Dave Johnson

• If your iPhone is slow after iOS 18 update, making a few tweaks in the settings can significantly improve performance.
• Common fixes include restarting your iPhone and updating your apps.
• You can also try to remove unused apps and clear the cache on your iPhone.

Some users have complained that their iPhone has become so slow and so sluggish as to almost be unusable after installing the latest iOS 18 update. But the problem is that there are so many tips and tricks out there, that you can be spending hours on tweaking and optimizing and downloading and be getting very little in return.

So, what are the best ways to speed up iOS 18?

Here’s how I speed up my iPhone running iOS 18.

How to fix slow iPhone on iOS 18

Try the suggestion below in order until your iPhone feel faster and smoother again:

1. Update your apps

Old apps may not run as smoothly or quickly on the iOS 18 without an update. After updating your iPhone to iOS 18, check to s, check to see if you’ve got app updates waiting. Here’s how:

1. Open the App Store app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Your Profile in the upper right of the screen.
3. Tap Update All to update your apps.

2. Stop automatic updates

As with previous versions, iOS 18 runs processes in the background to make your life easier. Apps update themselves in the background, for example, which saves you from having to stare at an ever-increasing number in the badge alert on your App Store icon.

Updating apps in the background, however, is a process that occupies your device’s CPU (not to mention battery). You can disable this feature and update your apps manually via the App Store app. To do so, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap App Store.
3. Tap the toggle switch to turn off App Updates in the Automatic Downloads section.

3. Free up some space

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

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap General.
3. Select iPhone Storage. You will see a list of personalized recommendations. You can follow these recommendations to free space.

4. 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 iPhone 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.

You can delete apps on iPhone by tapping and holding until all the apps go into jiggle mode or just tap and hold on the app icon you wish to delete and remove it from the popup menu by choosing Delete app.

5. Get rid of widgets you don’t need

If you have too many Widgets on your Home screen, they can significantly impact your iPhone performance. Luckily, removing them is super easy.

1. Locate press on the Widget you want to remove.
2. Tap on Remove Widget.

6. Stop background app refresh

Some apps are constantly ticking in the background, syncing data and refreshing content. This activity can slow everything down and drastically reduce battery life. For example, your Facebook or Twitter feed will update without you manually updating when you open the app. Helpful, to be sure, but it occupies CPU cycles. To turn it off, followthe steps below:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap General.
3. Select Background App Refresh.
4. Tap the toggle switch off. Or, you can take the a la carte approach and leave Background App Refresh enabled at the top and turn it off for individual apps from the list below.

Now, those apps will sync when you launch them rather than constantly syncing in the background.

7. Reduce transparency and motion effects

Apple give iOS a sense of depth as you tilt your phone or open and close apps. These motion effects generally improve your experience, but not if they result in choppy animations. Your iPhone can run a little faster if you reduce the work the CPU puts into displaying fancy graphics.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Tap Display and text size.
4. Toggle Reduce transparency to On. This setting reduces the transparency and blur effects, ostensibly to increase legibility, but it can also serve to speed up performance because it’s one fewer graphics task for your device’s processor to handle.

Now go back to Accessibility menu and tap Motion.
Tap Reduce Motion and tap the toggle switch to turn on Reduce Motion.

Next, tap the toggle switch to turn off Prefer Cross-Fade Transitions.
Finally, you can also toggle off Auto-Play Message Effects, but that’ll take some of the fun out of texting.

8. Limit location services

Location services chew up battery life more than performance, but if your iOS device is draining its battery at a faster clip with iOS 18, it’s time to cut down on the number of apps using your device’s GPS to request your location. iOS gives you more control over how and when apps access your location.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Privacy & Security.
3. Tap Location Services to adjust the settings for all of your apps that use location services.

9. Clear browsing history

One area where it’s relatively easy to get rid of superfluous files is Safari. This might initially slow down browsing, given that your iPhone will need to cache websites you visit again, but there will probably be a net performance gain in clearing out the junk. Here’s how:

1. Open the Settings app and tap Apps.
2. Tap Safari.
3. Tap Clear History and Website Data.

10. Turn off Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode is an iOS setting that disables some iPhone features to save battery charge when it is low. Your iPhone will ask you if you want to turn on Low Power Mode when your battery drops to 20%, and then again at 10%.

Apple says that Low Power Mode reduces the amount of power that your iPhone is using to make your battery last longer. However, turning on Low Power Mode can cause your iPhone to run slower than normal.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Battery.
3. Toggle off Low Power Mode.

11. Check your battery health

If your iPhone is extremely slow, it may be the time for changing the battery.

Once batteries pass their peak performance, Apple may remotely throttle your phone’s performance. This keeps it from unexpectedly shutting down because the battery isn’t working properly.

To check the health of your iPhone battery, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Battery.
3. Tap Battery Health & Charging. You’ll see your battery’s maximum capacity, as well as options for setting Optimized Battery Charging and Clean Energy Charging. If your iPhone battery’s maximum capacity has dipped to 80% or lower, you’ll see an “Important Battery Message” warning you that your battery has degraded significantly and needs to be replaced or restored by an authorized Apple service provider.

12. Check your Wi-Fi connection

Poor Wifi connection may slow your iPhone down. If you are having trouble connecting your iPhone to a Wi-Fi network, here’s what to do:

• Make sure that your iPhone 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 > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
• Try connecting a different Wi-Fi network. Does that impact the performance?

13. Keep your phone from getting too hot or cold

If the interior temperature of your phone exceeds what’s normal and the device overheats, your phone slows down. Move your iPhone to a cooler location and let its temperature adjust.

See also: how to fix iPhone overheating after iOS update issue

Very cold temperatures can also slow your iPhone. If your device runs slowly after being exposed to cold, move it to a warmer location.

14. Reboot

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

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

• If you have an iPhone SE (2nd or 3rd generation): Press and hold the power button until you see the red power off slider. Drag the slider from left to right. Wait about a minute. Then press and hold the power button until the Apple logo appears.
• If you have iPhone XR, XS, 11, 12, 13, 14, or iPhone 15: Press and hold the Side and volume up (or down) buttons together until the power off slider appears. Then drag the slider from left to right. Wait for about a minute and then press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo.

15. Reset your iPhone

We recommend resetting your handset when troubleshooting to clear out some old data, at the cost of having to re-enter certain passwords and other settings. Check out our guide on how to factory reset an iPhone for full details.

A general reset will likely result in improved performance — just make sure that you back up important files first.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General.
3. Select Transfer or reset iPhone.
4. Tap Reset.
5. Tap Reset All Settings and follow the onscreen instructions.

A more drastic approach is to go for the full factory reset:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone
4. Tap Erase all content and settings and follow the onscreen instructions.

16. Wait for the next iOS update

Bugs do slip through the net, and sometimes all you can do is wait for Apple to fix the problem and roll out a new update.

That said, if you’re iPhone is slow even after installing the upcoming version of iOS 18, I recommend that you contact Apple Support for further help.

Have you noticed your iPhone overheating since installing iOS 18, the latest update for the iPhone? Well, you’re not alone, because my iPhone has been doing exactly the same.

I first noticed the problem a few hours after installing the update a little over a week ago. I observed that the iPhone got a lot warmer than usual — especially when being charged on a wireless charger (and yes, this was a genuine Apple MagSafe wireless charger.

I started to get reports from other users saying the same thing, and came across similar concerns online. It seems to mostly affect the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15, although I’ve come across reports from users with other handsets who say this is a problem.

Overheating can become a big problem, especially if it happens consistently.

You don’t want your iPhone to overheat, because it can cause glitches and crashes, slow down the device, damage internal components, drain the battery and permanently shorten the battery lifespan.

That’s why you want to take all the measures you can to fix this iOS 18 overheating problem. You can’t stop all instances of overheating, but there are many things you can do. Here’s what you need to know.

Why is your iPhone getting hot after iOS 18 update?

iPhones need to carry out a number of tasks in the background in the aftermath of an iOS update. This consumes more battery power than usual, causing an iPhone to get hot.

Your iPhone might overheat from other causes, such as:

• Leaving your iPhone in direct sunlight.
• Keeping your phone in a hot environment.
• Overusing your iPhone when it’s charging.
• A faulty battery or charger.
• Bugs in the iOS.
• Malfunctioning application
• Poorly designed phone case.

How to fix iOS 18 overheating issue

1. Be patient

A lot goes on during and after installing an iOS update, and tasks such as reindexing photos can consume a lot of processing power, which in turn can temporarily cause the iPhone to heat up. So, if you just installed iOS 18 on your iPhone, I recommend that you remain patient. Things should return to normal within a few days of installing an update.

2. Update your apps

It is not unusual for apps to have bugs or issues that cause them to use more power than necessary. This could result in the iPhone overheating, even when not directly using the app.

The solution? Update all the apps you run, as updates often deliver critical security patches and improved functionality. Here’s how:

1. Open App Store.
2. Tap the Profile icon in the upper-right of the screen.
3. Scroll down to Available updates.
4. Tap Update all.
5. Tap Done.

3. Limit processor-intensive tasks

If you are using your iPhone for heavy processing tasks like playing high-end games, streaming, using graphics-intensive applications, or recording videos for an extended period, this can cause your phone to overheat.

If you notice that your iPhone gets too hot when performing a demanding task, you might want to limit that task.

If there are other devices in your vicinity that do the same thing — like a PC or game console — use them instead so you don’t overheat your phone.

4. Make sure you use an Apple-certified charger and cable

It is absolutely normal for your iPhone to warm up a little while charging, but if your device feels hot to the touch, there’s something wrong.

Charging your iPhone with a non-Apple charger that doesn’t comply with Apple’s safety standards, can cause it to overheat. Swapping that out for a MFi certified charger or a charger from Apple might help here.

You may also want to switch to wired charging. This doesn’t eliminate the overheating completely, but the charging generates less heat this way.

Also, ensure that your iPhone’s charging port is clean and free of any dirt or lint. Any piled-up lint or debris may prevent the charger from working properly, resulting in overheating.

5. Avoid exposing your iPhone to extreme temperatures

Extreme environmental temperatures, both hot and cold, can cause an iPhone to overheat. Apple makes it clear that you should not use your iPhone when temperatures are outside of the range of 0 to 35 degrees Celsius (32 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Leaving your iPhone in a car is particularly problematic because the car’s interior can easily exceed this range when left in the hot sun.

For in-car charging, i like using a wireless charger that has a built-in fan to keep things cool.

Apple offers some tips on helping to keep your iPhone cool in high temperatures:

• Don’t leave your iPhone or iPad in a car on a hot day
• Don’t leave your iPhone or iPad in direct sunlight for an extended period of time

Do your best to keep the iPhone within its operating temperatures of 0 to 35 degrees Celsius (32 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit).

6. Remove the iPhone from the case

Another tip that I found useful when i experienced overheating issue after iOS 18 update was to take the iPhone out of any case.

iPhones dissipate the heat into their surroundings through the back shell, and poorly designed case can interfere with this heat dissipation.

Check to make sure the case on your iPhone isn’t causing the overheating.

Remove the case from your iPhone and test for a day or two.

Just try not to drop it!

If the overheating stops, try a lighter case.

7. Control the screen brightness

Having your iPhone’s brightness at maximum can cause overheating and drain your phone’s battery quickly.

Luckily, iPhone has a setting that automatically adjusts the brightness based on the conditions around you.

First, launch the Control center on your iPhone and use the slider to decrease the brightness level.

Now follow the steps below:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Tap Display and text size.
4. Scroll down to the bottom and ensure Auto-brightness is enabled.

8. Try using Low Power Mode

If your iPhone is still running hot, turn on Low Power Mode. In low-power mode, the iPhone uses less energy and only carries out essential functions, thus saving battery life while the phone runs cooler. Your iPhone produces less heat when the battery discharges more slowly.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on Battery.
3. Switch the toggle for Low Power Mode at the top.

9. Scan for apps causing overheating

If none of the previous steps helped, what else could it be? It could be a rogue app that’s causing your iPhone to overheat. Fortunately, iOS offers you the tools you need to track down misbehaving apps.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Privacy & Security.
3. Tap Analytics & Improvements.
4. Choose Analytics Data. This will show you a list of any apps that have been crashing.

10. Restart your iPhone

If your iPhone is still overheating, try a reboot and see if that helps. It can’t hurt.

To restart an iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, iPhone 15, or iPhone 16:

1. Hold down the Power button and either of the Volume buttons for a few seconds.
2. A slider will appear at the top, telling you to slide to power off. Press the power icon in the slider and drag it to the right.
3. Let the iPhone cool down for a few minutes.
4. Hold down the Power button for a few seconds and release it when you see the Apple logo on the screen.

To restart an iPhone SE (2nd or 3rd generation):

1. Hold down the Power button for a few seconds.
2. When the slide to power off slider appears at the top, press and drag the power icon inside it to the right.
3. Wait a few minutes to give the iPhone time to cool down.
4. Press and hold the Power button and release it when the Apple logo appears.

11. Reset your iPhone

If you find that your iPhone’s still getting too hot after trying the steps mentioned above, you should try resetting the phone to return it to its factory settings.

This will delete all apps and customized settings, but it could potentially help you troubleshoot the overheating problem. For details on how to reset your iPhone to factory settings — and how to avoid losing your most important data in the process — check out our dedicated article on the topic.

12. Wait for the next iOS 18 update

Bugs do slip through the net, and sometimes all you can do is wait for Apple to fix the problem and roll out a new update.

Apple is getting much better at fixing issues, although you do have to wait for the fix and take a gamble that the new iOS 18 update does indeed correct the overheating problem and not cause more chaos.

That said, given that pretty much every update Apple rolls out nowadays is packed with iOS security fixes, I recommend installing updates to avoid leaving your iPhone vulnerable to attack.

If you continue to experience overheating issues, even after updating to the subsequent version of iOS 18, I’d recommend downloading the Apple Support app to your iPhone and filing a report on the issue. This will allow you to share the details, text with a support rep, and/or make a genius bar appointment to have your device looked at by an Apple technician.

Bottom line

One of the most rapid ways to cool down an iPhone is to turn it off completely and let it come down to normal temperature naturally. Don’t try to "speed up" the process by putting the iPhone into a refrigerator or ice box as this could also damage the battery.