If your iPhone is acting up, there's a simple trick that can help you regain the polish it once had. If your iPhone is getting slower and slower in performing even common tasks, and apps don't seem to have the polish they used to, chances are at least one of them is consuming too many resources and taking up too much RAM. It can happen, especially if the app isn't very well made or hasn't been updated for a while.
Unfortunately, though, there's a way to force all apps to close and clean up your iPhone's RAM. To be precise, there are two: one for iPhones equipped with the Home button and one for all other Apple smartphones. In both cases, the advantage of this procedure is remarkable: by cleaning up the RAM you not only "crush" the running apps but you also clean up all the data that might remain in the precious smartphone memory if you normally close an app with the traditional procedure. Same for any services connected to the app, which might consume clock cycles of the iPhone's processor.
How to close all apps and empty RAM on iPhone with Home button
If you want to force close all running apps and, at the same time, empty RAM of all unnecessary data, on an iPhone with Home button you need to do these steps:
1) Unlock the phone
2) With the phone unlocked, press the power button for a few seconds: "Scroll to turn off" will appear at some point, but you don't scroll
3) Now press the Home button for about 5 seconds, after which you'll see the Home screen again
After performing these simple three steps your iPhone's RAM will be completely emptied of all apps (which will then be forcibly closed) and all their data. You'll most likely find yourself with a more responsive phone with visibly better performance.
How to close all apps and empty RAM on iPhones without Home button
Some iPhone models, like the latest iPhone X, don't have TouchID. In this case, if you want to nix all apps and related data in one go, the procedure is slightly different than the one already described, because you need to go through AssistiveTouch. AssistiveTouch is a gesture-based feature that allows you to access a virtual Home button and you can activate it in three ways:
- By going to Settings > General > Accessibility > AssistiveTouch
- By asking Siri "Activate AssistiveTouch"
- By going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Abbreviations
Once Assistive Touch (and consequently the virtual Home button) is activated, the procedure to empty the RAM becomes similar to the one already shown:
1) Unlock the phone
2) Press the power button for a few seconds until "Scroll to turn off" appears, but again, do not scroll
3) Activate AssistiveTouch and hold the virtual Home button for a few seconds to return to Home
.