My iPad Is Running Slow, How Can I Fix It?

Are you having issues with a slow iPad? Does your iPad take longer than expected to respond? Trying to get work done on your slow iPad can be annoying and frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be that way. A lot of factors contribute to iPad slowness. As you continue to use your iPad, its speed may begin to decrease over time.

See this article if your iPad has a frozen screen and doesn’t respond.

Below are steps for iPad users that can help speed up the iPad. Sometimes, you may notice that your iPad is slow after updating your iPad to the latest version of iPadOS. Following the tips below will also help older iPad models that run slowly.

See also: How To Fix Your iPad Pro With Unresponsive Screen

Reboot

If you have not rebooted your iPad recently, just reboot it. Restarting your iPad often fix less serious issues that are slowing down your iPad’s speed. In fact, restart your iPad occasionally.

Here is how you can turn off and on your iPad:

• If your iPad has the Home button: Press and hold the top button until you see the red power off slider. Drag the slider and wait about a minute. Then press and hold the top button until the Apple logo appears.
• Other iPad models (Face ID iPads): Press and hold the top and volume up (or down) buttons together until the power off slider appears. Then slide the slider. Wait for about a minute and then press and hold the top button until you see the Apple logo.

Update your iPad

One of the best ways to get the most out of your iPad is to make sure you have the latest version of iPadOS installed. You can update your iPad easily by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

You should regularly check for updates. You can also have your iPad update automatically. To do that, go to Settings > General > Software Update, then tap Automatic Updates.

Update your apps

Outdated apps may slow down your iPad. Here is how:

• Open the App Store app, and tap your profile icon and scroll down and tap Update All.
• You can also turn on Automatic Downloads which will update your apps automatically. You can go to Settings > [your name] > iTunes & App Store and turn on App Updates to turn on automatic updates.

Check the storage on your iPad

As you continue to use your iPad, you also accumulate photos, files, and apps, this means your storage eventually fills up. This could potentially slow down your iPad. For optimal performance, you should have at least 15 percent free space on your iPad.

On your device, go to Settings > General > iPad Storage. You will see a list of personalized recommendations. You can follow these recommendations to free space.

Uninstall unused apps

If you are like most people, you probably download and install apps and only use once. Most of these apps you’ll never use and some of them may run in the background without you knowing, slowing your iPad down in the process by sucking out memory and resources. It is best to remove them. You can always reinstall them later if you want them again.

See this article if your apps are unresponsive.

Tweak settings

You may want to adjust some settings:

• Disable Background App Activity. Reducing background activity will increase your device’s performance. Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and turn off Background App Refresh.
• Use Reduce Screen Motion. Go to Settings > Accessibility and turn on Reduce Motion.
• Delete your browsing history. If Safari browsing history accumulates enough data, it can slow your iPhone down. Clearing it occasionally will help you. Go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data.
• Do not turn on Low Power Mode (Settings > Battery) when you do not need it.
  Check your battery health. If your iPad is extremely slow, it may be the time for changing the battery. To see your battery info, go to Settings > Battery.
• Poor Wifi connection may slow your iPad down. If you are having trouble connecting your iPad to a Wi-Fi network, you may try:
  • Make sure that your iPad is not too far from your router.
  • Restart everything: Your modem and router. To do that unplug them and wait about one minute and then replug them in. Also please ensure that your Wi-Fi router is running the latest firmware.
  • You may want to reset network settings. Please note that this will erase all of your saved network settings such as your Wi-Fi passwords etc. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
  • Try connecting a different Wi-Fi network. Does that impact the performance?
• You may want to turn off Spotlight Search by going to Settings > General > Spotlight Search and set all the Search Results items to Off.

Also note that if you want to make Apple aware of your iPad issues, you can leave feedback here.

See also: Why is my iPad saying Not Charging?