How To Speed Up Your iPad With Easy Tricks

There’s nothing more frustrating than a sluggish iPad that moves at a snail’s pace every time you use it. Fortunately, it’s usually not too hard to speed up your iPad. All you need is a little bit of time to play around with your iPhone’s settings to get it running the way you want.

Whether you’re dealing with an aging device or trying to reach optimum performance with a recent purchase, this guide will give you a list of effective strategies and solutions to help you boost your iPad’s speed.

How to speed up your iPad

Speed up your iPad with the following steps.

Check for iPadOS updates

This is the most basic step, and the most important, in part because it helps protect your device from security breaches. If your iPad’s software is up to date, the device will perform at its best. Here’s how to check for iPadOS software updates:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down to General.
3. Then tap Software Update, which will instantly prompt the “Checking for Update …” message.
4. The newest iPadOS version will be displayed with an option to learn more or install. Tap Download and Install to continue, then follow the password prompts to complete installation.

Update your iPad apps

You might think you download an app once and that’s it, but outdated apps can contribute to slow performance on your iPad (in addition to posing security risks). It’s essential to regularly check for iPadOS system updates, as well as updates from individual apps.

Here’s how to update your apps:

1. Open the App Store app.
2. Tap the account icon on the top right.
3. Under Available Updates section, tap Update All to update every app.

Close open apps

If too many apps are open, your iPad might be working overtime.

For iPad with home button, double-tap the Home button. Swipe up on an app to close it.
For iPad without home buttons, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause without lifting a finger. Tap and hold the app that you want to close, and then tap the minus sign.

Restart your iPad

Did you try turning it off and on again? Restarting your device can help with iPad speed and make your iPad faster.

To restart your iPad with home button:

1. Press and hold the Power button on the top of your iPad.
2. Gently swipe right on slide to power off.

To restart your iPad without home button:

1. Press and hold the Power button on the top of your iPad and either of the volume buttons.
2. Gently swipe right on slide to power off.

Get rid of widgets you don’t need

If you have too many Widgets on your Home screen, they can significantly impact your iPad performance. Luckily, removing them is super easy.

1. Go to the Home Screen.
2. Touch and hold the widget to open the Quick actions menu.
3. Tap on Remove Widget.

Turn off location services

Many apps need location services. Google Maps can’t take you home if the app can’t locate you. Ride-sharing apps can’t track a ride in real time without GPS coordinates. But these location services don’t need to run 24/7.
If your iPad is really slow, conduct a location permissions audit. You should quickly check which apps use location services, which apps can be switched off completely, and which apps can be switched to “While Using the App.”
Here’s how to turn off or edit location services:

1. Open the Settings app, then go to Privacy & Security > Location Services.
2. Decide if you want to turn Location Services off entirely or only for some apps.
3. To turn off Location Services for all apps, toggle the Location Services option from green to grey.
4. To turn off Location Services for individual apps, find the app in question and tap its name to set permissions. Choose between Never, Ask Next Time, and While Using the App.

Enable Low Power Mode only when necessary

You may have noticed that your iPad switches to Low Power Mode when your battery drops below 20%. This is a good feature for extending your battery life, but it’s not great for performance. Low Power Mode disables some important features and slows down your iPad. To avoid problems, only use if your battery is below 20%.

Avoid extreme temperatures

If you bring your iPad on outdoor adventures where temperatures are extreme, it affects your device’s performance and permanently shortens battery life. This happens because your device needs to work much harder to regulate its internal temperature. Try using your iPad only when the temperature is between 32 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and don’t leave it outside if it’s below freezing or very hot.

If you want to bring your iPad to the ski slopes, it’s probably best to get a locker and leave it in the lodge. If you bring your iPad to the beach, keep it in the shade and as cool as possible.

Check your internet connection

“My iPad is running slow,” often means, “the internet on my iPad is running slow.” So how to speed up internet on your iPad? In most cases, slow internet isn’t a problem with your iPad so much as with your Wi-Fi network or mobile data connection.
Here are a few ways to diagnose the cause of your iPad’s slow internet connection:

Get a stable connection

If your Wi-Fi connection isn’t strong, you’ll see an immediate drop in internet speed. Make sure your Wi-Fi icon indicates a full-strength connection. If not, try toggling your Wi-Fi off and then on again. If that doesn’t help, move closer to your router or switch to mobile data.

Clear Your Cache

Cache is a word you may have heard often but never really understood the meaning of. We’ll break it down for you in an easy manner. When you browse apps like Safari, little snippets of data will be saved on your iPad based on actions you repeatedly perform. These snippets of data allow your device and apps to perform these actions faster, increase efficiency, and shorten processing time.

It sounds good in essence and is quite useful in practice. However, when using your device over long periods, these little packs of data pile up and form a large chunk of cache that may very well be largely unwanted. This is why clearing your cache regularly is a good idea. There’s no one-step process to clearing all your cache simultaneously; you’ll have to do it individually for each app.

For example, to clear Safari’s cache, you can go to Settings > Apps > Safari and tap Clear History and Website Data.

Reset your network settings

Resetting your iPad’s network settings can give it a fresh start with a faster internet connection. You’ll need to re-enter your Wi-Fi password when you’re done.

1. Open your Settings app and go to General > Transfer or reset iPad > Reset.
2. Tap Reset Network Settings and enter your Passcode when prompted.
3. Tap Reset Network Settings to confirm.

Reduce motion settings and screen brightness

A brighter screen takes up more energy and may be the cause of why your iPad is slowing down. You don’t have to go full-on night mode, but a slight adjustment may help speed up a super sluggish iPad. Also consider turning off motion effects in iPad settings to speed up your device. Just note that reducing motion settings will affect autoplay videos and the user interface experience on some apps.
Here’s how to reduce motion settings on iPad:

1. Tap the Settings app.
2. Go to Accessibility.
3. Select Motion to customize settings.
4. Choose which of the four types of motions you want to adjust by toggling its corresponding tab from green to grey.

Here’s how to reduce screen brightness on iPad:

1. Tap the Settings app.
2. Navigate to Display & Brightness.
3. Reduce screen brightness using the scroll bar and consider turning on Night Shift to automatically reduce brightness when natural light is dimmer.

Free up space on your iPad

Did you take a million photos today? Or worse, is your iPad too slow because you need to remove bloatware or junk files? It’s time to learn how to clean up your iPad.
Start by removing unwanted images and videos, then move on to deleting unused apps and bloatware. Dropping this extra weight can make your iPad considerably faster.
Remember, hiding an app on an iPad does not free up storage space.

Disable some automatic background processes

We don’t recommend doing this unless you have a serious performance issue with your iPad , but you might be able to get more speed by shutting off tasks that the iPad performs automatically in the background.

1. Start the Settings app.
2. Tap Apps, and then tap ”App Store,”.
3. Switch off ”Apps,” and ”App Updates” in the Automatic Downloads section.
4. Tap ”Back” to return to the main page.
5. Tap ”General” and then tap “Software updates”
6. Turn off “Automatic Updates“
7. Tap ”Back” to return to the previous page.
8. Tap ”Background App Refresh.”
9. Tap ”Background App Refresh”. Turn off the toggle for the apps you want it disabled for. You can also tap Background App Refresh at the top and choose it to run on Wi-Fi or Mobile Data.

Restore to factory settings

Is your iPad so slow that none of these tips have made a difference? If the above strategies can’t help your iPad speed up, it’s time to restore your iPad to its factory settings.
This is a last resort, because performing a full factory reset deletes all the data on your iPad. Back up any data you wish to keep to your iCloud account or on a computer or external hard drive before performing a factory reset.
Here’s how to perform a factory reset on your iPad:

1. Go to Settings > General.
2. Select Transfer or Reset iPad at the bottom.
3. Choose Erase All Content and Settings, which will do exactly that — erase everything.

Replace your iPads battery

If you’ve had your iPad for at least a couple of years, the battery might be reaching the end of its optimal performance life. Most iPad batteries will last many years, but once they pass their peak performance capability, Apple may remotely throttle the performance of your iPad to keep it from unexpectedly shutting down because the battery isn’t working properly.

To check on your iPad’s battery health, start the Settings app and tap “Battery,” then tap “Battery Health.”

This screen shows you the maximum remaining capacity of your battery, and the “Peak Performance Capability” gives you an assessment of the battery’s overall health. If it says that the device is “currently supporting normal peak performance,” you don’t need to do anything. But if you see a message that your battery’s health is “significantly degraded,” you should consider contacting Apple support to replace the battery.

What to do if your iPad is still running slow

If you’ve tried all of the above and your iPad is still lagging, you may need to look for damage. If the iPad has physical or liquid damage, it may not work properly. You may need to contact Apple Support for help.