How to Fix Bad iPhone XS Performance

If your performance on your iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max suddenly takes a hit, you should be able to fix the issue on your own.

Apple’s flagships have received excellent reviews, but they aren’t perfect. Those who have adopted the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are complaining about a variety of issues including weird battery drain and various performance issues.

Lockups, freezes, reboots, and other performance issues are plaguing some iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max devices and we expect complaints to pickup as more people adopt Apple’s new devices throughout 2019 and beyond.

If you start noticing performance issues on your iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, you don’t need to make an appointment at your local Apple Store just yet. You should be able to fix your issue before it comes to that.

In this guide we’ll show you how to fix the most common iPhone XS performance issues. These fixes have worked for us and there’s a good chance they’ll for you.

Restart Your iPhone

If you start noticing reboots, freezes, lockups, or lag the first thing you’ll want to try is a simple restart. Power your iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max down, wait a minute, and then power it back on.

Update Your Phone

If you’re running an older version of iOS 12, you’ll want to upgrade to the latest version. Upgrading could improve your device’s performance.

Keep an Eye Your Storage

If you restored from a backup, you probably brought a ton of files/data over from your old phone. If you aren’t good about managing your device’s storage, you might a ton of clutter taking up valuable space on your storage.

Clutter can slow down your iPhone so it’s important to sift through your data and delete files, apps, songs, videos, and photos you no longer need.

Apple makes it easy to view the data you store on your internal storage. Here’s how to take a look:

• Head into your Settings.
• Tap General.
• Tap on iPhone Storage.

This screen will give you detailed look at the files taking up space on your device. Poke around and see if you can’t find some files to delete.

If you don’t know where to start, the operating system will provide you with some recommendations. For instance, if you have a ton of apps you don’t use, your device will tell you to “Offload Unused Apps.”

You’ll also get a list of the applications taking up the most space on your device. Tap on an app and you’ll get a storage breakdown and personalized recommendations for your device.

Update Your Apps

If your apps start acting up on your device you’ll want to check the App Store for the latest versions.

Developers are rolling out a stream of iOS 12 and iPhone XS support updates and these updates should stabilize the third party applications on your device.

Before you download the latest version, make sure you read reviews from fellow iPhone XS/iOS 12 users. There’s always a chance an update does more harm than good.

Stop Auto Downloads

The auto download feature on your iPhone is handy if you’re bad about keeping apps updated. That said, it can hinder your device’s performance if it’s constantly updating apps in the background.

If you don’t mind manually updating your applications, try disabling automatic downloads on your iPhone and see if that helps improve your device’s speed. Here’s how to do that:

• Head into your Settings app.
• Go to iTunes & App Store.
• Once there, toggle Updates, located in the Automatic Downloads section, off.

You also might want to toggle Music, Apps, and Books & Audiobooks off as well.

Clear Browser Cookies & Data

Clearing your browser’s cookies and data will free up memory and that could have a significant impact on your device’s overall performance.

If you use Apple’s Safari browser:

• Go into your Settings.
• Go to Safari.
• Scroll down to where it says Clear History and Website Data and tap it.
• Tap Clear History and Data again.

Tapping this will remove your browsing history, cookies, and other data from Safari. Your history will also be cleared from any devices signed into your iCloud account.

If you’re using Google’s Chrome browser:

• Launch Chrome.
• Tap the three horizontal circles in the bottom right corner. (They’re in the top right corner if you haven’t updated to the new design.)
• Tap Settings.
• Tap Privacy.
• Tap Clear Browsing Data.
• Select what you wish to delete, or if you want to start fresh, select them all.
• Tap Clear Browsing Data.

Reduce Your Animations

If you are seeing a lot of stuttering or lag, you might want to reduce animations on your iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max.

To reduce the animations on your device:

• Go into the Settings app.
• Tap General.
• Tap Accessibility.
• Toggle Reduce Motion to on.

You might also want to reduce the transparency and blur effects on your phone. Here’s how to do that:

• Head into Settings.
• Tap General.
• Tap Accessibility.
• Tap Increase Contrast.
• Toggle Reduce Transparency to on.

Kill Background Refresh

When Background Refresh is enabled on your device, your iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max will work to keep your apps updated with fresh data. It can be a resource hog and turning it off could have a positive impact on your phone’s performance.

To turn Background Refresh off:

• Head into Settings.
• Tap General.
• Tap Background App Refresh.
• Toggle Background Refresh off.

If you don’t want to turn the feature off completely, you can go down your list of applications and whitelist the apps you want to refresh in the background.

Disable Widgets

Widgets are useful, but if you don’t use them you might want to turn them off and see if it improves your device’s performance.

While you’re on your home screen, swipe to the right. Here you’ll your list of active widgets. Once you’re on this screen scroll all the way down until you see a circular Edit button.

Tap that button and you’ll see a list of services and apps. These are the widgets that are active, and inactive, on your iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max. To disable a widget on your phone, tap the red circle with the white line and tap Remove. Remove the widgets you don’t use.

Reset All Settings

You can also try resetting all of your device’s settings.

To do this you need to:

• Head to Settings.
• Tap General.
• Tap Reset.
• Tap Reset All Settings and then enter your passcode if you have one enabled.

The process will take a few seconds to finish up. Once it finishes, your settings will be back to their factory defaults. Make sure you have your Wi-Fi passwords handy because this will cause your device to forget known networks.

Start Fresh

If things get really bad, you should try restoring the device from a backup. You can do this via iTunes or iCloud.

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