iPadOS 17 is clunky on older iPads

[Fatbird]

I just found this thread and wanted to give my 2 cents after reading the whole thing. Recently bought a used 9th gen ipad in mint condition which came with ipados 17 and it is laggy and slow as hell, can't seem to find the reason. To be clear, everything works fine but the UI animations are super laggy and clunky and slow, kinda feels like the screen is running at lower than 60hz. Already did a factory reset, changed the wallpaper from the stock one and tried disabling everything that runs in the background but nothing has made a difference. Maybe mine is defective but that is beyond me.
Note that I didn't get to compare it against ipados 16 since it shipped with 17 already installed. Other than that the unit is in great shape and the seller claims its never been repaired or had any part replaced.
There are several people here reporting even older ipads that are running perfectly fine (8th and 7th gen) so honestly don't know what could be done about it. Just wanted to share

 

[FeliApple]

Don’t think standby is much of a metric anymore. It appears that Modern versions of iOS do much more background processing than older versions. What I am going to try is to turn off my phone and iPad and see what the battery drain is.

Yeah, maybe people have adapted and no longer rely on decent standby, but it’s sad to see the drops sometimes. Long-term iOS users like yourself will know that it used to be way better.

As you know, I’m somebody who values battery life, and my own defensive measure against that has always been not updating. It’s useless here.

My iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 (original version) and my iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15 (original version) are infinitely worse than my iPhone 5c on iOS 10 (fully updated) and my iPad Pro 9.7 on iOS 12 (significantly updated). That’s rare to see, and it signals that there’s nothing users can do to match what it was.

Even if it may not be as relevant (because who really needs a week of standby, anyway?), it’s sad to see some of the drops, like I said.

Personally, like you said, I agree: it’s not that relevant, but I would still like to see it go back to what it was (and what it should be, in my honest opinion).

Realistically, I’ve adjusted and I know that it’s extremely unlikely. I don’t like that answer, but it is what it is.

 

[Reverend Benny]

I just found this thread and wanted to give my 2 cents after reading the whole thing. Recently bought a used 9th gen ipad in mint condition which came with ipados 17 and it is laggy and slow as hell, can't seem to find the reason. To be clear, everything works fine but the UI animations are super laggy and clunky and slow, kinda feels like the screen is running at lower than 60hz. Already did a factory reset, changed the wallpaper from the stock one and tried disabling everything that runs in the background but nothing has made a difference. Maybe mine is defective but that is beyond me.
Note that I didn't get to compare it against ipados 16 since it shipped with 17 already installed. Other than that the unit is in great shape and the seller claims its never been repaired or had any part replaced.
There are several people here reporting even older ipads that are running perfectly fine (8th and 7th gen) so honestly don't know what could be done about it. Just wanted to share

Its definitely something wrong with your device if it behaves like you describe it, have only tried it iPadOS 17 on one iPad 9 and it was a really good experience. On par or better than iPadOS 16. Could it be a peripheral causing it (BT connected devices?)
That doesn't help your situation tho, so I would return the device (if you can) or check the following.

* As a test, do a factory reset and run a clean installation of the device, no restore of backup and don't use any AppleID and see how it behaves. No peripherals connected etc, basically a clean device.
* Make sure the device is has a charge that's over 20% and in a decent condition.
* When activating, use a different network than you used the first time or what you have been using when encountering the laggy experience.

Let us know how it goes, it may help others reading this thread and looking for answers.

 

[Fatbird]

Its definitely something wrong with your device if it behaves like you describe it, have only tried it iPadOS 17 on one iPad 9 and it was a really good experience. On par or better than iPadOS 16. Could it be a peripheral causing it (BT connected devices?)
That doesn't help your situation tho, so I would return the device (if you can) or check the following.

* As a test, do a factory reset and run a clean installation of the device, no restore of backup and don't use any AppleID and see how it behaves. No peripherals connected etc, basically a clean device.
* Make sure the device is has a charge that's over 20% and in a decent condition.
* When activating, use a different network than you used the first time or what you have been using when encountering the laggy experience.

Let us know how it goes, it may help others reading this thread and looking for answers.

Quick update: after a couple of factory resets it seems the culprit was indeed a third party pencil I was using that was causing the problem. I have it running now pretty good without using the pencil. It is a cheap one from amazon, brand FOJOJO, it has pretty good reviews so maybe the problem was just bad luck but be aware

 

[Royksöpp]

I don't understand how it could be clunky. There is basically nothing new on 16 and 17 for non M Chip iPads.

 

[FeliApple]

I don't understand how it could be clunky. There is basically nothing new on 16 and 17 for non M Chip iPads.

iOS updates still increase resource demand and henceforth worsen performance and battery life.

 

[Torty]

It’s usable on my Air 3 but ipados 16 felt much better. 17 could be the last OS which makes sense for the Air 3. Next could make it unusable slow.

 

[FeliApple]

It’s usable on my Air 3 but ipados 16 felt much better. 17 could be the last OS which makes sense for the Air 3. Next could make it unusable slow.

Sad. Battery life?

 

[Torty]

Sad. Battery life?

Didn’t felt a big difference. But much less responsive. Swiping down to get spotlight search is much slower. Also safari is much slower in rendering the pages. Overall Air 3 is struggeling.

 

[Torty]

Didn’t felt a big difference. But much less responsive. Swiping down to get spotlight search is much slower. Also safari is much slower in rendering the pages. Overall Air 3 is struggeling.

Update: After a restart it feels better now. Don’t notice any change in battery life so this difference should be small.

 

[tivoboy]

Wow, just found this thread. Just got around to doing the 17.4.3.1 or whatever update on a 3rd gen 12.9 IPP… and it’s VERY laggy, safari, app launches, getting to Home Screen from lock screen. Using about 60% of storage. 16.xx was running JUST fine, didn’t need any of the new features.

I did an over the top update, as usual, and REALLY don’t want to wipe and restore. Just too much stuff setup and configured just the way I like it.

Are there any cache cleans or issues, or other tricks one can try to get snappiness back?

 

[Populus]

Wow, just found this thread. Just got around to doing the 17.4.3.1 or whatever update on a 3rd gen 12.9 IPP… and it’s VERY laggy, safari, app launches, getting to Home Screen from lock screen. Using about 60% of storage. 16.xx was running JUST fine, didn’t need any of the new features.

I did an over the top update, as usual, and REALLY don’t want to wipe and restore. Just too much stuff setup and configured just the way I like it.

Are there any cache cleans or issues, or other tricks one can try to get snappiness back?

I always perform clean wired (not OTA) installs, but to always have the same settings, I have a note where, step by step, I have every setting that I must modify from the default mode to a more personalized one. On my Mac, things such as deactivating “ask to use this external drive as Time Machine”, or the size of the desktop icons, or the size of the text on the icons… On iOS more or less the same: Font size, disable iCloud Photo before it begins to upload photos, disable Live Photos, disable some Location Services I’m not gonna use… All of that in one note. And every time I restore my devices, it is the first thing I do, configure the settings according to what I have on my note.

 

[Torty]

Wow, just found this thread. Just got around to doing the 17.4.3.1 or whatever update on a 3rd gen 12.9 IPP… and it’s VERY laggy, safari, app launches, getting to Home Screen from lock screen. Using about 60% of storage. 16.xx was running JUST fine, didn’t need any of the new features.

I did an over the top update, as usual, and REALLY don’t want to wipe and restore. Just too much stuff setup and configured just the way I like it.

Are there any cache cleans or issues, or other tricks one can try to get snappiness back?

Wait a few days. It was also really bad in the beginning with my air 3. 120GB free space. Became much much better. It’s very usable now. Hope the best I also don’t like setting everything up again.

 

[tivoboy]

I always perform clean wired (not OTA) installs, but to always have the same settings, I have a note where, step by step, I have every setting that I must modify from the default mode to a more personalized one. On my Mac, things such as deactivating “ask to use this external drive as Time Machine”, or the size of the desktop icons, or the size of the text on the icons… On iOS more or less the same: Font size, disable iCloud Photo before it begins to upload photos, disable Live Photos, disable some Location Services I’m not gonna use… All of that in one note. And every time I restore my devices, it is the first thing I do, configure the settings according to what I have on my note.

Yes, you are SOO good. ;-). It is certainly the best practice, but man what a pain. I can’t imagine all the settings and such that I’ve configured over the years, not just with this ipad but from the 10.3 pro that this build came From. Yes, I could probably do as you say, clean wipe and restore.. frankly it is a best practice at least every 3-4 years for sure.

I might try it, but at the moment have so much life going on, health, family health, work, moving, etc. I just can’t bring myself to dedicate the time for it. I’ve suffer along, see if things settle. MAYBE there is some Search processing that goes on ala mOs. thanks.

 

[Populus]

Yes, you are SOO good. ;-). It is certainly the best practice, but man what a pain. I can’t imagine all the settings and such that I’ve configured over the years, not just with this ipad but from the 10.3 pro that this build came From. Yes, I could probably do as you say, clean wipe and restore.. frankly it is a best practice at least every 3-4 years for sure.

I might try it, but at the moment have so much life going on, health, family health, work, moving, etc. I just can’t bring myself to dedicate the time for it. I’ve suffer along, see if things settle. MAYBE there is some Search processing that goes on ala mOs. thanks.

Yes, it is a pain, I cannot deny that.

Right now I should format my Mac and make a clean install, because I have some free days… but I haven’t yet. For me, making a backup of everything on my device, storing it on external drives and organizing it properly in folders, is the most difficult time consuming task. That’s my personal bottleneck.

EDIT: Happy world back-up day! (March 31st)

 

[mackard]

Hi, just signed up to chime in on this. Background, been using macs since the first intel macbook pro, ios since the 3gs, and had an iphone 5 i never updated past ios 7 that was as fast as a modern device until the day i traded it in, so i care because it happens.

My data:

On an ipad air 4, ipados 17.4 i have currently running and it flies. Very frequently, it feels almost as assertive as my partners m1 ipad pro, a basic test of safari doing a fast flick around apple.com is incredibly smooth. I did update to 17.4.1, but rolled back while 17.4 was still signed because that was not the case for 17.4.1.

So if you updated to 17.4 on an older device, id strongly recommend going to the app store and having a look at the latest version running on something in your range and going from there.

My son also has a 9th gen ipad, but i didn't have the nuts to upgrade that from 16.7... probably a good thing.

The reason i jumped on 17.4 was it was an EU patch, and i guess apple try to impress for those.. if you're going to do a personal seismic shift upgrade for your stable, these blue moon events are probably good.

 

[Torty]

Just saw that system data is over 12GB on my Air 3. This can't be OK?

 

[Reverend Benny]

Just saw that system data is over 12GB on my Air 3. This can't be OK?

Sounds pretty normal to me.

 

[mandopicker101]

Hi, just signed up to chime in on this. Background, been using macs since the first intel macbook pro, ios since the 3gs, and had an iphone 5 i never updated past ios 7 that was as fast as a modern device until the day i traded it in, so i care because it happens.

My data:

On an ipad air 4, ipados 17.4 i have currently running and it flies. Very frequently, it feels almost as assertive as my partners m1 ipad pro, a basic test of safari doing a fast flick around apple.com is incredibly smooth. I did update to 17.4.1, but rolled back while 17.4 was still signed because that was not the case for 17.4.1.

So if you updated to 17.4 on an older device, id strongly recommend going to the app store and having a look at the latest version running on something in your range and going from there.

My son also has a 9th gen ipad, but i didn't have the nuts to upgrade that from 16.7... probably a good thing.

The reason i jumped on 17.4 was it was an EU patch, and i guess apple try to impress for those.. if you're going to do a personal seismic shift upgrade for your stable, these blue moon events are probably good.

I have iPad 9 (with 4G) for work and we have no option but to upgrade to the newest (not beta) releases for security. I have to say it's absolutely great on iOS 17.4.1 and the 9 regularly fills in for a lot of work tasks, particularly when out/about/commuting by train. It's also my primary MS Teams portal (I use hearing aids and I can stream over bluetooth from the 9 but not my office-supplied laptop, which is under heavy security policies).

YMMV, but it's totally capable on iPadOS 17.

 

[aakshey]

Granted my older iPads didn’t have perfect battery life as they aged, but my iPad Pro 2017 was kinda slow on iOS 17

My iPad Pro 2018 was okay on iOS 17 but the M1 was much snappier and the 4 GB on my 2018 Pro proved to be a real bottleneck in terms of app refreshes etc while the 8 GB in the M1 is doing excellent

 

[aakshey]

Sounds pretty normal to me.

Agreed, very normal