone after updating to the latest iOS 11, there are several other ways or practices they can apply so as to achieve the same goal. And they are:

==>> Disabling Location by going to Settings >>> Privacy >>> Location Services

==>> Reboot the iPhone.

Pages