Does Apple deliberately make your iPhone slow?

With new iPhones and a new version of iOS, there is often speculation that Apple deliberately slows down your old iPhone or causes problems with it. Is it true your iPhone is slowing down?

Conspiracy theorists would have you believe that Apple flips a switch to dim the performance of its older iPhones to make you buy the newest and most expensive models that have been just been released. Is there any truth in this? Does Apple make your iPhone slower when new ones are released?

If you have an old iPhone then it is most likely running more slowly than it used to, but it is not a deliberate act by Apple, it is just inevitable that iPhones, and iPads too, slow down over time.

Old batteries slow your phone

Rechargeable batteries do not last forever and over time they store less and less charge. A battery is designed to be useable for a certain number of charge cycles. Run it down to 40% and charge it up, then run it down to 60% and charge it up again, and that is one cycle because it adds up to 100%. A good battery will last 1,000 charge cycles.

It does not suddenly stop working and what happens is it holds less charge with each recharge. The maximum capacity falls slowly and after some time and a lot of use, it may only hold 80% of its original charge. This impacts the iPhone's performance because to compensate for the loss of battery power, iOS limits the hardware's performance and so the iPhone runs more slowly.

This is necessary because the phone may fail under peak load with an old and weak battery.

If your iPhone is running very slowly, it is not because Apple deliberately slowed it, it probably means the battery needs replacing. The hardware is having to cope with less peak power. To see if this is the case, check the battery health.

1. Open the Settings app
2. Press Battery
3. Press Battery Health
4. Check the Maximum Capacity and Peak Performance Capability

A battery that has a maximum capacity below about 80% is pretty bad and Peak Performance Capability will probably indicate a problem. I don't know the exact figure, but when it approaches or reaches somewhere around this figure, the iPhone will limit performance and will run slowly.

Can't blame Apple for this. Just replace the battery and the iPhone will run at full speed again.

Do iOS updates slow your iPhone?

Each year iOS is updated and it becomes bigger and more complex. Each new version adds many new features to the iPhone and iPad and these may require extra storage space, extra processing power, extra memory to run, and so on.

Apple has been criticised for making old iPhones run slowly with iOS updates and in iOS 12 has put extra effort into making iOS devices faster, particularly old models.

Rewriting old code in iOS and making it more efficient has helped to maintain the speed. In fact, focusing on key areas like the interface and app launching has made the iPhone actually feel quicker.

Many people have reported that old iPhones and iPads run faster with iOS 12 than with iOS 11. The hardware is not running any faster of course, but the interface feels snappier with the upgrade.

Whatever may have happened in the past, if anything, this latest iOS update actually speeds up the iPhone.

App bloat may slow your iPhone

Another reason why your iPhone may appear to slow with age is cause of increasingly complex apps. As developers pack more features into apps, they usually become larger and they require more memory and processing power to run.

You can see this most clearly with arcade action games that push the device to its limit. Modern games require more processing power than older ones and some games simply require more performance than the hardware in an old iPhone or iPad can deliver.

It is not only games that struggle on old hardware, many popular apps have doubled or tripled in size since they were first launched. Apps like Facebook used to be a fraction of today's size, which is approaching half a gigabyte.

Increasing app sizes cause problems with storage on old iOS devices and you may find that fewer will fit on the iPhone or iPad.

A clever feature in iOS enables seldom used apps to be offloaded to free up space. When you try to run them, there is a delay as they are downloaded and installed. This makes them frustratingly slow to open, but it really isn't Apple's fault. The device simply doesn't have enough storage space for today's apps.

1. Go to Settings
2. Press iTunes & App Stores
3. At the bottom, turn on Offload Unused Apps

You may find several offloaded apps after an iOS update because storage is required to perform the update. An offloaded app takes a lot longer to start, but what else can you do when the device has run out of space?

A fresh start for your iPhone

The final reason why the iPhone slows down is because of all the junk that fills up the system. You cannot see it, but you will have seen a similar thing on your computer where the disk accumulates temporary files, caches, software that wasn't completely uninstalled and left behind files and settings, and so on. File clutter builds up over time and slows down the system on phones as on computers.

If you have everything backed up to iCloud, it is a good idea to reset the iPhone or iPad because this clears everything out and starts with a fresh, clean device. You will need to sign in with your Apple ID and then you can reinstall apps. It takes a bit of effort getting everything back as it was, but you should find the iPhone or iPad runs better for it.

1. Go to Settings
2. Press General
3. Press Reset
4. Press Erase All Content and Settings