How to Speed Up Old iPhone

If you haven’t upgraded your iPhone in the last few years and now it feels sluggish—but you’re not ready to part with it—this text is for you. We’ll go over the best ways to speed up an old iPhone and extend its usefulness—who knows, maybe for the next couple of years.

So let’s not waste any time and jump straight to why you came here.

1. Update Your iPhone’s Software

If you haven’t updated your iPhone in a while, we’d suggest starting here. Software updates don’t just bring new features—they often include performance optimizations, security fixes, and bug patches that can help your iPhone run more smoothly. Apple refines iOS with each release, and sometimes improves how older devices handle background processes, memory usage, and power efficiency.

1. Start by opening the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on ‘General‘ to find additional options.
3. Select ‘Software Update‘ to check for available updates.
4. If an update is available, tap ‘Update Now‘. You may need to connect your iPhone to a charger if the battery is low.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the update. Your iPhone will restart during this process.

Once the update is installed, your iPhone will boot up with the latest iOS version. This can lead to improved speed and stability. For an overview of what’s included in each update, you can check Apple’s official support page.

2. Free Up Storage Space

A lack of available storage can significantly slow down your iPhone’s performance, especially on older models. iOS needs free space to operate efficiently, and when storage is nearly full, the system struggles with basic tasks. It’s generally recommended to keep at least 10–20% of free space for smooth performance, though more is always better

1. Open the Settings app, tap on ‘General‘, and then select ‘iPhone Storage’. This will display a breakdown of what types of files are consuming your storage and how much space they are using.
2. At the top of the iPhone Storage page, your iPhone might offer recommendations for optimizing storage, such as offloading unused apps or reviewing large attachments. Consider following these suggestions.

If you’re like most people, the Photos app is probably what’s takes up the most space on your iPhone. You can scroll through your library and manually delete old or unnecessary photos and videos, or, if you use iCloud Photos, enable Optimize iPhone Storage to keep only lower-resolution versions of your media on your device. But let’s be honest—going through thousands of photos is time-consuming, and it’s often hard to make sense of a cluttered library. That’s why many people prefer third-party apps to streamline the process.

We’ve tested plenty of iPhone cleaning apps, and we can confirm that they make this task much more manageable. If you’ve never used one before, we’ll demonstrate with Clever Cleaner: Free iPhone Cleaner, one of the best options we found in the App Store. This app not only offers multiple (currently four) tools for cleaning up your iPhone but is also completely free—a rare find. Many apps that we’ve tested claim to be free but lock key features behind a paywall or bombard you with ads. Clever Cleaner does none of that, so you can try it without any unpleasant surprises.

Let’s see, for example, how you can find and delete the largest files on your iPhone. Maybe you have an old, forgotten video—it could free up a significant chunk of storage, since videos are usually the largest files on our phones, so this is one of the fastest ways to clear space.

1. Type “Clever Cleaner” into the search bar in the App Store, or go straight to its App Store page to download it.
2. Open the app and allow permission to access your Photos library.
3. At the bottom of the app tap ‘Heavies’.
4. The app automatically sorts all your videos from largest to smallest, with their file size and duration.
5. Tap any video to open the selection screen. You can swipe left or right to quickly preview and decide which ones to delete. If you want to remove all files at once, tap ‘Select All’ to mark every video in the list.
6. As you select videos, the app will show exactly how much space you’ll free up, right under the ‘Move to Trash’ button.
7. Tap ‘Move to Trash’.
8. Next, tap ‘Empty Trash’ and confirm it with ‘Delete’.
   This will send them to the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app, where you can restore them within 30 days or delete them immediately for instant storage recovery.

This app, like many today, uses AI to make cleanup even faster. If you’re interested in exploring other AI-powered cleaning apps, be sure to check out our dedicated rating of AI iPhone cleaners.

This app supports iOS 16 and later, so you should be able to run it on an iPhone 8 or newer. If you’re using an older device—a real dinosaur from before the iPhone 8—you’ll need an app that supports older iOS versions, like Clean Master – Super Cleaner, which works on iOS versions as old as iOS 10.

If, after cleaning up your Photos library, you’re still low on free space, it’s possible that media files weren’t the main issue. The next place to check is applications and their data, as apps can quietly take up gigabytes of storage over time.

Unfortunately, there’s no true cleaning app for apps on iOS. Unlike on Android, Apple’s policies don’t allow third-party apps to access and clear app data. This means you’ll need to manually manage app storage.

3. Disable Background App Refresh

Background App Refresh allows apps to update their content in the background, which can use up valuable system resources and slow down your device. Disabling this feature can help make your old iPhone faster by freeing up processing power and saving battery life. Here’s how to turn it off:

1. Start by tapping the Settings icon on your home screen.
2. Scroll down and select ‘General‘ to access more settings.
3. Tap on ‘Background App Refresh’. You’ll see a list of all the apps that currently refresh their content in the background.
4. You can choose to disable Background App Refresh entirely by toggling the switch at the top, or selectively turn it off for individual apps by toggling the switch next to each app.

With this, you not only improve performance but also extend your battery life. If there are apps that you frequently use and need up-to-date information from, consider leaving Background App Refresh enabled for those specific apps.

4. Reduce Motion and Transparency

Visual effects such as animations and transparency in the user interface can consume system resources, potentially slowing down older iPhones. Reducing these effects can help make an old iPhone faster by decreasing the load on the device’s processor and graphics subsystem. Here’s how to adjust these settings:

1. Locate and tap the Settings icon on your home screen.
2. Scroll down and select ‘Accessibility‘, which houses various settings that adjust how your iPhone operates and displays content.
3. Within the Accessibility settings, tap on ‘Motion‘. Here, enable ‘Reduce Motion‘. This setting reduces the motion of the user interface, including the parallax effect of icons and alerts.
4. Go back to the main Accessibility menu and tap on ‘Display & Text Size‘. Scroll down and activate ‘Reduce Transparency‘, which reduces the transparency and blurs on some backgrounds to increase legibility and performance.

5. Optimize Location Services

Location Services can be useful for navigation, weather updates, and certain app functions, but they also constantly use your iPhone’s GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular data, which can slow down performance and drain battery. Many apps request location access even when they don’t actually need it—managing these settings can free up system resources and improve overall speed.

1. Tap on the Settings icon from your home screen.
2. Find and select ‘Privacy & Security‘ from the list of options.
3. Inside Privacy settings, tap ‘Location Services‘. You will see a list of all apps that have requested access to your location.
4. For each app, you can choose ‘Never‘, ‘Ask Next Time‘, ‘While Using the App’, or ‘Always‘. Opt for ‘While Using the App’ for vitally important apps like Maps or ride-sharing services, and select ‘Never‘ for apps that do not require location data to function effectively.
5. At the bottom of the Location Services page, tap ‘System Services‘ to review and disable location access for non-critical system services such as location-based ads, suggestions, and more.

6. Restart Your iPhone Regularly

Restarting your iPhone can help to clear temporary files and free up memory, which can resolve unexpected behaviors and slow performance. This simple action refreshes the operating system and can significantly make an old iPhone faster. Here’s how to properly restart your iPhone:

1. Hold down the side (or top) button along with either volume button until two sliding buttons appear on the screen. For iPhones with a Home Button (iPhone SE, iPhone 8, and older models), press and hold the Power button (on the side or top) until the power slider appears.
2. Slide the power off slider to turn off your iPhone completely. Wait for the device to shut down.
3. After your iPhone has turned off, press and hold the side (or top) button again until the Apple logo appears, signaling that your iPhone is restarting.

A regular restart can help manage apps that may not be properly closing or freeing up memory when you exit them. It’s a good practice to restart your iPhone once a week or after installing new apps or updates that could affect the device’s performance.

7. Limit Widgets and Home Screen Pages

Widgets and excessive home screen pages can slow down your iPhone. Every time you unlock your phone or swipe between screens, iOS has to load and refresh widget data and animations, which can impact performance—especially on older models. Simplify your home screen setup to reduce the load on the device’s processor and make your old iPhone faster. Here’s how to streamline your iPhone’s home screen:

1. Tap and hold on any app icon or widget until all icons begin to jiggle. This is the edit mode where you can make changes to your home screen.
2. Tap the minus sign on any widget you wish to remove or drag widgets off the home screen to reduce clutter. For necessary widgets, consider using smaller sizes to free up more space.
3. Organize apps into folders to reduce the number of home screen pages. This can be done by dragging similar apps together to create folders automatically.
4. To minimize the number of swipe actions needed to find your apps, try to keep your home screen to as few pages as possible. Remove apps or move them to folders if they are not frequently used.
5. Press the ‘Done’ button or the home button on older models to save your changes.

8. Check for Battery Health

A worn-out battery can slow down your iPhone significantly. When battery health degrades, iOS may throttle performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns, which will make your device feel slow. If you want to make your old iPhone faster, check your battery health—it might be time for a battery replacement.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap on ‘Battery‘ to access battery settings.
3. Select ‘Battery Health & Charging’ to view the maximum capacity and peak performance capability of your iPhone’s battery.
4. Check the ‘Maximum Capacity‘, which indicates the battery’s capacity relative to when it was new. A lower percentage means a worn-out battery that may need replacement.
5. Turn on ‘Optimized Battery Charging‘ to help extend your battery’s lifespan. This feature learns your charging habits to reduce battery aging.

If the ‘Peak Performance Capability’ indicates that the battery’s condition has significantly degraded, consider contacting Apple support or visiting an Apple Store for potential battery replacement. Replacing the battery can restore full performance and prevent your iPhone from unexpectedly shutting down.

9. Consider a Factory Reset

When other methods have not sufficiently improved the performance of your old iPhone, a factory reset can be a drastic but practical measure. This process will erase all data, settings, and content from your iPhone, returning it to its original state as when it was first turned on. This can often resolve persistent performance issues caused by software glitches or overcrowded storage. Here’s how to safely perform a factory reset:

1. Tap the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and select ‘General‘.
3. At the bottom of the General settings, tap ‘Transfer or Reset iPhone‘.
4. Select ‘Erase All Content and Settings’. This will initiate the process to completely wipe your iPhone. You may need to enter your passcode and Apple ID password to confirm this action.
5. After the reset, your iPhone will restart as if it were new. You can set it up as a new device or restore from a backup if desired.

A factory reset is particularly useful if your iPhone is bogged down by years of accumulated apps, photos, and hidden clutter that can’t be easily cleaned manually. It’s also recommended if you’re experiencing unusual behavior or persistent software issues that have not been resolved through updates or settings adjustments.

Final Words

We recommend trying these methods in the order we’ve presented them. There’s no need to jump straight to something as radical as a factory reset—even though we’ve seen cases where it brought new life to an old iPhone that seemed beyond hope. Start with simple cleaning, turn off non-that-important bells and whistles, and play around with different combinations of settings.

Remember, while these tweaks won’t magically transform your phone into the latest model, they might give your old iPhone a much-needed performance boost and help postpone that pricey purchase of a new one.

For more info, real-life feedback, and additional tips join our community on InsanelyMac or the iPhone subreddit. Ask around and share your experiences—you’ll find you’re not alone in this quest. With the latest iPhone upgrades not being as revolutionary as they once were, more and more people are choosing to stick with their old iPhones rather than simply upgrading to a new model.