IOS 7 a bit laggy on Ipad Mini 1st Gen.?

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Hi,

When I switched from IOS 6 to 7 I noticed a subtle, but noticeable lag when I pinch to go back to the home screen on my iPad mini (1st Gen.). I am wondering if I should downgrade to IOS 6? Or if there is another solution. I been waiting for an update to resolve the issue.

Thanks
 
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chas_m

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Downgrading is nearly ALWAYS a bad idea. How full is this iPad mini? I find that iOS, like OS X, needs a decent amount of "free space" to work at its best. That said, I should add that iOS 7 is in fact a bit more graphically intense than iOS 6, but you can turn off a few of the "effects" and that should help if your iPad isn't nearly full.

In Settings, under General, you should turn OFF "background app refresh" unless you have something that really requires it. Under "Accessibility," you can turn the "Reduce Motion" option to "on," which stops the "parallax effect" of the background wallpaper (cool, but "costly" in terms of graphics processing). You can also turn off Automatic Updates and get rid of any unused apps, but I think these are very minor speed bumps and not worth the inconvenience, YMMV.
 
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Downgrading is nearly ALWAYS a bad idea. How full is this iPad mini? I find that iOS, like OS X, needs a decent amount of "free space" to work at its best. That said, I should add that iOS 7 is in fact a bit more graphically intense than iOS 6, but you can turn off a few of the "effects" and that should help if your iPad isn't nearly full.

In Settings, under General, you should turn OFF "background app refresh" unless you have something that really requires it. Under "Accessibility," you can turn the "Reduce Motion" option to "on," which stops the "parallax effect" of the background wallpaper (cool, but "costly" in terms of graphics processing). You can also turn off Automatic Updates and get rid of any unused apps, but I think these are very minor speed bumps and not worth the inconvenience, YMMV.

Hi Chas,

I appreciate your input!

I did everything you suggested except for the Automatic updates.

What does 'background app refresh' do?

I see a big difference by turning on 'Reduce Motion'! The transition in opening folders is so much smoother!

I got about 12.8 Gigs free. Is that enough free space? How much free space should I have?

Also, is there a way I can limit or control the amount of mail the mail app stores? I have too many stored in there.

Thanks
 

vansmith

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That's more than enough free space.

iOS 7 is a little more flashy with the graphics usage which, as you've seen, can hinder performance. While older hardware suffers at the hands of iOS 7 (to this day, why the iPhone 4 is listed as officially supported is beyond me), the first gen iPad Mini should be fine. That said, if you search "iPad mini lag" in Google, you'll see that you're not the only one (not sure why though). Did you upgrade your device or do a fresh install of iOS 7?
 
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That's more than enough free space.

iOS 7 is a little more flashy with the graphics usage which, as you've seen, can hinder performance. While older hardware suffers at the hands of iOS 7 (to this day, why the iPhone 4 is listed as officially supported is beyond me), the first gen iPad Mini should be fine. That said, if you search "iPad mini lag" in Google, you'll see that you're not the only one (not sure why though). Did you upgrade your device or do a fresh install of iOS 7?

What's the difference between upgrading and a fresh install?

As far as I know, I just upgraded to it from iOS 6.
 
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We have two 1st Gen iPad Minis we bought from the Apple Refurb Store this past Christmas. They came with iOS 6.x.x installed. Ours lag a bit sometimes, depending upon how many apps are open and what those apps are. It's slower hardware that the current crop I guess and iOS7 on my iPhone5S is definitely much quicker. It wasn't a deal breaker for us and we aren't "power users" if there is such a thing for the iPad Mini. My only advice would be to just keep in mind how many apps are open. Mine is a 16GB Mini and I have about 1.5GB free most of the time. I too have all the background stuff disabled except for Mail and Weatherbug.

An upgrade is preserving everything on your iPad and just upgrading from 6 > 7, for example.
A fresh install is basically restoring it to factory (iOS6) and wiping all the data off in the process, then upgrading it to a new version of iOS, then reinstalling applications and data.
 

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Upgraded devices aren't always slower than devices with a fresh install (see XJ's explanation above) but more often than not, when a device is slower right after an upgrade, it's because of that process. Fresh installs, while taking longer to do (and requiring more awareness on the part of the end user in terms of making sure everything is backed up), often result is a greater chance that the software will run smoother since there is nothing from the old install to slow things down.
 
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Upgraded devices aren't always slower than devices with a fresh install (see XJ's explanation above) but more often than not, when a device is slower right after an upgrade, it's because of that process. Fresh installs, while taking longer to do (and requiring more awareness on the part of the end user in terms of making sure everything is backed up), often result is a greater chance that the software will run smoother since there is nothing from the old install to slow things down.

Apart from the lag I noticed it works fine. The tweaks Chas suggested were very helpful.

I'm wondering if anyone could answer my question about Mail. Is there a way I can limit or control the amount of Mail I receive. Maybe the frequency? I just got way too much mail to a point where it is hard to navigate through my mail. Also, how do I delete multiple messages at once?
 

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I'm wondering if anyone could answer my question about Mail. Is there a way I can limit or control the amount of Mail I receive. Maybe the frequency? I just got way too much mail to a point where it is hard to navigate through my mail.
The only answer to this, however unhelpful it might sound, is to stop getting new emails. Only you have control over how much email you receive.

Also, how do I delete multiple messages at once?
Tip #8 here is your friend.
 
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The only answer to this, however unhelpful it might sound, is to stop getting new emails. Only you have control over how much email you receive.

Tip #8 here is your friend.

Thanks for that, but I want to clear out most of my old mail. Is there a setting or gesture where I can select multiple emails instead of selecting them one at a time?

Thanks
 

vansmith

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Not that I know of. It might be easier to do this through a webmail interface (if this is available for you email service).
 
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chas_m

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For the record, iOS 7 runs just fine on my iPhone 4, which I recently used on a trip to LA because its unlocked. The iPhone 4 doesn't support the "parallax effect" that often causes a bit of lagging, so that was never an issue, but I found that space was. I keep a couple of GB free on my iPhone 4 and don't have any issues with it. My iPhone 5s is, of course, far better at handling the graphic effects, but this is to be expected as it has a far more advanced graphics and main processor system.
 

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