A number of iPhone 3G users have experienced a significant degradation in performance after the iOS 4.0 update. iPhone 3GS users generally report across-the-board performance improvements with the new update, but original iPhone 3G users have reported slow app launching, delayed reactions to taps, and generally poor interface responsiveness.
Fixes
Perform a “hard reset.” Hold down the sleep/wake and home buttons simultaneously for roughly 15-20 seconds, until the screen powers off then an Apple logo appears, which signifies a reboot. Some users have (oddly enough) reported that performing two hard resets resolves the slowness issue.
Restore, but not from backup. It appears that bad holdover data from iPhone backups can cause performance problems. Restoring as a new phone will delete contacts and other data, but may resolve this issue.
To do so, connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer, click “Restore” in iTunes, then choose “setup as new phone.”
Free up space. Make sure that your iPhone has at least 10% of its available memory free. OS X-based systems, such as iOS 4.0, may require some free space to operate properly.
Close open Safari windows. One iOS application that consumes memory in the background is Safari. Close all unused windows in the application by pressing the page switch button in the lower right portion of the screen then clicking the X at the top left of each page. See this page for screenshots.
Turn off Spotlight. Navigate to Settings -> General -> Home Button -> Spotlight Search and turn off all the options by tapping each one. Next, perform a hard reset by holding down the sleep/wake and home buttons simultaneously for roughly 15-20 seconds, until the screen powers off then an Apple logo appears, which signifies a reboot.
You can experiment with turning off only some options, but most users only report a meaningful speed boost if all options are turned off.
Turn off MMS. Navigate to Settings > Messages > MMS messaging and slide MMS Messaging to “Off,” then perform a hard reset as described above.
DFU Restore. A tedious process, but one that has yielded dramatic performance improvements for some users.
To perform a DFU restore, follow these steps:
1. Backup your phone and preserve data. Follow the steps in this Apple Knowledge Base article to transfer your purchases and backup your iPhone.
2. Put iPhone into DFU mode. Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes (if it doesn’t open automatically). Hold down both the top (sleep/wake) and home buttons for exactly 10 seconds, then release the top (sleep/wake) button but keep holding the home button until iTunes displays a message stating that a phone in recovery mode has been discovered.
3. Restore. Press the restore button and allow the phone to complete the restoration data. After it is done, select setup as a new phone.
4. Restore your backup (optional). Next, you can restore the phone again in the normal fashion (not DFU mode) using the most recent backup rather than setting up as a new phone. However, this may cause the original problem to return in some cases. If the problem returns, follow steps 1-3 again and do not restore your backup.
Feedback? info@appletoolbox.com.
August 22, 2010 at 8:23 AM
Eve – I completely agree with you. Those are the exact words I would have written. I have since updated Vista to Win 7 and there is a night and day difference. Once my contract on my iPhone runs out I will never purchase another Apple product; even the iPod sucks. Try a Zune people.
August 23, 2010 at 7:01 PM
Worked after removing spotlight and 2 resets.
August 24, 2010 at 6:09 AM
SOLUTION: I worked out how to speed up the 3GS
Step 1 – Submerge the iPhone in a bucket of Water
Step 2 – Purchase the HTC Desire – Android OS
Following these steps will dramatically improve your phone experience and will ensure your comments are inserted in Apples core!!
November 11, 2011 at 8:41 AM
lol! good steps
September 1, 2010 at 8:02 AM
Turn off MMS. lol. Ok. How about I erase all apps and don’t use the phone to make calls. Viola! Fixed!
September 3, 2010 at 9:53 AM
The Spotlight tip really worked for me.Thank God, because I was ready to throw the damn thing out the window.
April 19, 2012 at 1:17 PM
What’s the Spotlight? My phone has gotten worse and worse!! Today I almost threw it against the wall at school just to see if it would work better after.
Also Two Resets? Please explain
September 7, 2010 at 6:45 AM
wow 3.1.2 was really fast D: i went to 4.0 and it was so slow i just downgraded they said when 4.1 is released it will fix everything
September 11, 2010 at 11:16 PM
I downloaded latest OS 4.1 and if fixed the Iphone 3G issue. The device is back to the fast mode now.
October 7, 2010 at 10:36 PM
Just tried the hard reset twice, with no change. Turned off spotlight and mms, and now it seems considerably faster.
October 10, 2010 at 9:51 PM
I had the same problems, did the reboot twice (holding the home and sleep/wake buttons) deleted the spotlight thingys, getting rid of unused apps ( i now currently have about 5) deleting all the safari windows open, turning mms off and phone is STILL slow. slightly better (very, very slightly) but the big thing is still the messages taking ages to open and keyboard taking ages to catch up. so not happy
November 5, 2010 at 1:59 PM
I hate this upgrade! Sometimes, I can’t even answer the phone! (The response to my attempt to slide the lever over is so delayed that the phone call has gone to voice mail before I can get it to answer.) ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!
I will definitely try your suggestions, though, and truly appreciate your efforts!!!
January 7, 2011 at 8:40 AM
iPod Touch 3G’s Calendar slow down terribly after
installing iTunes 10 and iOs 4. This problem was resolved in my
case by itself after upgrading by iOS 4.2.1 and synchronizing with
MS Outlook and back up 2 times right each other. After 1st time
sync. and back up the slow downs remained and after the 2nd
synchronization and back up slow down has gone. During the
synchronization there was time conflict between iPod and outlook
which resolved by selecting iPod as reference source. My impression
was that the slow dawn might come up when the synchronization is
not fully done (e.g. when timing conflict remained, not resolved
between outlook and iPod) between outlook and iPod.
January 19, 2011 at 10:11 AM
Do not update.
The best free tip I can give.
The phone and the update will not work completely and it will not do so in the future. It´s planned obsolescence and part of Apple´s plan to sell new models.
Until you read it as a scoop in the papers or find a document on Wikileaks it will be the dark secret of the staff at Apple.
February 2, 2011 at 10:50 AM
yah i’ve been having the same problems with my 3g. thanks for the tips guys.
February 3, 2011 at 7:34 AM
I finally fixed this slow iPhone3GS after the 4.0 update- backed up everything, and ordered a Samsung andriod. The iPhone works great as a paperweight now!
February 15, 2011 at 5:02 PM
Don’t buy an iphone I did my update 2 weeks after warranty period was up, as soon as the update was installed my touch screen didn’t work, texting was very slow or not at all, the screen was unresponsive or magnified and the slider did not work so I couldn’t answer calls, I tried to restore settings, did numerous back ups, even factory restore, about 15 times in total, held buttons down for resets everything, lost all my contacts, apps, photos, the lot! Apple are denying there is a problem with the update but i can see here there is, they don’t care. I have another year on this contract with a phone that doesn’t work my only option is to pay $249 for a 2nd hand replacement phone that only has 3 months warranty – i’ve been JIPPED! Very unhappy.
February 17, 2011 at 2:03 PM
iv tread macke my iphon 3G but is vrey slow but what u need to is restor an j
March 1, 2011 at 8:26 PM
phone 3G setting option open slowly its terrible…it takes 10 sec to open. what to do..can i back to previous version and how? pls help me out…i already did the spotlight matter and hard reset…bt it looks same.
March 1, 2011 at 8:28 PM
its i phone 3G version 4. setting option open slowly its terrible…it takes 10 sec to open. what to do..can i back to previous version and how? pls help me out…i already did the spotlight matter and hard reset…bt it looks same.
March 22, 2011 at 12:35 AM
I know what you can do as well as apple knows…since they have discontinued the updates for 3g rendering a 2 year smart dumbphone as usefull as a brick, you can spend another 700 euros (for us – the rich europeans) to buy an iphone4…and probably after an other 1,5 year that will be absolete as well so can get an iphone5 or 6 or 7…and so on…
Thank you cr-apple
March 28, 2011 at 12:41 AM
Thanx man
. I turned off spotlight (I don’t use it anyway) and performed 2 hard resets. The result is a fast iPhone 3G 
.
May 3, 2011 at 9:33 PM
ummm what if you’re FOURTEEN and your a textaholic? wait wait… MMS? how do you even turn that off?>
May 12, 2011 at 11:47 PM
Hi
I stay in India and had bought a iphone 3 g a year ago
Love your article that i have pasted below and was very useful
I HAD AFEW BASIC questions
1 what software version can doTHE copy and paste function?
2 also which is the ideal higest perfomance version for a iphone 3g?
3 if i downgrade from version 4 to version 3.1.3 on my iphone 3g can i restore back my contacts , messages and emails
thanks
DR ARPAN GANDHI
A GREAT FAN OF YOUR WORK
May 17, 2011 at 7:09 PM
Okay wow, I get some features need to be turned off for overall performance, but I’ve already turned off everything possible. Why is it that my iPhone 3G has to suffer such a slow response time and experience with almost everything off, while my sister’s iTouch is completely fast with over 100 apps, wifi on, and several other features on?
I already tried everything above and it just turned out to be a waste of time trying.
August 13, 2011 at 1:13 AM
Hi I bought a iphone 3gs a month back, I would say . its one of the best phone
HTC and Android is just a trash. every game in Adroid runs very slow. Iphone gives the best experiance. I dont know why you all have a poor experiance
September 24, 2011 at 5:06 AM
Thank goodness for your advice. I have a 3G phone. Turning off spotlight did nothing to help. Only the hard reset did the trick – it is now back to its usual quick speed.
January 26, 2012 at 2:58 PM
I turned off spotlight and did 2 hard resets. SIGNIFICANT improvement.
January 27, 2012 at 1:04 AM
i use the 3G and since upgrading to ios-4 my camera show weird..can someone help?
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