Summary
- If your iPad is slow, making a few tweaks in the settings can greatly improve performance.
- Common fixes include restarting your iPad and updating to the latest iPadOS version.
- You can also try to create more storage space and clear the cache on your iPad.
After you’ve had an iPad for a while and the excitement wears off, it might feel like it runs slower than when you first took it out of the box. So how do you fix a slow running iPad? The fixes are easier than you might think!
In this article, I’ll explain the real reasons why your iPad is so slow and show you the fixes that will make your iPad run as fast as it can.
Why is my iPad running so slow?
There are various reasons why your iPad is running slowly. The most common include:
- Your iPad is having a software glitch.
- You have Low Power Mode enabled.
- You have too many apps running in the background.
- Your iPad does not have enough storage space.
- You have too many widgets running in the background.
- Your iPad does not have the latest version of iPadOS.
- You have a weak Wi-Fi signal.
- Your iPad has been exposed to extreme hot or cold weather.
- Your iPad battery need to be replaced.
How to fix a slow iPad
Try these simple troubleshooting steps if your iPad is running too slowly.
Restart your iPad
Restarting your iPad fixes all sorts of problems, so it’s a wise first step when slowness pops up out of nowhere.
If your iPad has a Home button, press and hold the power button until the "slide to power off" display shows up on your screen. If your iPad doesn’t have Home button, simultaneously press and hold the power button and the Volume Down button instead. In either case, drag the power off slider from left to right to shut down your iPad.
Press and hold the power button again once your iPad has had time to fully shutdown.
Now check if the iPad is running the way it should. If the problem persists, continue with troubleshooting.
Close and reopen apps
If your iPad is still slow, one of your apps may be causing the problem. To fix the problem, force your apps to close and then open them again.
If your iPad has a Home button, double-press it to open the app switcher. Swipe up from the bottom edge to the center of the screen to open the app switcher on an iPad without a Home button. Swipe all the apps up and off the top of the screen. Wait a few seconds before reopening the apps.
Turn off Low Power Mode
Low Power Mode is an iPad feature that extends battery life by reducing the amount of power that your device uses. Low Power Mode also slows down an iPad when it’s activated.
To be clear, the chip inside your iPad has multiple performance and efficiency cores. In typical usage, your iPad can use all of the chip’s cores simultaneously, prioritizing the performance cores when you’re editing a video or playing a game. When Low Power Mode is on, iPad heavily reduces the use of the performance cores, relying mainly on the efficiency cores – which are slower, but use much less power.
You can check whether Low Power Mode is activated by looking at the battery icon in the Status Bar – if it’s yellow, your device is in Low Power Mode. Consider turning Low Power Mode off if you need your iPad to operate optimally. You can turn Low Power Mode off by going to Settings > Battery.
Turn off Background App Refresh
Some apps are constantly working in the background, syncing data and refreshing content. This activity can slow down your iPad and drastically reduce battery life.
Go to Settings > General > Background app refresh. Toggle it off, or reduce the number of apps that will refresh in the background. Doing so will cause your apps to only sync when you launch them rather than constantly syncing in the background.
Free up space
As your storage space reaches its capacity, performance drops rapidly. To check how much free space you have on your iPad, open the Settings app and go to General > iPad Storage. For best performance, try to maintain at least 1GB of free space. If your available storage is consistently less than 1GB, your iPad might slow down as iPadOS repeatedly makes room for more content.
If you’re running low on space, read the recommendations that iPadOS might provide. Tap Enable to turn on a recommendation, or tap a recommendation title to review the content that you can delete.
If you don’t see any recommendations — or if you need to free up even more space — you can review the apps on your iPad. They’re listed on the same iPad Storage screen along with the amount of space that they use. Delete all the apps that you don’t use regularly. Be ruthless. They’re taking up space and potentially eating resources by running and updating in the background.
Delete Unnecessary Widgets
Having too many widgets running in the background can also cause your iPad to run slow. To remove some of these:
- Tap and hold the widget you no longer want.
- Tap Remove Widget.
- Tap Remove again to confirm.
Clear your cache
When some people say their iPad is slow, what they really mean is that Safari is slow.
If Safari is running slowly, one of the most common reasons for sluggish speed is that your iPhone accumulated lots and lots of saved website data. This is a normal process, but if too much data builds up over a long period of time, Safari can slow down. This is because your iPad will need to cache websites you visit again, but there will probably be a net performance gain in clearing out the junk. Fortunately, clearing this data is easy.
Go to Settings > Apps > Safari > Clear history and website data. Select All History, then tap Clear History.
Update iPadOS
Software updates bring bug fixes, patches, and improvements that often increase the speed of your iPad. Apple releases iPadOS updates from time to time, so make sure your device runs the latest version to stay on top of any performance improvements.
To update iPadOS, open the Settings app and go to General > Software Update. If a new iPadOS version is available, you’ll see an Update Now button. Tap that, and follow the onscreen instructions.
Update Your Apps
Outdated application that hasn’t been optimized for the latest iPadOS version can cause your iPad to feel slower than it really is. Therefore, it’s always worthwhile to keep the apps on your iPad up to date.
To do this, go to the App Store and tap on your account at the top-right of your screen. If any app updates are available, you’ll see them on this screen. Tap Update All to install all available updates at once.
Keep your iPad from getting too hot or cold
Believe it or not, an iPad is very susceptible to extreme temperatures. If you live in an environment where it is very hot or very cold, this is going to negatively impact your device’s performance in the long run.
If your device is too hot, switch it off, then move it to a cooler location and let its temperature adjust.
. If the device is very cold, then move it to a warm location. Do whatever it takes to warm that very expensive iPad up — but obviously, don’t make it too warm. Otherwise, you’ll have other problems to contend with.
Check your Wi-Fi connection
Usually, when a person says, "my iPad is slow," what they’re really saying is, "my internet is slow." If the network that you’re connected to is congested — for example, at an event with many people using the same network — apps might take a while to open or display their content. So the next thing to check is your internet connection. Here’s what to do:
- Check your internet speed. If your speed is below what it should be, maybe a discussion with your internet provider might be in order.
- Turn off and on Wi-Fi: Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and turn off Wi-Fi and wait a few seconds and turn back on.
- Restart your wireless router: Unplugg the router and wait a few seconds and then plug it back in.
- Move to a different location.
- If possible, use a different Wi-Fi network.
- Reset network settings: Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
Factory reset your iPad
If you’ve tried all the above fixes and still have a speed problem, it might be in your best interest to restore your iPad to factory settings. Check out our guide to learn how to reset your iPad to factory settings.
Replace your iPhone’s battery
If a complete reset has failed to do the trick, then it’s time to consider replacing the iPad battery. If you’ve got to this stage, then most likely, your iPad speed issues are age-related. This means that the battery might be reaching the end of its life, and you need to get it replaced.
Contact Apple support and arrange to have your iPad taken into an Apple store for service. If you don’t have an Apple Store near you, you can go to Apple authorized service center instead.
Conclusion
If you’ve been wondering why your iPad is so slow, I sincerely hope this article has helped you get to the core of the issue. We’ve gone over the reasons why iPads get slower with time, and we’ve discussed how to make your iPad faster. If you are still experiencing problems, let me know in the comments section below, and I’ll do my best to help you out.
