Have you ever had that experience where it felt like your iPhone started slowing down on you? If you have, you likely know how frustrating it can be.
A slow iPhone often causes people to panic, as when your smartphone begins to lag and make your life a bit more difficult, you might automatically think you have to buy a new one. However, that isn’t necessarily the case. There’s a chance you could easily fix a lagging iPhone by avoiding making some of these common mistakes. Using information from tech experts, we’re sharing a few mistakes you should stop making in order to ensure your iPhone doesn’t stay slow. Read more about them below.
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3. Back Up Your iCloud
iCloud is a great tool for keeping everything important on your phone safe, from your app data to your photo album. It can also be a great backup if, for some reason, you need to wipe your iPhone, like if it gets into the hands of the wrong person.
"Back up to iCloud and set your phone to remote wipe if someone enters your passcode incorrectly 10 times," adds Luria. "This seems scary, but having the ability to remotely wipe your device or have it automatically wipe if someone tries to crack it gives you an extra layer of security around your data. As a data privacy lawyer, I do every single one of these 5 things with my devices to protect not just my data but my clients' data as well. If your phone is lost, great, wipe it, and the data is stored on iCloud, so you'll be able to retrieve it if you get your device back or have to buy a new phone. It's scary, I know, but just do it."
2. Forgetting To Offload Unused Apps
When you get an iPhone, it can be really tempting to download a whole bunch of apps. From games to social media apps, having a large app library can seem great at first. Still, over time, more and more of those apps go ignored and unused. Therefore, they should be offloaded so as not to take up storage and slow down your phone.
"Apps you opened once in 2021 and forgot about are still living rent-free in your phone's head and slowing things down," says tech repair expert Sam Devia. "They take up storage and background resources even when you never touch them. To fix this, go to Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage, and turn on Offload Unused Apps. The icon stays on your home screen, and if you ever need the app again, it will download automatically."
1. Leaving Background App Refresh On
One setting that is actually super influential on your iPhone's battery life is Background App Refresh, which ensures that all of your social media apps, news apps, etc., are consistently updating and refreshing, even when you're not using them. Though you might believe your app activity stops once you close it out, hoping to save battery, if this setting is on, the opposite can happen.
"iPhones have many features that are designed to make them smarter and more personalized to their owner," says tech pro Luke Ford. "One of these features is Background App Refresh. This feature tracks the apps you use the most, the exact time of day that you use them, and then automatically updates them. This happens, so when you open the app next, it will display the latest information for you. Clearly, this is an awesome feature, but it will drain your battery fast!"
