iPhone 3G running slow after iOS 4? Speed up your slow iPhone 3G with these tips
Troubleshooting, iPhone - July 28th, 2010 - 54 Comments
If your iPhone 3G is running really slow after installing iOS 4, you’re not alone. While iOS 4 is a great OS for newer iPhone models, it makes my older iPhone 3G slow down to a crawl, with everything delayed and stuttering to catch up to touch. At times it’s practically unusable. So what can you do to speed it up? Try these tips:
Disable Spotlight on iPhone 3G
If iOS 4 has your iPhone 3G crawling, disable Spotlight search:
- Tap on “Settings”
- Tap on “General”
- Navigate to and select “Home Button”
- Scroll down to “Spotlight Search”
- Disable everything by tapping the check box next to each item
- Exit settings
You can leave some of the Spotlight search items enabled but I find that the best speed improvement comes from disabling everything.
I don’t even use Spotlight on my iPhone so I’m not missing this feature at all, but it does seem to improve the speed of the iPhone 3G in common tasks like flipping between screens, scrolling through text messages and emails, and even launching some apps.
Bottom line: if you don’t use Spotlight in iOS, disable it!
Hard reset iPhone 3G
Hard resetting your iPhone can speed it up for a while. Here’s how to do it:
- Press and hold the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time, hold both for about 5 seconds
- Ignore the typical ‘Slide to power off message’ and continue holding both buttons until the iPhone shuts itself off
- When your iPhone 3G resets itself you can stop holding the buttons, it takes about 10 seconds to hard reset the iPhone
- Let iOS boot as usual, your phone should be temporarily sped up
This works because it clears your iPhone’s memory completely, but this is less of a permanent solution than disabling Spotlight since caches and memory will inevitably be full again.
Restore factory settings and do not restore from backup
I don’t like this solution much because you lose your backups, but it does seem to help iOS 4 run a bit better on the iPhone 3G. Basically you’re just doing a clean iOS 4 install on the iPhone, but then you are left with an empty phone. You can obviously easily resync your music but you’ll lose all your iPhone text message backups, contacts, apps, and pretty much anything else that made it your phone.
Downgrade from iOS 4 to iOS 3.1.3
If you’re totally fed up with iPhone 3G and iOS 4, you can always just downgrade to the prior OS version, but it’s not a particularly fun process and you obviously lose out on all the iOS 4 features.
Thoughts on iPhone 3G and iOS 4
I know I would have been annoyed if Apple had left out the iPhone 3G from being able to upgrade to iOS 4, but I feel like the performance is just terrible. It’s no wonder they left out multitasking and background pictures, but even without those features it just doesn’t run well on the older and slower hardware of the 3G. There are some rumors (ie: wishful thinking) swirling that when iOS 4 for iPad is released and the iOS 4 versions are bridged in iOS 4.1 (or whatever the version ends up being), that the performance will improve on iPhone 3G. I’m not counting on that and here’s why: the iOS 4.1 beta is already available for download and people have put it on their iPhone 3G to practically no avail. Perhaps future versions will change and we just don’t know that yet, but for now I am not a fan of iOS4 my older iPhone 3G.
Oh, and if you have an iPhone 3G, do yourself a favor and do not upgrade to iOS 4! Folders and editing playlists are not worth the huge slowdown!
I’ve got a 3GS and there are times when I think it’s slow – and it feels like it’s because of multitasking and a delay in closing out an app.
The camera is really slow but that feels like something else.
Still – I wouldn’t give up iOS4 at this point. Background audio and gps are too useful.
I definitely agree for my 3GS. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about my iPhone 3G, it is just dreadfully slow with iOS 4 and I don’t get the benefits of multitasking (which I now understand why, the processor can’t handle it!).
I am still debating about what to do with the 3G, it’s still a great phone, but it may just need to be downgraded to become fully usable again.
the processor can handle it. my jailbroken 3g has been multitasking for a long time. they just need to give u an excuse to update. and if your gonna move to the 3GS you might as well move u to the iphone 4.
Murphy: See my comment below on how to speed up the camera.
[...] an easier to read version of the same information is at OSX Daily Posted by snolan on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, at 6:17 am. Filed under Personal. Follow any [...]
Another tip for speeding up the camera app even further in iOS4: disable Location Services for the Camera (Settings->General->Location Services->Camera->Off). It makes a huge difference to the launch, shutter lag and saving the image.
[...] to iOS 4, you can always downgrade to a previous version of iOS to get things working again. iPhone 3G owners can play with settings on their devices to optimize their OS’ performance further. It’s not convenient, but at [...]
Turning off spotlight seems to have fix my ios 4 woes on my 3 G. If this keeps up I will love my phone again!
Thanks
I had a LOT of photos on my 3g, so I backed them up and removed them. I got a nice performance boost out of it. I would be curious to know if anyone else has tried this with similar results.
Yeahhh its way fasttttt now. Thanx!
[...] almost on par with our family iPad (which is also a Wi-Fi only device). Following several blogs, there have been reports that turning off just the Spotlight Search (Settings > General > [...]
[...] Excellent news for iPhone 3G owners who have been plagued by the iOS 4 update, an Apple spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal that they are investigating various complaints about iOS 4 running slow on iPhone 3G. [...]
[...] I used for her, almost on par with our family iPad (which is also a Wi-Fi only device). Several blogs have reported that simply turning off Spotlight Search (Settings > General > Home Button > [...]
[...] I used for her, almost on par with our family iPad (which is also a Wi-Fi only device). Several blogs have reported that simply turning off Spotlight Search (Settings > General > Home Button > [...]
[...] I used for her, almost on par with our family iPad (which is also a Wi-Fi only device). Several blogs have reported that simply turning off Spotlight Search (Settings > General > Home Button > [...]
How do you down grade to the previous OS 3 version My phone was still fantastic before the up grade. I am telling everyone not to up grade. The slowness is a -Pain in the ass.. I didnt really need the up grade stuff anyway.
Thankyou
Donna, I’ve included a link to the downgrade instructions I followed. It wasn’t too hard.
NOTE: Unless you saved a backup from *before* you upgraded to 4.0, you are going to lose data (like I did). 3.1.3 can’t restore from a 4.0.x backup.
TEXT: http://lifehacker.com/5572003/how-to-downgrade-your-iphone-3gs-from-ios-4-to-ios-313
VIDEO: http://cnettv.cnet.com/downgrade-your-iphone-3g-from-ios-4/9742-1_53-50090954.html
I have just talked to apple and they say that You cant go backwards to a previous operating system ??? for the iphone, So how are people doing it then ??? HELP PLEASE
You can downgrade to the previous firmware. They most likely told you this because its not done through them. You can do it yourself just look around on google. Best information you can get is from the dev-team. Just read through their blog posts and the comments. If you have questions post one on there and someone will help you out. They are an amazing group of people!
[...] I used for her, almost on par with our family iPad (which is also a Wi-Fi only device). Several blogs have reported that simply turning off Spotlight Search (Settings > General > Home Button > [...]
[...] here: iPhone 3G running slow after iOS 4? Speed up your slow iPhone 3G … [...]
I jailbroke my 3G running iOS4.0.1, and applied the PDF Patch. now my 3G is lightning fast.
Whoever wrote this article, I’d like to give you a big kiss. This simple reconfiguration – turning off Spotlight indexing – instantly improved navigation of the main screens of icons and scrolling performance in the Mail app is suddenly bearable again. Thank you!
I have found that reducing the icons on the desktop by putting on them in folders greatly improved performance.
I have found that reducing the icons on the desktop by putting them in folders greatly improved performance.
Don’t upgrade your 3G iphone to the 4.1 OS, because your phone will be soooo slow!!! I did it and my iphone sucks now. I cannot believe iphone allowed this to happen! Did anyone try this out at apple?
I reinstalled the software twice! deleted most of my applications and content and I still have trouble with it!! I want to downgrade my OS, but it as I read these blogs..its a pain in the ass!
I get freezes, crashes, and locks all the time now! I feel like I am on a Windows system!! It’s pretty bad when it take you one minute and a half to text your wife and tell her “I love you”
I makes me not want to text or surf anymore! What a great way for ATT to lower bandwidth demands!
Wow! Turning off spotlight made my 3G usable again. I was ready to throw it out because I couldn’t even switch between screens, the IPod app crashed 2/3 of the time, as did mail. So far, so good. I hope this fixes it.
Thanks for the Spotlight tip, it’s made my 3G far better.
I would like to thank you for the Spotlight tip. It’s not perfect, but it’s better -
Looks like major-upgrading your iPhone is like major-upgrading your Mac: It slows it like hell, makes you frustrated and thinking you need to change your machine…
I followed your instructions and now I’m back on regular speed. Thanks for the tips, you just saved me 500$
Thanks for all the advice. My 3G was so bad I was seriously thinking about going back to factory settings and starting again. Bit dissappointed in Apple with this one to be honest, my phone is only a year old and they don’t seem to care that it runs like a dog with the latest version of their os. Poor show Apple, combine this with the “finger of death” and it looks like the shine is coming off the brand !
Thanks for this tip ! I thought i’d have to downgrade my 3G to OS 3, but it’s now fast again after turning off spotlight search.
I have a 8gb 3g with IOS4.1 just installed, I like the folders option, but it still runs sluggish, and glitchy I am thinking that the internal memory such like ram, how ever i have apps i have deleted and still in the memory bank, I need to know how to fully delete the apps from the back door. that right there is whats slowing these nice little gadgets down.
correction its IOS 4.0.1 sorry lol
Ya’ know, it’s just not worth the trouble! I hate AT&T with their “fastest 3G network” BS, and now I’m sick of Apple because frankly they’re just stupid for not testing this crap before releasing it. I’m going to a different provider and a different phone that’s actually usable (and MUCH cheaper!). I suggest a mass exodus to get their attention. Competition always improves things!
UNUSABLY slow after 4.0. Its ridiculous. I want to crush it under my cars wheels! I hear clicking when typing and the letters dont show up for a minute…all applications crash…keys get stuck…minutes go by after clicking a button…blank screens for minutes…I can’t have a phone that doesn’t work.
If this is apple’s way of getting people to upgrade to another phone, forget it! My phone worked just fine under 3.0, THEY f***ked it up with 4.0. THEY need to fix it. Or I’ll get a phone that works, like an android.
iOS 4 has made my iPhone 3G unusable, it is so slow nothing works and even answering a call takes about 10 seconds as it hangs after you slide to answer.
What a joke, this is the Windows Vista of phones…
I have a 3G with all the same problems. I’m about to call AT&T a complain and yell and get them to give me a discount and/or a free phone. I have a friend that said he did that and spent 4 hours back and forth between at&t and apple… (he said he was a jerk about it) but in the end he got a free 3G with the old software (they had in stock still) AND $50 off an iPhone 4 AND $30 off his monthly bill. I think we should all do that and maybe they might start paying attention!!!
i have a slight prob wid my iphone 3g …….i got the new update 4.0 but when i installed it …. my utilities folder app gets deleted……..how do i get it back ……..!plllllllzzzzzzzz HEEEELLLPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!
so i had this problem on a Jailbroken phone luckily I had installed sbsettings which gives me two very nice and handy features
1) I actually get to see how much memory my phone has left
2) I can actually remove and kill programs running in the background which has speeded everything up
I’m not going into details here on how to do this as so many more knowledgeable people than I have posted how to do this on a number of sites.
simply google jailbreak (so easy it is untrue) and sbsettings
good luck
That was fantastic. I have been beating this phone on it’s side trying to figure out a way to get it to work faster and I love how Apple gives us older iPhone users the heads up.
Anyway, I did the unchecked everything and the phone is back to speedy gonzoles. Thanks again. Now I can add my music back on.
in addition to disabling spotlight search, reducing the numner of apps running in the background ocnsiderably improves performance.
to removes apps running in the background simple double click the home button. then hold the app until the “x” shows on the top right hand corner. tap on the “X” to kill the app. repeat the process until you have fewer apps showing as running in the background.
this worsk for me. my 3g is back the way it was.
OS 4 is the best.
I found an app in the App Store called FreeMemory. It’s very simple; you run it and it frees up tons of memory within a few seconds. It’s great to run just before i want to play a game or run my Tom Tom GPS app.
I have tried additional steps to make my 3G works responsiveness in google map.
My problem was the goggle map showing the blue circle jumping back and forth, and it has a very sluggish response (~10 seconds) in presenting the current position. I found out that I am not the only one, as there are many complaining about the same.
What I did in addition to the original post (spotlight and etc), are:
1. Disable all location service (Settings->General->LocationServices->), except goggle. This improves a bit.
2. Disable 3G (Settings->General->Network). This improves a lot.
My purpose is to make the 3G works for GPS, but obvious this defeats the benefit of getting faster network (for other network apps).
I got the clue as I traveled to Toronto. I found my GPS working smoothly there (but not in US). I got the data roaming in Toronto. So it tells me something about network is the issue causing the GPS to fail.
But of course, all these are temporary solutions, until Apple get its act together.
Hi every one no need to downgrade or worry ant slowness of your 3G iPhone. This the solution. Tap home botton twice u will see alot applications running, exit all the applications by pressing one and hold, u will see they will start shaking with a red – attached to each it, tap the red sign to close. Close all applications and u will just enjoying ur new phone. The phone is slow bcos of multi tasking. Email me for more explanations. njulio6@gmail.com
What do you mean? I don´t get multitasking with iOS 4.0.1 on my iPhone 3G. I don´t understand how you guys have multitasking on a iPhone 3G?
I have an iphone 3G.I did not buck-up my phone when upgrading to 4.0.I lost all my contacts and apps.I lost my apps icon on the screen too.I managed to load some contacts and notes saved a year ago on my last buck-up on a different comp.I tried to restore,hard reset and nothing doing.The phone is very slow too.How do I get my app icon on the screen again and also my speed?Please help.
I just downgraded today back to 3.1.3. I did not have a backup that I saved from that firmware so I lost everything but let me tell you, it was so worth it. Everything works normal again. I saved my 4.0.1 backup and when I get a new phone or they fix it I will restore that backup to get everything back. I strongly recommend downgrading it takes about 15 minutes and is honestly not that difficult, most of the time is spent downloading and installing old itunes & firmware.
How do I downgrade please?
I highly recommend downgrading and jailbreaking. With a jailbroke 3g you can do everything OS4 does plus more. Cydia categories can create categories. SBsettings gives you total control over processes and memory that background apps use, biteSMS allows you to txt from anywhere in any program, winterboard allows you to customize your iphone with new icons, backgrounds, etc… 5 icon allows you to have 5 icon apps at the bottom, grooveshark is pandora on crack, cycorder allows you to record video on a 3g using the camera (it works really good), I could go on and on about it, but just try it yourself – it’s not that hard. Downgrade to 3.1.3 and jailbreak.
WOW
my iphone 3g was so slow i was thinking of getting rid of it.
i did a hard reset twice which helped a little but i think disabling the spotlight settings helped the most.
I think it is amazing that there are so many people willing to go to the ends of the earth to make there phones work like they should. Why doesn’t apple just test this out before they release it. It seems they are always releasing stuff in BETA and calling it ready. It is really annoying. We should not have to jump through hoops to get the performance from our high dollar products after an UPDATE. Yes, I am venting a bit here but at the same time, there is a lot of truth to this observation as well. Just my $0.02.
I still think 4.0 kills my battery way to fast. I just need the new iphone 4 on t-mobile asap!
[...] iOS 4 slowness problems with iPhone 3G fixed – this is a big one for iPhone 3G owners [...]