Apple

How to Fix iPhone 15 Performance Problems

Published

3 months ago

02/06/2024

The iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max come with Apple’s latest hardware, but the flagship devices aren’t immune to performance issues.

If your iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max freezes or lags, you don’t need to get in touch with Apple customer service just yet. You may be able to fix the issue(s) on your own.

Table of Contents

This walkthrough will take you through solutions for iPhone performance problems that have worked for us in the past. They’ll also help you maintain a fast and efficient iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro well into the future.

Restart Your iPhone 15

If you run into performance issues on your new iPhone, try restarting the device. Often times, a quick reboot will fix the problems.

Power down your device, leave it off for 30 seconds or so, and then power it back on and see if performance improves. If it doesn’t, try the solutions below.

Update Your iPhone

Apple will periodically release new versions of iOS 17.

Point updates (iOS x.x.x) typically fix bugs and security issues while milestone upgrades (iOS x.x) generally deliver a mix of new features, security updates, and bug fixes.

The company may not call out performance fixes in an update’s change log, but new software always has the potential to help (or hurt) your iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro’s overall performance.

If own an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, and you’re running software older than iOS 17.0.3, make sure you download the latest version of iOS 17. The update fixed overheating problems on Apple’s flagship devices.

For more on the latest version of iOS 17, check out our guide.

Update Your Apps

Try updating the applications on your iPhone to the latest version.

App developers are rolling out support updates and they could help stabilize the app’s performance as well as your iPhone 15’s overall performance.

Before you install the latest version of an app, make sure you dig into reviews from other iPhone 15 and iOS 17 users. If the reviews are mostly good, go ahead and download the latest version.

Reset All Settings

You can also try resetting your iPhone 15’s settings. This will restore your device’s settings to their factory defaults so make sure you have your Wi-Fi passwords handy because you’ll need to re-enter them when the process finishes up.

Go into the Settings app
Tap General
Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone
Tap Reset
Tap Reset All Settings
Enter your passcode if you have one enabled

Cleanup Storage

If you transferred all the files from your old phone to your iPhone 15, you might have a lot of clutter taking up space on your phone’s internal storage.

Getting rid of these unused files and apps could help improve your device’s performance.

You’ll want to check and see how much space is available on your iPhone 15. Here’s how to do that:

Head into Settings
Tap General
Tap Storage & iCloud Usage
Select Manage Storage

If you’re getting close to the threshold, head back into General and go to iPhone Storage. This will show you a detailed rundown of your data.

Apple will make some recommendations based on the utilization of your device’s storage, but you can also just go through each section manually delete files you no longer need.

We recommend having at least a gigabyte of free space available at all times.

Turn Off Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode is useful if you want to conserve battery life, but it can also cause some functions to take longer to complete. If your iPhone is running slow, try turning it off.

Clear Browser Cookies & Data

Clearing your browser’s cookies and data will free up memory which could have a positive impact on your iPhone 15’s performance.

If you use Apple’s Safari browser, here’s how to clear them:

Go to the Settings app
Tap Safari
Scroll down to where it says Clear History and Website Data and tap on it

Tapping this will remove your browsing history, cookies, and other data from Safari. History will also be cleared from any devices signed into your iCloud account. If you’re up for that, tap Clear History and Data again.

If you primarily use Google’s Chrome browser, here’s what you need to do:

Head into Chrome
Tap the three horizontal circles in the bottom right corner
Tap Settings
Tap Privacy
Tap Clear Browsing Data

You can now select what you want to delete. If you’re noticing heavy lag, you might want to clear out everything and start from scratch.

Downgrade iOS

If you recently installed a new version of iOS 17 on your iPhone 15 and you’re noticing issues, you could try moving your phone’s software back to the previous version of iOS 17 if the option is available.

If you don’t know how to downgrade an iPhone’s software, have a look at our walkthrough.

4 Reasons Not to Install iOS 17.4.1 & 12 Reasons You Should

Install iOS 17.4.1 for Better Security

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If security is important to you, think about installing Apple's iOS 17.4.1 update right away.

The iOS 17.4.1 update includes two security patches. These patches will help keep your device and its data protected from harm. And that makes iOS 17.4.1 an important upgrade.

If you missed iOS 17.4 and older software, you'll get the security patches from updates you missed when you upgrade to iOS 17.4.1.

iOS 17.4 had four security patches on board.

The update also delivered quantum security protection for iMessage. The company says the upgrade gives iMessage "the strongest security properties of any at-scale messaging protocol in the world."

The iOS 17.3 update brought 15 new security patches to iPhone. The software also added Stolen Device Protection to iPhone.

It increases the security of your iPhone and Apple ID by requiring Face ID or Touch ID to gain access to passwords, make purchases in Safari, and more. This is useful if someone gets access to your iPhone and its passcode.

iOS 17.2 delivered 10 new security patches to iPhone. If you wish to find out more, you can head on over to Apple's security site for the details.

iOS 17.2 also included iMessage Contact Key Verification which improves the security of iMessage. The company also fixed an exploit that let the Flipper Zero multi-tool lock up iPhones.

iOS 17.1.2 had two security patches on board. Both were related to WebKit. If you want to learn more, you can do so right here.

iOS 17.1 brought 18 security fixes to iPhone. It addressed issues within Weather, Status Bar, WebKit, and more.

iOS 17.0.3 brought two patches for two security issues Apple identified within the software. If you want to read about the patches, head here.

iOS 17.0.1 delivered 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.

As for iOS 17 itself, it brought 40+ new security patches with it. A staggering number to say the least. If you want to learn more about them, head over to Apple.

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.

If you skipped older versions of iOS, you'll get the security patches from those updates with your iOS 17.4.1 update as well.