iPhone 6 Slowing Down

By Keith Bundy, 20 May, 2016

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

I am running IOS 9.3.2 on an iPhone 6. I have noticed two problems over the past couple of months, and this is now becoming a major frustration.

First, my phone continues to slow down in its operation. I realize I do have the 16 gb phone nearly full, but the slowing process continues to get worse.

Second, I am noticing that, when I use the Braille input mode, it isn't recognizing all the dots as I touch the screen. Often I have to rotor way back to headings and then rotor again to Braille to have it recognize what I'm doing. I have had sighted folks check the screen, and it appears to be clean. I have also cleaned it a couple of times with a lent-free cloth.

I am eligible to upgrade soon but can't quite do that yet. I'd like to ease my frustrations a bit.

I have reset the phone both by turning it off and on and by pressing the Power and Home buttons together until the Apple appears. I have also done junk cleaning in Battery Doctor, and actually do this at least twice per week.

I am guessing I need to do a restore. I have heard it is better to restore from iTunes than from iCloud, and, quite frankly, I don't like iTunes.

So here are my questions. First, has anyone done a tutorial or podcast on restoring from iTunes? I have done a search on the site, and nothing is showing up. So I thought I would ask.

Second, when one restores from iTunes, is there a way to restore most of your files yet leave some in iTunes in order to give the phone a bit more memory?

And lastly, does anyone have an idea as to how long it would take to restore a 16-gb iPhone from iTunes?

I realize some of these questions may be elementary, but I need to get this solved as quickly as possible. I use the iPhone for just about everything except the work I do at my desk in my office at my job. Any suggestions, ideas, or thoughts are welcome.

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Comments

By Tyler on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 21:56

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

To restore your iPhone from iTunes, follow these steps.

Note: Although general wisdom says to ensure that you have the latest version of iTunes if you want to restore a device, you may not want to update to iTunes 12.4 if you're using a Windows screenreader, as there have been various reports of accessibility issues that make the software difficult to use. If you're using a Mac with Voiceover, you should be able to update with minimal accessibility hiccups.

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes if it doesn't open automatically.

2. To be sure you'll have the most recent version of your files, choose file>devices>backup. However, if you're experiencing significant software issues, you may want to restore as a new device, covered later.

3. Select your device from the device popup button.

4. In the resulting window, click restore iPhone. At this point, you may be asked to sign out of Find My iPhone in settings on your device, so as to temporarily disable the activation lock safeguards, allowing the restore to proceed.

5. If iTunes advises you that there are files present on your device that are not backed up in iTunes, you should backup or sync any possible media, as this process will completely erase the data on your iPhone.

6. The latest version of iOs will begin downloading. The amount of time this takes depends on your system configuration and network connection. After that, it should automatically begin restoring your iPhone.

7. Once iTunes has completed the restore and your iPhone has restarted, it should reappear in the iTunes window. If you want to restore from an iTunes backup, such as the one you may have created before you restored, select restore from backup on your computer and make sure the appropriate backup is selected, then click continue. Your files and settings will be transferred back to your iPhone and after it has restarted, your apps and media should be synced.

If you want to set up as a new device, useful for avoiding any potentially problematic files, press the home button quickly three times to activate Voiceover. Follow the setup instructions as if it was a brand new device, and when prompted, choose set up as new. You can then manually restore the data you want from iTunes, iCloud, or other sources.

HTH

By Keith Bundy on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 21:56

Thanks for the excellent info. I do have one additional question. Why is it better to restore or set up the phone as new using iTunes as opposed to using iCloud? Just curious.

By Tyler on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 21:56

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

To be honest, I'm not really sure. I'd guess it's because with iTunes, you're transferring data over a direct USB connection to a computer. With iCloud, all that data is being downloaded from the Internet, so it's possible for files to become corrupted or compromised in transit. Also, if you want to transfer account passwords and health data, you need to use an encrypted iTunes backup, a service not available with iCloud backups due to technical and security reasons.

By Keith Bundy on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 21:56

Thanks again, and that makes perfect sense. So let's say I want to restore and set up the phone as new. Let's say that I want to download my apps new from the App store and that I don't care to transfer my other files at this time. Can I save them in iTunes so that they will be present if I want them in the future?

I am thinking this should be possible. I want to streamline this phone as much as possible until I upgrade, but I want those files available if I ever need them again. I appreciate your thoughts.

By Fiona on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 21:56

1. Close Unused Running Apps/Games
2. Delete Apps/Games You Almost Never Use/Play
3. Clean Up Storage Space By Deleting Large Files
4. Turn off Background Apps Refresh and Auto-Update
5. Restart or Force Restart Your Slow iPhone/iPad
6. Reset Your iOS Device to Default Setting
7.Clear Safari cookies and data.
8. Disable Location Services.