10 Apps that Slow Down iPhone (Avoid Them!)

Apple does a great job of optimizing your iPhone to give consistent performance regardless of your usage patterns, and the device can learn your usage patterns to allocate and manage system resources properly. Still, installing applications that slow down your iPhone can ruin the entire setup. Trust me, there are many.

In this guide, I will talk about 10 apps that slow down your iPhone and some ways to avoid them.

Apps That Slow Down Your iPhone

Social media, dating, finance, news, and cleaning apps can slow down your iPhone when used without care. It is essential not to have too many of these apps from these categories so that your phone can strategically manage the resources.

Why Is My iPhone Being So Slow?

Your iPhone becomes slow due to different reasons. I will list some of them here.

1. Outdated iOS software
2. Too many background processes
3. Limited storage space
4. Heavy apps and games
5. Old battery
6. Too many widgets and live wallpapers
7. Cluttered home screen
8. Accumulated cache and temporary files
9. Outdated apps
10. Overheating
11. Network issues
12. Software bugs and glitches
13. Jailbreaking
14. Too many notifications
15. Syncing issues

This is not an exhaustive list, but you will understand that you have control over some of these aspects and cannot control some of these aspects at all.

For instance, if you have an old iPhone with an old battery, the iOS device will compromise its performance so that your battery does not wear out so soon. As a result, your iPhone will become slow, and you will see the impact while multitasking. This is a no-rescue zone, though.

Similarly, suppose you have not installed recent iOS updates and stick to outdated applications. In that case, your iPhone will not only become slow but also come across issues such as overheating and syncing issues. But you can solve this issue by ensuring you are running the best software version.

Now, we come to the crux of the matter.

By itself, your iPhone is designed to strategically manage resources between applications and offer a smooth smartphone experience. However, that happens only when you stick to Apple’s applications.

However, installing heavy games and resource-hungry third-party apps makes the situation different. You will encounter issues like software bugs and heavy-consuming apps in this case. You can also avoid some apps to ensure your phone doesn’t suffer.

10 Apps That Slow Down Your iPhone

Here is a list of specific apps and categories that can slow down your iPhone. And if possible, you can avoid these apps or reduce the number of apps from these particular categories.

#1 Facebook

Facebook is an app that you can easily avoid installing on your iPhone. This application can not only slow down your device but also drain a lot of battery life. There are multiple reasons why Facebook does this. The Facebook app continuously syncs with the server to get on-time notifications and other elements. It can also pre-load some content if you have the habit of watching videos or reels on Facebook.

Therefore, even when your iPhone is idle, Facebook will likely consume some resources. You can use a Facebook lite application or a web-based app through Safari or your favorite browser.

#2 Instagram

I take it that you also spend a lot of time doom scrolling on Instagram and when you use the app, it can slow down your iPhone by a long shot. The reasons are the same as those for the Facebook application. The Instagram app will preload content so that you can quickly move to the next Reels or Instagram stories, and this lag will be visible if you have a not-so-fast internet connection.

As in the case of Facebook, you can use Instagram lite and the web-based browser. Some third-party Instagram apps also exist, but that should be the second priority.

#3 Uber Eats & Ordering Apps

You might be surprised to know that apps like Uber Eats can slow down your application. But just think about it. These applications do more than become a platform for you to order food. Right? Once you have ordered food, the application keeps syncing with the server so that you have accurate information about the delivery and what you ordered. In addition, Uber Eats and other food ordering apps also curate recommendations.

So, you will notice a slowdown when you have too many of these applications installed. You are also likely to be bombarded with notifications.

#4 Amazon and Shopping Apps

Amazon and other shopping applications are also likely to slow down your iPhone, but you can stay away from these apps if you can. This should be easy, considering that all the functionalities of the application are likely available through the web-based interface as well. Now, coming to the application curates many collections in the background.

It could be how your battery life is drained, and multitasking becomes a little tricky. This would be because Amazon is now trying to push Alexa through the shopping app.

#5 Tinder

Tinder and other dating applications are also common in a list of apps that slow down your iPhone. The reason is simple. You might have already noticed the fantastic interface of Tinder and other dating applications. They are a treat to the eye and make you stick to the app more than you would normally. To make all these possible and to come up with curated suggestions, the dating apps will always be in sync with the server and activities.

As a result, even when these services are in the background, you will have difficulty multitasking on your iPhone.

#6 News Apps

As you can imagine, news applications are also a big culprit when slowing down your iPhone. But it doesn’t happen because of any unnecessary practices. But when you think about it, a new application needs to be synced with the web servers to keep your library up to date. In doing so, these applications may consume more resources than you think.

The case of Apple News is an exception because it is well integrated into the operating system and can act according to resource patterns. However, Google News or Flipboard will be pretty problematic.

#7 Finance Apps

I do not want to specifically point out any finance apps, but you can include Robinhood and other stock marketing applications in this list. Finance apps are known for providing a lot of curated information and up-to-date notifications, but this also means that these applications must be connected to the servers constantly, and a background process is running in the background.

As a result, if you have too many finance apps on your device, you will feel that the device is going down. So, if you can live without those constant notifications, you might at least consider uninstalling one of these applications.

#8 Cleaning Apps

Here is something ironic about cleaning apps available for iPhone. If you did not know, the iPhone does a great job of optimizing the performance between applications and OS functions. However, cleaning apps may pose another threat by removing some temporary files and cache. We must also remember that the iOS system can automatically remove these cache files whenever required.

So, if you use many cleaning apps on your iPhone, you will likely slow down your iPhone further. But you can safely use apps to free up storage space on your device.

#9 Mail Apps

Your iPhone ships with a built-in mail app that you can use for iCloud and other accounts. But as the case may be, you may have multiple mail applications on your device. And this could be a problem depending on how the mailboxes work. For instance, if all these applications are set to push notifications simultaneously, your device will slow down.

The solution is to get rid of the additional applications or optimize the settings. To optimize the settings, you can set a preference where the mail app checks the server only at specific intervals.

#10 Navigation Apps

I’m not a big fan of Apple Maps, and I take it that most of us have installed Google Maps on our iPhones. That’s a good thing, but these navigation apps are also becoming super apps. You can use the apps to learn about similar routes, nearby restaurants, etc., and some specific navigation apps, such as Waze. These applications must also pass concurrent information from your device to the servers, such as GPS location and location accuracy measures.

Thus, when you run these applications in the background, you will feel that the phone is slowing down.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Even if you have too many applications on your device, that does not necessarily mean that they are slowing your device down, still, if you have a habit of keeping too many applications in the background, your iPhone may become slow.

But here’s a tip:

Closing all the applications from the app drawer is not a good idea. Because unlike in the case of Android, iOS will automatically put the background apps to sleep so that it can dynamically control resource allocation.