iOS 5 slowing iPhone 4 and 4S complaints
Those that own the Apple iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S have been experiencing problems since downloading and installing the new iOS 5 a few weeks back, and we want to share with you a few complaints that are coming in and what we can do to help those.
We have received so many emails about iOS 5 slowing iPhone 4 and 4S complaints, we have even had many comments coming in via our Phones review Facebook page and my personal Google+ page.
Most of the complaints steer towards their iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S devices being very slow indeed since upgrading to iOS 5, and we have to stand by what they are saying because we experienced the same issue.
Loading of web pages were very slow, some apps would open and then close, we here at Phones Review are using the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S and got to say they have slowed up considerably, but there is an answer to speed up the phone to the way it was, it may not be the answer but it works.
Since the iOS 5 was put onto our devices we tried to figure out what was slowing the process, we found that it is not solely down to the operating system but the iCloud.
We turned OFF iCloud on both the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, as well as the Apple iPad and MacBook Air, since doing so speeds are back to normal.
Maybe you should all try turning of iCloud and see how this works for you. Hope this helps you? Personally why give us a new service if we have to switch off because of Mr. Slowness.
Please let us know if you are having problems with your devices since downloading the new iOS 5 update.
Comments
113 thoughts on “iOS 5 slowing iPhone 4 and 4S complaints”
Strange, i´ve used icloud since beta 6 and now i´m on GM and it´s FAST, we don´t have SIRI here in sweden, just a thought.
I turned off notification center  options for email and other apps i don’t use. And that worked for me !!!
i have found no problems with ios 5 and same speed as before
I Have had horrendous slow down on ipad 1
Much better after switching icloud off though
My iPhone 4 is so slow after upgrade to IOS 5, it’s driving me crazy. I have done everything from many resets, to completely restoring to original configuration, to turning off iCloud, and sync, etc. No change. It takes 10 seconds to open any application, even Apple’s own like Mail and Settings. If I can find a way to go back to IOS 4, I’ll do it right away.
i am having no issues regarding the slowing down my iphone 4 but the problem is about the sms tone it comes as if its getting jamed and its taking long too with it.
i am having exactly the same problem, please help if you know any workaround or fix to the same,Â
when I search it takes almost a minute to show results!!!!
I have an Original iPad and two iPhones – a 3g and a 4.  ALL the devices are experiencing lag issues… I can’t speak too much on the 3G bcuz my bf uses it and I asked him and his answer was a puzzle.  Speaking on my own behalf – my iPad and iPhone both have issues … opening text messages sometimes won’t display the most recent for like 10 seconds or more, pressing the numbers on the unlock screen sometimes it unresponsive for quite a bit of time, apps open and close down but stay running in the background, general slowness in all application GUI’s – especially right after waking the phone up.  I’m a pretty patient person so if I’m noticing it – it must be there.Â
Very upset that after the upgrade to IOS 5 on my iphone 4, it just slowed down, SIRI stopped working and so did some other apps I tried. Â Need a fix…. pleaseeeeeeeeee
My Iphone4 has also slowed down somewhat since having IOS5 installed. Â The most irritating part is that updates for apps don’t actually download anymore! Â They just hang, and are never updated.
Battery Life has gone worst after installing ios 5
I tried turning off iCloud features and Facebook is loading faster. We’ll see!!!
Disabling iCloud seems to have worked for me: speeds are back to normal. Thanks a lot for the tip!! 🙂
For those who haven’t done this yet: to disable iCloud go into Settings – iCould – (scroll all the way down) Delete Account. You then get the option to keep or delete the information on the iPhone that was stored in iCloud. Â
My iPhone 4 has become noticeably slower since the iOS 5 upgrade. I am very disappointed– it used to be such a snappy phone.
I also noticed my Iphone4 slowed down after installing IOS5. I swithed oof Icloud but noticed no difference. The apps for some game’s responsiveness (ex. when swiping) noticed to have a second lag time behind. Anybody knows if Apple is doing anything to sort this out? Can i go back to the previous mobile operating system? Thanks!
I also noticed my Iphone4 slowed down after installing IOS5. I swithed oof Icloud but noticed no difference. The apps for some game’s responsiveness (ex. when swiping) noticed to have a second lag time behind. Anybody knows if Apple is doing anything to sort this out? Can i go back to the previous mobile operating system? Thanks!
To solve slowness problem with ios 5 on iPhone 4, try disabling calendars from notification certer. Worked for me.
This worked for me too! I turned off cloud, no difference, i turned off calendar notifications and everything started working fine. Thanks
Much slower for me on iOS 5 with iPhone 4. Even text messaging can take forever to open and not always come up anymore.
Yes. Much slower. Many apps are not responding at all. SOme quitting. Overall this upgrade has been a mess and huge disaapointment.
This software slowed my iphone 4 down to a crawl. Apps are closing on their own. Made my phone a dinosaur.
I have the same problemes and when i turning off iCloud no change for me and when i turn off AppleStore’s Connexion, it’s less bad, but i have some apps close just after start too,so i try to downgrad without succcess. i have an iphone 4g, so i wait an ios5.x
Apple Sucks. Bloated Kernel and everybody get a CLUE!
Many thanks. It’s back to normal speed after turning off the freaking icloud!
IPhone 4 still runs like crap. Not a happy camper at all 🙁
i just turned off iCloud in my iPhone4… so far it’s processing faster (almost back to how it was before). thanks for the tip. will continue to monitor and see if there will be other issues.
I’m in the same boat. iphone 4 soooooo slowwwwwww.  Just turned off icloud and my fingers are crossed…
How exactly do you turn it off?
3gs also slow since iOS5… apps (calendar, camera, others) hanging up and won’t act on commands.
I can report that I have exactly the same slow-down problems with iOS5 – and it is definitely an issue with iCloud. For example, when I click on a day in the calendar app in order to enter a new event, my phone freezes for a very long time. Then just as I’m about to give up, it comes back to life again. It’s as though it goes off to check with iCloud before it will let me into my calendar. When I am not connected to the network (and therefore my phone isn’t “phoning home” to iCloud), this slow-down issue does not occur. This bug is really a huge nuisance because typically when it happens I’m trying to enter an appointment with someone right there in front of me and they have to wait and tap their feet while I try to get my iPhone to come back to life. I have to apologize for keeping them waiting. Also it’s bad publicity for Apple because of course I have to tell them I’m waiting for the stupid iPhone.
Thank you, disabling iCloud fixed the speed problems. I was about to go to sprint and throw the phone at them.
Really crappy. So slow…. Please fix fast
my phone has been freezing up & doing exactly what was described above. I turned off iCloud and it went back to normal!
After installed IOS5, my 3GS had been shut-ed down automatically by the system, on -and off numerous times during a day. re-installed the IOS5, after 2 days, it happened again.  My phone is still under warranty, so I took it to shop and exchanged for a new one.  Same thing happen to me.  Totally helpless. Â
Same here. Been trying to download some podcasts through Downcastapp, They were very slow until I turned off iCloud. Now they’re fair sprinting down!
Interesting though, there seems to be no difference on the iPad 1. Download speeds are great with iCloud on
that’s because the iPad 1 doesn’t have an underclocked A4 Chip in it. the A4 chip in the iPhone 4 is underclocked to 800MHz so that the iPhone 4 doesn’t overheat. Where as the iPad 1 doesn’t need to be underclocked because it has enough internal space so that it doesn’t overheat. Therefore the iPad 1 is locked in at 1GHz and hence the reason your iPad 1 has better download speeds than the iPhone 4.
I did not enable iCloud when the OS asked me to. Some of my games are running VERY choppy now (although a friend suggested the game manufacturer needs to update their app for iOS5), but my camera on my iPhone 4, if it’s in video mode, takes FOREVER to open. It used to be relatively quick.
Hello
Thanks for this nice post , after i turned off the iCloud the phone back as before , so it is weorking good now
Took your advice & turned off iCloud on my 4S. That sped the phone back up, BUT, interestingly enough, my husband’s 4S has iCloud turned on, & his was never slow. We’re both running 5.0.1. Go figure…
Since upgrading to ios 5 on my iphone 4, I can’t download any apps nor install any app updates.Â
I have a 3GS with extreme sluggishness and many instances of locking up since I installed ios5. The only way to improve the speed with ios5 is to TURN OFF ICLOUD AND TURN OFF AS MANY GPS ENABLED APPS YOU HAVE. This will help dramatically but should not have to be the solution. The only solution is a fix or buy an I phone 4s
iphone sucks! I already have disabled iCloud, but everything still goes very slow (I have installed ios 5.01). With Steve Jobs such things didn’t happen! We should start thinking moving to Windows Phone…
You don’t get mad and rush off. You fix the problem. The iPhone is great, it just needs the bugs fixed!
steve jobs hasn’t been the ceo for over a year despite his death. get your facts straight
steve jobs hasn’t been the ceo for over a year despite his death. get your facts straight
Give me a break. Please. Act like an adult or go ahead and overreact like a child and run to another phone. And I agree with Chriscross – get your facts straight.
I can verify, disabling iCloud fixed the issue: Settings -> iCloud -> Delete Account
Anyone having problems after updating to the newest software with receiving texts? I have an iphone 4 and i cant receive any texts that is send from a 4s, but they receive mine
yes i have the same kind of problem, the message tone’s also got goofed up, it reiterates at least thrice before it rings in its normal fashion.
I have the same problem with repeating message tones. It sounds terrible. Apple couldn’t explain it, so gave me a new hand set. I’ve set the new phone up from scratch. But still having the same issue.
Could it be because I am on pay as you go? That seems to be the only logical answer?
Can anyone help?
I have had iCloud turned off since I downloaded I OS 5 and my iPhone 4 is still slowing down
Some of iPhone 3GS very slow since iOS5 but not all: phone, texts, contacts, calendar, page loading as before; certain apps and Guardian crossword very slow. Â iCloud on/off makes no difference (though didn’t work, apparently because my PC is XP), wifi sync doesn’t work (maybe same reason?). Â No GPS apps.
I have had the problem with the slow device moving really slow and also skipping songs. I decided to transfer all my content to my computer and restore as new. I didn’t want to do it but it resolved the problem. I lost my text messages but if you are currently using iCloud or have AT&T messaging app I believe you should be able to get those back. Now the problem I have is the wifi Sync is a bit too slow for me and occasionally my apps crash.Â
My 3GS, keeps shutting down & when i turn it back on it tells me that i have no battery life, until i plug it in then i comes back to life showing that there wasn’t a problem with the battery as fully charged,
This is all since i install the newest update and icloud.
Major pain, as sometimes if i don’t have my charger to hand, i’m without a phone until i get home, which defeats the object of having a phone !!!!!!!!!
This is so weird cause I have the issues that everyone is having when my daughter had the iPhone 3 she had the same thing happen to her phone. I thought I was the only one that had these problems apple really should fix these problems
it is not icloud. it is that the new software doesnt work well on old hardware and there may be a few little bugs in there as well
i deleted icloud account then turned iphone 4 off completely and back on, phone is backup to speed. Thanks for the advice
My i phone 4 will not connect to virgin media wifi, will not pair to another phone right next to it on Bluetooth and been sending same email for two days, still sending it.
can anybody help ?
hopefully im not speaking to soon, but i also have a 4s and i turned off i cloud and rebooted it like one of the previous comments said and i am no longer having problems with ANYTHING being slow.
It works a friend of mine did turn my off cause I don’t even use it you can tell the difference right away
My 4s is faster than my pc (not very good but works ok) I turn off iCloud and stayed same speed so my phone is just amazing I guess
why when I downloading application from Apps store (with WIFI on)to my IPhone 4s, the file status keep showing”waiting” instead of loading ? I hv deleted and reinstalled ,same problem appeared too. Anyone can advise me ?
Please anyone that knows what to do respond I have the same problem I have 20 songs& videos that are in waiting mode and they happen to be my favorite. I went to the Apple store and they tried to help me but said it could be in the waiting mode due to the new iPad ,and to try again later. That was weeks ago and my music still won’t load:(
Download your stuff via iTunes, then sync your phone.Â
phone is laggy freezes and quits apps randomly its infuriating then text lags and enters incorrectly (iphone 4 latest ios)
On recieveing text messages my 4s freezes for about 5-10 seconds.. Hw do i get rid of it ??
On recieveing text messages my 4s freezes for about 5-10 seconds.. Hw do i get rid of it ??
I just bought a brand new 4S 4 days ago through Verizon. From the very beginning, all internet and even loading the app store is extremely slow! I am trying to download my first song through itunes and it had taken over 15 minutes! And it doesn’t seem to matter signal strength because it is slow every single place I’ve tried to use it. I don’t think it’s a matter of new software on old phones either. Part of the reason I went from a Droid 2 to the iPhone 4s was because of the iCloud and some of the glitches with the Droid. So far I’m not impressed with the iPhone and may go back to my Droid 2. It was way faster!
I have a new iPhone 4S from Christmas so the speed with normal things like Internet and texting is fine it’s just YouTube it’s not my signal or iCloud because I don’t use that it’s just YouTube has to buffer every 3 seconds no joke and I have to keep going back to the beggining about 10 times to watch a 5 min clip I hate it
Yes this also I has happen to me n my daughter had the IPhone 4 and her You Tube doesn’t have that problem I would think since my is the 4s I wouldn’t have that problem. WHAT GIVES!!!!
My parner an I both have 4S and are experienceing problems messaging each other. I can message non I phones easy but my text / I messages do not deliner to him so I end up trying to send and send and then call out of frustration. I’ve had my phone 2 days and am ready to take it back. Can anyone help?
I just got my Iphone 4s three days ago. Trying to upload pictures to facebook is nearly impossible. Also, trying to get into the app store is another no go, just spins and spins…. I have been trying to get into the app store for 5 minutes and it is still “loading’, absolutely ridiculous……
I have an iPhone 4S and whenever I try to install an Application It gets stuck on the waiting comment.. it never changes to the installing and blue bar that fills up as its downloading. Phone always worked properly but not anymore, since last week I think. Ive tried logging off and back into Apple store. Ive tried a few things I found online and nothing works. Any ideas?
Omg Ive had the same exact issue? Have you been able to resolve this?
Same problem here with both apps and songs that stay stuck in “waiting” mode. It’s pretty annoying! And i agree that it’s since two weeks or so. Aroind the time of the update for iOS 5.1
Yes I have that same issuse I have 20 songs that are in waiting mode and they happen to be my fave songs how do I resolve this issue I even took my 4S to the apple store n they couldnt figure out why my songs were waiting they blame it on the new iPad launch. I wish someone would help me also
well to save someone some heart ache, I restored the phone to standard (not from a back up), and it works normally, so it definitely is software related. I am trying to restore now back t my back up with all my settings on there. See how we go with that. Thanks Tweet me with questions on how to do it!
I agree, this is happening to me also. I just turned off icloud and yes – it was quicker on same pages but not others – weird!
I’ve had nothing but problems like this since I got my iphone 4s a week ago. Â Im not sure what you mean by turn the icloud off. Â Help?
how do you remove icloud from a 4s
just go to settings and icloud then go to the bottom itll say delete account. hope that helps
My iPhone 4s is too slow and it does not type all the letters, what do I need to do to fix it?
go to apple store they might help you.
Hi,I just downloaded version iOS 5 to my apple iphone which previously had the 4s version & worked sweet as. But now it wont connect to the internet at all. Ive rung up 2 degrees & gone through all of the manual settings, which are correct,turned off icloud,turned the phone off & on etc but still no go. Any ideas/help pleeeaaassseee?? Thanks Jo
It’s sad, really, because I never had the iCloud on anyway. Too bad the newer iOS’ are pretty shitty. I would’ve though twice about upgrading it, then. So, as many others would say,”Fuck you, Apple.”
Just deleted my iCloud account from my phone and it a world of a difference! Gonna continue with a bit of housekeeping cause I think mine could also be lack of space! But thus advice made a huge difference already.
I had to do the same it does help your phone especially when you don’t use ICloud.
How do I turn off icloud??? My iphone 4 is super super slow!!!!
Well I did that a long long time ago and it still slow as it was before so that’s not all true.
very poor signal, i am on my forth i phone in six weeks, also 5 x sim cards, whats happening, vodapone are saying its something i am doing !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had AT&T iphone 3GS and messaging kept freezing. I switched to iphone 4s and it’s doing the same thing. This is aggravating and expensive. I want a fix!
my iphone4’s screen is turning blue. it just stays blue even after holding down the power button and the home button. the apple symbol shows up and then turns blue. I’ve called apple, at&t, and they both have no clue! Any ideas? HELP!!!
I just got a brand new iPhone 4s 2 days ago and everything was so slow when I opened things and nothing would load properly, there was no internet connection aswell. So I turned my wifi off and everything started working fine!!! So weird!! So I’d suggest try turning your wifi off completely and see if it helps 🙂 … You shouldn’t delete iCloud cause then nothing is backed up! 🙂
Thank u and do u know how to add Siri I have the iphone4s and I can not find at all can u help me out plz
no need to add it, it already comes with it. if you indeed have a 4s.just hold down the home button for a couple seconds.
go to settings, then to general,you should see Siri.tap on it, and you will get to Siri on/off.
Yup, very slow iphone 4 now!! Terrible
Been having problems since the update. I had iphone envy for 3 years and finally switched to AT&T almost 2 years ago. I got my beloved Iphone and have never had any issue until this update. I upgraded to the 4 in Dec-loved it happy!! Then for about the last month it just went to crap! Seems like it went gradually….I have been hatin’ on my beloved phone the past 2weeks! Very irritated, spent so much time going through all the settings thinking I changed something. Finally last night googled my issues and it brought me here. THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! MY BABY IS BACK!!! Deleted the icloud as suggested by others and the change was immediate!! Loading websites faster, typing this as I speak is greatness!
SCREW THE CLOUD CRAP!!!!!
Thank-you that has definitely made a big difference
This help me a lot, every time I wanted to watch a video it was so slow even do I have a high speed Internet service, thanks a lot.
I am about to try it but omg I updated months ago but in the last 2 weeks my phone has slowed down to a baby crawl and I had no idea why!?
this completely fixed it! thank you!
My downloads speeds are horrible! I turned off iCloud still nothing!!
Yep, turning off iCloud fixed the problem on my iPod touch.
I think apple are doing this deliberately I had the same problem when I upgraded my 3G I’m not going to upgrade my 4 but it has slowed down in the last couple of week
I hate the iOS 5. My iPhone barely runs now! Is there anyway I can undo the update?
backup to icloud, perform a reset and go to 6 it seems to be a lot faster
My phone is so slow its not even funny 😮
I agree stoping iCloud back up has helped a lot
I miss my droid
I’ve never had iCloud on. My phone has been freezing, slowing down, screen going black randomly. All this since I downloaded the 5 update.