Slow iPhone 3G after iOS 4

contacted Apple's tech support and had a representative advise to reinstall 4.0.1 as a new phone. Did it. Phone is a little smoother, but still sluggish with texts and some basic (non app) phone operations. I would imagine this won't be an issue easily fixed with the 3Gs.

Going backwards to 3.1.2 (or 3) is not an option for me because I'm using a Powerbook G4 - unless someone has a work-around for that...

I stated earlier I bought the iPhone for it's functionality - I didn't buy it to frustrate me. The sluggishness is an annoyance...

So i have a new bug after 4.0.1 on my 3G. I can not open iTunes app. It tries to open it for about 3 seconds, and then it switches to App Store. I read about some other people having this same issue in their older models too. Hmmm......

Though, I have to say that 4.0.1 fixed a lot of issues from 4.0, but still, my 3G hasn't been the same since the update. Every time it gets slow and annoying, I open the System Activity Monitor App, so it frees all the memory that it's been used by I have no idea which apps, now that 3G does not multi task. Weird thing. I close that App and my 3G is back to normal for some hours, but then I have to run it again.

Still waiting for a fix.

Cheers!, everyone

OK, I too was ready to see how far my 3G would skip across the lake...

The new OS is now working fine on my 3G. Here are my tips:
1) make sure and update your iPhone 3G using a Mac (not PC) with current iTunes software and a fairly current operating system on board. This should allow a complete phone back-up prior to installation of the new phone OS. I've tried updating an iPhone other ways - results are never good and VERY slow.
2)Once the new OS is loaded on your phone, do a reset (press and hold ON/OFF button on top of phone with HOME button on face of phone simultaneously for about 10 seconds until the white "apple" appears on a black background, then release). I'm not entirely sure why this post-install reset is so helpful, but I'm back up to normal operating speed now.

A Fellow Traveler

So, now you are saying that Apple put out an update that requires either A, throw away the IP3G and buy the IP4. Or B. Throw away your PC and buy and Apple.
Here's a new flash. Apples don't run any of the engineering design software I use. Only PC/Linux/Unix.

Hard reset doesn't do anything.
Everything is extremely slow now. And I haven't loaded many apps. Maybe 5.
Mail access and download is excruciatingly slow. Edge is slower than old dial up. And on 3G it is as slow as Edge was before the "upgrade." Much worse after 4.01.

And it is still illegal to use in a car in states that require hands free phone use only while driving.
with my simple cell phone I have one touch voice command. Never take my eyes off the road. Not so with the IP.

Forget about PDF attachments in Mail. I just seriously screwed myself i assuming that I could access a particular PDF on a job site.

What kinda mess have Apple made of all this. I love my Iphone 3g but god it runs so slowly and does all those things which remind me of Win98SE.

Its time now to climb down off that lofty pedestal that some of you put Apple on and accept that Apple sometimes gets it wrong, this is one of those times.
a320apple advises we all update our iphones using a mac. I havent got one? good advice that for all those of us that have previously had NO issues with our Iphones updating in Windows. Apple screws up, so we all go out and buy a Mac. Are you mad? or maybe you work in Apples Ideas To Make Money Department 🙂
Ive just installed the patch to my phone, hope it works better, we will see.

Greg MN wrote:
... I decided to "downgrade" back to OS3. You can too! ...

I did a restore and several hard restarts on both 4.0 and 4.0.1. My apps still stayed on white screen for several seconds on starting, but otherwise everything ran at full speed. Disabling Spotlight didn't make any difference.
I did the downgrade to 3.1.3. No real difference, except my location services stopped working (both 3G and GPS).
I am now back on 4.0.1. Everything is working including location services, but the apps still take several seconds longer to start up than with 3.1.3 before the original upgrade to 4.0.

My 3G iPhone continues to be extremely sluggish, freezes and/or locks up. Turned off Spotlight - didn't work to address the performance of the phone. This is all just an FYI on this well worn issue.

I would hope in the future, when Apple is faced with a situation where the new OS isn't specifically designed for an older model phone, the ability to upgrade the OS is not available.

My 8GB 3G iphone experienced the same lag issues. It is so frustrating.

How did you downgrade the phone. Mine is horrible after the upgrade. If I stream music through an app it crashes after 30 minutes.

After couple weeks of experience iOS 4.01 this is also not a solution. I can not take calls anymore. The phone does not respond to any input. The Sirius Satellite application does not work, my internet radio streaming does not work anymore. The iPhone 3G became totally unusable like my HTC which I had in 2006. To say it in German "Es ist der absolute Mist" or "Total Bnll $hit".
Apple get on it even you would bring us back 3.2 officially. Or exchange it to 3GS.

Please Apple... I want my old 3G Iphone back. The 4.0.1 upgrade has killed my phones ability to text and do the basic things it used to do so well.

Please Apple come up with a simple way we can downgrade back to 3.0. The boards are full of 3g acting like they are full of molasses so PLEASE fix this for us....

looks like this thread has been taken off--link goes nowhere. can anyone re-post the info provided to downgrade? i'm desperate!

4.0.1 only helps how the phone signal is calculated ( I didnt see any improvment in 3G signal & was just as sluggish doing everything else as in 4.0)

I downgraded to 3.1.3 its not too hard to do (cant give you links but do an internet search for "iphone 3g downgrade 3.1.3" or remove iphone OS4...

basically all you need is the correct 3.1.3 firmware (might be in your recycle bin - iOS4 deletes your old one in the hope you dont find it - if not you can download it from a few places, make sure its the one for your model - iphone 3G)
hold left shift when clicking restore & it'll ask you which one you want to use (otherwise itll be the same 4.0.1 or whatever you used last, point it at the 3.1.3 one)
let it restore & you need recboot to finish it (& libUSB too especially if your using vista)

when I did it I lost everything so make sure you back up everything 1st.

but yeah, 3.1.3 works just like you remembered it & all the apps you updated to be 4.0 compatible still work with 3.1.3


& http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html - give them feeback - they wont reply, but if enough are logged maybe they will bother to do something....just dont hold your breath.

So many responses I didn't read them all. Has anyone considered that like moving from the G4/G5 to the Intel chipset that there is a similar situation going on? On the iMac we have/had Rosetta Stone which first allowed the Intel iMac's to emulate the G5 processor under Tiger and then Rosetta Stone emulated the Intel iMacs for the G4/G5 chips with Leopard. For Snow leopard its Intel only! The iPhone 4 has Apple's New Processor while the 3G and 3Gs have the older processor (who knows which?). Could the 3G iPhones and to a lesser extent the 3Gs be emulating the iPhone 4's processor and thus slower?