How to Fix iOS 17 Performance Problems

As we push away from the iOS 17 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 new operating system, others are complaining about bugs and performance problems.

The current list of iOS 17 performance issues includes UI lag, freezes, lock ups, and random reboots. These are extremely common, particularly on aging iPhone models. Newer iPhone models aren’t immune to performance problems though.

Performance issues can be difficult to fix. And while you might be able to solve them on your own, others may require a fix from Apple in a software update. In some cases, you may need to contact Apple support or bring your iPhone into an Apple Store.

If you can’t wait for a new version of iOS 17 and/or you don’t have time to get in touch with Apple support, we have some fixes that could help fix iOS 17 performance issues.

Restart Your Phone

If you start noticing UI lag or another performance issue after installing iOS 17, try restarting your iPhone.

Power it down, leave it off for a minute, and the turn it back on. This has resolved many performance issues for us in the past.

Update Your iPhone

Apple will occasionally push new iOS 17 software to your iPhone. Point updates (x.x.x) are typically focused on fixing bugs while milestone upgrades (x.x) usually deliver a mix of new enhancements.

The company might not call out performance fixes in an iOS 17 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 17, 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 rolling out iOS 17 support updates and they could help stabilize iOS 17’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 17 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 unnecessary files could help speed up your iPhone. This is especially true if you’re almost out of storage.

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 makes some recommendations based on your utilization of your iPhone’s storage, but you can also just go through each section manually delete files you no longer 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.

If you don’t need your iPhone to do this, you might want to shut the feature off. Here’s how to do that:

• 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 device’s settings. Here’s how to do that:

• 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.

Downgrade

If you can’t find a fix for your problem and/or don’t want to wait for the next version of iOS 17, 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.

Install iOS 17.0.1 for Better Security

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If security is important to you, think about installing Apple's iOS 17.0.1 update right away. iOS 17 itself brings new security patches to the iPhone, but Apple hasn't outlined them yet. As for iOS 17.0.1, it brings three important patches to iPhone. If you're interested in the exact nature of these improvements, you can read about them over on Apple's security website. If you skipped older versions of iOS, like iOS 16.6.1, you'll get the security patches from those updates with your iOS 17 update as well. In addition to those patches, iOS 17 brings some additional enhancements to privacy and security including improvements to Communication Safety beyond Messages. It now includes content sent by AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app, FaceTime, and the systemwide photo picker. You now have an option to blur out sensitive photos and videos before you choose to view them. There's also an expanded Lockdown Mode which will help protect you against cyber attacks. Apple's also improved sharing permissions and you now have more control over what you share with the apps on your device.  The company also notes that starting in iOS 17, Voice Memos encrypts the titles of recordings stored in iCloud, in addition to the recordings themselves.

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