Apple iPhone SE Troubleshooting Guide: Why Is My iPhone SE Very Slow?

The #Apple iPhone SE (#iPhoneSE) is a palm-friendly handset Apple has added to its popular iPhone line-up. Released on March of last year, this smaller iPhone flagship device comes with many great features, in which the majority of them are likewise embedded into the previous iPhone 6 variants. That being said, this iPhone is also deemed a powerful device. Nevertheless just like any other powerful smartphones, it can also deteriorate in time.

iPhone SE very slow

A few months after its official release, various issues have already been reported by a number of iPhone SE owners including performance depreciation. Among the pertinent concerns raised include slow performance, lagging, freezing, not responding, and device keeps crashing. One of these issues is what this content is trying to address, particularly on the iPhone SE that is performing very slow. Read on to learn why your iPhone is slowing down and what should be done in order to boost its speed afresh.

Why is my iPhone slowing down?

Damage is inevitable to any mobile device even those that are tagged among the highest tiered variants like Apple’s iPhone SE handset. After months or years of use, noticeable symptoms would start to manifest. Usually, your iPhone is slowing down due to any of the following reasons.

Possibility 1. Too many apps running

If you have used several applications, your device tends to slow down because these apps keep running in the background. As remedy, you need to end all running applications on your phone. Here’s how to get this done:

  • Tap the Home key twice.
  • Slide an app upwards to end it.
  • Tap the Home key again to go back to the Home screen.

Possibility 2. Your phone is overloaded for no apparent reasons

Problems on slow or sluggish performance in mobile devices can occur anytime for unknown reasons. Unless there is no damage present on any of the iPhone components, performing a force restart can help get your phone back to its normal state.

To force your iPhone to restart, tap and hold the Home and Power buttons at the same time until the Apple logo appears.

Your iPhone can also become overloaded with processes when multitasking or using multiple applications at the same time for longer time durations.  

Possibility 3. Your iPhone is running out of internal memory space

Insufficient memory can also result to performance issues such as slow, lagging, freezing, not responding, or even device crashing.

If you are fond of downloading apps and notice that your iPhone is beginning to show any of the aforesaid symptoms, then you should consider clearing up some space on your handset. One thing you can do to free up some space on your phone’s internal storage is to get rid of unnecessary apps or delete old files like photos and messages from your device.

To manage your iPhone’s internal storage and view what apps are taking up the most space, go to Settings-> General-> Storage & iCloud Usage-> Manage Storage. From that screen you will see details on what apps are using up the most data.

Another workaround applicable to this scenario is freeing up loads of cached data on certain apps like Twitter and Spotify is by deleting and reinstalling them.

Possibility 4. A faulty application is causing your iPhone to slow down

Sometimes, the problem is specific to an app. You may think that your iPhone is slowing down but actually it is an application that is depicting the symptom. For example, your phone seems to become sluggish, lags, freezes, or unresponsive while playing a game or using certain app for a longer period of time. In this scenario, the symptom is triggered by the application that went rogue.

Closing the application and performing a restart on your iPhone can help rectify apps glitches and likewise restore overall device performance.

Possibility 5. An indication of wear and tear on your iPhone

Performance degradation is typical among aging devices. No matter how powerful and smart your device is built, time will always come for it to deteriorate. How you use your device is also one factor that can contribute to your iPhone’s early deterioration.

Good thing there are a few workarounds you can use to give a boost to your aging handset including the following:

Step 1. Clear browsing history

  • Open the Settings app and scroll down to Safari. You will then be prompted with the options to Clear History and Clear Cookies and Data. Clearing the data may denote that some websites forget your preferences.

Step 2. Turn off Background App Refresh

  • This feature lets apps refresh contents automatically when on Wi-Fi or Cellular network is active. Disabling the ability of the apps to refresh in the background denotes that some apps may become slower to launch upon reloading but can improve performance on your device. You can turn off all background refreshes or just the ones you don’t need. Go to Settings-> General-> Background App Refresh.

Step 3. Turn off Automatic Downloads

  • Turning off Automatic Downloads can also help improve performance on your iPhone. With this feature enabled, your device may tend to slow down as download takes place automatically. To do so, go to Settings-> iTunes & App Store-> and then toggle the switch next to Automatic Downloads to turn it off.

Step 4. Turn on Reduce Motion

  • Other factors that can lead to slower performance on your iPhone are stacked processes in the operating system. For instance, your iPhone comes with a lot of cool features including screen animations. While those animations as you flick between apps look good, they are another process your device has to go through as you use it. You can enable this feature by going to your iPhone Settings-> General-> Accessibility-> Reduce Motion, and then toggle the switch to turn it on.

Step 5. Delete old messages and multimedia contents

  • Another way to free up memory space and boost speed on your iPhone SE is by going through the Messages app and deleting everything that you don’t really need to save. To delete non-essential messages on your iPhone, open the Messages app, scroll down to find message threads that you no longer needed, swipe to the right of the message thread and then tap Delete.

Note: Be sure to delete unwanted messages containing images, videos, and voice notes as they used up more space of your phone’s internal storage.

  • Alternatively, you can configure the Messages app to delete old messages periodically. Simply open the Settings app, navigate to the Messages menu, scroll to the bottom and change the expiry of video messages and voice messages from ‘Never’ to ‘After 2 minutes.’ With this setting, video and voice messages that are sent or received from your iPhone will automatically be deleted after the specified period of time.

Step 6. Reset All Settings

  • Another method to spring cleaning your iPhone is through reset all settings. It is a slightly more extreme process that will reset your iPhone settings including Touch ID, app permissions, display settings, and other stored data such as Wi-Fi networks, alarms and Siri, while keeping your apps and photos. Considering that output, make sure that you back up all significant information especially Wi-Fi credentials beforehand. Once you’re all set, go to Settings-> General-> Reset-> Reset All Settings.

Step 7. Keep your iPhone software up to date

  • Software updates are designed to optimize device performance. Aside from performance enhancement, software updates also contain fixes to certain bugs that may have caused your iPhone to slow down. Thus, keeping your iPhone software updated is highly recommended.

Step 8. Reallocate memory on your iPhone SE

  • You can use any of the free downloadable speed boosting tools available for your iPhone like the Battery Doctor app. These tools are primarily used to reallocate your iPhone’s memory and helps speed up your device with just one tap.

Step 9. Erase your iPhone (Full Reset)

  • This must be considered a last resort as it will delete everything on your iPhone. A full reset essentially allows you to rebuild your phone from scratch. Therefore, it is worth backing up your device beforehand. To erase your iPhone, go to Settings-> General-> Reset-> Erase All Content and Settings. Alternatively, you can use iTunes to backup and restore your iPhone from a backup or set it up as new. After the full reset, you may opt to set up your iPhone SE as new or restore from a previous backup.

If none of these workarounds is able to resolve the underlying cause and that your iPhone SE remains very slow, then I suggest contacting your phone carrier to escalate the problem. Or you may also contact Apple Support for further assistance and other recommendations.

0 thoughts on “Apple iPhone SE Troubleshooting Guide: Why Is My iPhone SE Very Slow?”

  1. When someone sends me a message the notification noise doesn’t always sound even though it is on.and I have to keep checking as it isn’t ringing….everything is turned on that needs to be and volume is up at the highest… I have rebooted the phone and it makes no difference..

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