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How to Fix iOS 15 Performance Problems

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As we push away from the latest iOS 15 firmware release we’re hearing about a variety of performance issues plaguing iPhone users.

While many iPhone users are having a great experience on Apple’s latest iOS 15 software, others are complaining about bugs and performance problems.

The current list of iOS 15 performance issues includes UI lag, freezes, lock ups, and random reboots. These are extremely common, particularly on aging iPhone models. Newer devices like the iPhone 13 series aren’t immune to performance problems though.

Performance issues can be difficult to fix. And while you might be able to fix them on your own, others may require a fix from Apple.

In some cases, you may need to contact Apple customer support or, in more extreme instances, bring your iPhone into an Apple Store.

If you can’t wait for a new version of iOS 15 and/or you don’t have time to get in touch with Apple support, we have some fixes that could help fix the issue(s) you’ve encountered on your phone.

Restart Your Phone

If you start noticing UI lag or another performance issue after install the latest version of iOS 15, try restarting it. Power it down, leave it off for a minute, and the turn it back on. This has resolved many issues for us in the past.

Update Your iPhone

Apple will occasionally push new iOS 15 software to your iPhone. The company might not call out performance fixes in an iOS 15 update’s change log, but new software always has the potential to help (or, in some cases, hurt) your iPhone’s overall performance.

For more on the latest version of iOS 15, take a look at our guide.

Update Your Apps

If you haven’t done so already, make sure you update your applications to the latest version.

App developers are currently rolling out support updates and they could help stabilize iOS 15’s performance on your iPhone.

Before you install the latest version of an app you’ll want to go into the App Store and read reviews from other iOS 15 users. If the reviews are mostly good, download the latest version.

Cleanup Your iPhone’s Storage

If you’ve had your iPhone for awhile you might have a ton of clutter taking up space on its internal storage. Deleting this clutter could help speed up your iPhone. This is especially true if you’re almost out of space.

To start, you’ll want to check and see how much space is free on your iPhone. Here’s how to do that:

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

Apple will make some recommendations based on your utilization of your iPhone’s storage, but you can also just go through each section manually delete files you don’t need.

Stop Using Background App Refresh

Background App Refresh refreshes apps in the background to show you the latest data when you open them up. It also makes your phone work in the background. So, if you don’t need this, you might want to shut the feature off.

  • Go into the Settings app.
  • Tap General.
  • Tap Background App Refresh.
  • At the top of this screen tap Background App Refresh and toggle it off.

If you want to keep it on for some apps, leave it on and then go down your list of apps and manually turn it off for apps you don’t use.

Reset All Settings

If you’re still not getting the kind of performance you’d like out of your iPhone, try resetting your settings. Here’s how to do that on iOS 15:

  • Go to Settings.
  • Tap General.
  • Tap Reset Transfer or Reset iPhone.
  • Tap Reset.
  • Tap Reset All Settings.
  • Enter your passcode if you have one enabled.

This will restore your iPhone’s settings to their factory defaults so be sure you have your Wi-Fi passwords handy. You’ll need to re-enter them.

Downgrade iOS

If you can’t find a fix for your problem and/or don’t want to wait for Apple’s next iOS 15 update, you can try downgrading back to the previous version of iOS. Your downgrade options will change over time and sometimes downgrading won’t be available.

For more on the iOS downgrade process, take a look at our walkthrough.

Restore

If you can’t find a fix for your issue, and you want to avoid taking your iPhone into a store, you might want to restore your device. This should only be used as a last resort.

You can do this via Finder, iTunes, or iCloud.

4 Reasons Not to Install iOS 15.8.2 & 10 Reasons You Should

Install iOS 15.8.2 for Better Security

Install iOS 15.8.2 for Better Security

If security is important to you, and you missed older versions of iOS 15, you'll want to think about installing Apple's iOS 15.8.2 update right away.

iOS 15.8.2 doesn't have any security updates on board. But, if you missed prior versions of iOS 15, you'll get their patches when you upgrade.

iOS 15.8.1 wasn't a big update, but it did have a pair of security patches on board. They're important and they will help protect your device from harm. 

iOS 15.8 had an important security patch on board. 

iOS 15.7.9 brought a new security patch with it. It addressed an issue where hackers could gain access via PassKit (Apple Wallet) image. For more information, head over to Apple's website.

iOS 15.7.8 had 10 security patches on board. These patches are essential if you want to keep your device and its data safe from harm. Apple's outlined the changes in detail and they're worth a look.

iOS 15.7.7 brought three security patches to iPhone models lingering on iOS 15. For more about them, head over to Apple's security site.

iOS 15.7.6 had several security updates on board. For more information about those patches, head here.

The iOS 15.7.5 update patched up actively exploited vulnerabilities making it an extremely important upgrade for your iPhone. To learn more about the patches, check out Apple's guide.

iOS 15.7.4 brought important security fixes to older iPhone models as well. If you want to learn more about these changes, check out Apple's guide.

iOS 15.7.3 also brought a batch of security patches to iPhone. You can learn more about these changes right here.

iOS 15.7.2 brought numerous patches along with it. For more about them, head over to Apple's website for more details.

iOS 15.7.1 update brought 17 security patches with it while iOS 15.7 delivered 11 security patches to iPhone. If you want a look at the details, head over to Apple's security site for more information.

If you missed iOS 15.6.1, it had two security patches on board. You can read more about the pair on Apple's website.

If you missed Apple's iOS 15.6 update, it had 30+ security upgrades on board. You can learn more about them right here.

If you missed iOS 15.5 it brought 27 new security patches to the iPhone. You can learn more about these patches over on Apple's security site.

If you missed iOS 15.4.1, it had one new security patch on board. You can read more about it over on Apple's website

If you missed the iOS 15.4 update, it had a whopping 36 new security patches on board. If you want to learn more about these patches, head on over to Apple's security site for the particulars

If you missed iOS 15.3.1, it had one security patch on board. For more about it, head over to Apple's security page

If you missed iOS 15.3, you'll also get its patches with your upgrade. iOS 15.3 brought 10 new security patches to iPhone users. If you're interested in the details, you can read more about them right here.

If you missed iOS 15.2.1, you'll get its security patch with your upgrade. You can learn more about the change over on Apple's website

If you missed Apple's iOS 15.2 update, you'll get its 30+ security patches with your upgrade. You can read all about them over on the company's security site

iOS 15.2 also included some important upgrades to privacy. The software brought the company's App Privacy Report to Settings.

This lets you see how often your apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, contacts and more during the last seven days. You can also see their network activity. 

In addition, iOS 15.2 brought Apple's communication safety features for kids. You'll find these features in the Messages app, in Siri, in Spotlight, and in Search. 

If you missed iOS 15.1, iOS 15.8.2 will bring its security patches to your iPhone. You can read more about them on Apple's website

If you missed iOS 15.0.2 you'll also get its security patch with your upgrade. You can learn more about it right here.

iOS 15.0 also brought numerous security patches to your iPhone. If you'll be moving up from iOS 14 and you're interested in the exact nature of these improvements, you can read about them over on Apple's security website.

Apple's updated its website with new information about iOS 15's batch of security patches. The company now says the software patched up an issue that could have exposed a user's private Apple ID information and in-app search history.

It also says iOS 15 patched up an issue that allowed apps to override Privacy preferences.

If you skipped iOS 14.8 or any older versions of iOS, you'll get the security patches from those updates with your iOS 15.8.2 update as well. 

In addition to those patches, iOS 15 comes with some security and privacy upgrades including improvements to Siri. Requests made to Siri are now processed on the device itself using Neural Engine. This makes it more secure. 

If you're an Apple Card user, you'll now get a security code that changes regularly to use when you make online transactions. 

Apple's also included a built-in authenticator that's similar to Google Authenticator. This will let you generate verification codes for enhanced sign-in security under your Passwords.

There's also a Mail feature that hides your IP address. 

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. MVon

    09/15/2022 at 7:08 am

    This is so frustrating! Why after almost all iOS updates it affects the battery and does not matter the charging device? All answers are hoops to jump through (done them all, waste of my time) and to ensure your cables and the connection area are not corrupted? Nothing was wrong before the update and immediately after the update are issues, so NO it’s no the cables, device, apps, or connection area, it’s the update! Apple please Stop blaming the consumer and fix what you broke !

  2. Margie Thompson

    09/18/2022 at 3:28 pm

    Agreed! My daughter downloaded the 15.##.## and immediately had problems with sending texts to number addresses. It causes her phone to freeze up immediately. Unfortunately, she texts this way quite a few times, so this drives her crazy! It IS the UPDATE. Apple, fix what you broke! We’ve spent hours at the Apple Genius Bar and even went to AT&T to exchange the SIM card. No use. It’s still “broken.”

  3. Jon gotti

    10/27/2023 at 2:01 pm

    I had only recently upgraded to last 15.x revision, it has been a nightmare, I found things that improved speed but then it would become unresponsive again. I made more changes today and it has improved again, not sure for how long. The issue was as if it had changed the distribution of MIPS between the apps AND as if every request required it to go to the cloud,. It was making me wait between 5s and 30s before responding which made it unusable. Here are things I did to speed it up

    Deleted all widgets, what was Apple thinking, Microsoft had same issue with widgets and task tray on Windows .

    I learnt a long time ago to disable automatic updates on every app and on IOS, also to set background usage to off for all but 1 or 2 apps abut to keep it off.

    I turned off automatically checking for mail (Push under fetch new data in mail, also set fetch to manually

    Stopped CC2mw (bcc every message) and deleted the cc2me folder (saved 12gb)

    Now under storage I have zero bytes of system data)

    I always turn off all notifications other than urgent and disable SIRI and disable Siri in each app.

    I disable location sharing for all apps and keep it off, I turn it on for Wazw (when using app) when I need directions and set it back to never and location services off.

    IOS15 still shares MIPS inefficiently, with IOS 12 it would deserve 90% of cpu for foreground app or lock screeen. Now if you have 5 apps open it splits between those 5 even with the background app refresh set to off.

    You also have to watch out for badly behaved apps, the worst is Telegram, I even if you turn image getting off it had huge lag updating all channels when it should give the user priority. I really don’t trust Telegram, lot of spamming and adding you to channels you did not join, even if you disable that.

    Waze hogs resources and Mega used to be bad but recently improved.

    Some apps do not release memory when closed which makes closing all apps and power down a necessity at least once per day.

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