iOS 8 Speeding up your Device

Most people who own an apple iDevice, be it the iPhone, iPad or iPod will have updated their device to Apple’s shiny new iOS 8 system. Here are a few tips to keep your device from becoming sluggish and frustratingly slow.

1. Switching it off and on again!This may be one of the simplest tips, and a repeated joke in the world of technology, but sometimes it’s all you need to do. Simply power it off, then wait a few seconds before powering it back on.

   When iOS reboots the device may be snappier, this is because temporary data is removed during the reboot process.

2. Clear cachesiOS is usually very good at cleaning up unused data that was created by Safari and other built-in apps. However, sometimes you may want to manually clean up this data as this can free up some needed space. To clean up the Safari web cache, perform these steps:
   1. Open the Settings app
   2. Navigate into Safari’s settings
   3. Scroll down and locate the Clear History and Website Data button.

   When you tap this button, then tap the Clear History and Data button in the prompt, you’ll have all of the history, cookies, and other cached browsing data on your device removed. If you’re also signed into iCloud, then those other connected devices will also have their data removed.

3. Remove old appsEarly in the life of the iTunes store one of the biggest marketing phrases they used was ‘there’s an app for that’ and this is still true today. Following its launch in 2008 the store now boasts over 1.4 million apps.

   A good tip to keep your phone snappy is to remove unused apps. New apps are being downloaded all the time and it’s easy to leave old apps on the 7th page of your phone, which incidentally, you rarely go to any more.

4. Turn off unused featuresiOS 8 includes many handy features, including the ability for apps to use Background App Refreshes. If you rarely use an app but can’t delete it, you can try disabling some of the features it has, such as push notifications and background refreshes.

   To disable Background Refreshes for a specific app, do the following:

   1. Open the Settings app.
   2. Navigate to General > Background App Refresh.
   3. Disable the feature for any app that you don’t use on a regular basis.

   Background Refreshes allow apps to wake up after receiving push notifications to perform updates in the background. Many new apps are utilizing this feature, but some apps may rely on the feature more than others, causing slowness or battery drain.