iPad has become very sluggish

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iPad has become very sluggish

iPad 5th Gen (wifi) has become very sluggish. Things like fetching new emails has become extremely slow. Sometimes I give up after several minutes of waiting for a webpage to open when browsing.

Rebooting the device does nothing to improve this, even temporarily. There's virtually nothing stored on the device. The battery does only last a few hours now. But, I don't want to replace the battery only to then find out that really wasn't the problem. All this sluggishnes is also there when plugged into the charger and fully charged.

Are there any steps that can be taken to try to "reinvigorate" the device? Or other steps to take to troubleshoot the cause of the issue? Or other ways to confirm it just can't be fixed and it's time to get a new one?

Thanks

iPad, iPadOS 16

Posted on Jul 27, 2024 1:41 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

LotusPilot

Level 10

305,339 points

Jul 27, 2024 2:45 PM in response to Googmeister

There's currently an issue with Apple's Private Relay service - that affects Safari browsing and the related Mail Privacy Protection features. Affected Users may experience poor performance, or inability to browse or receive email:

Apple - Support - System Status

The workaround, pending restoration of normal services, is to disable Private Relay and Mail Privacy where used:

Settings > [Your Name / AppleID] > iCloud > [iCloud+] Private Relay > Private Relay - set to OFF

Settings > Mail > [Messages] Privacy Protection > Protect Mail Activity - set to OFF

If you use neither of these services, then something else may be the cause.

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Answer 2

MrHoffman

Level 10

151,193 points

Jul 27, 2024 7:50 PM in response to Googmeister

If you have add-on security apps, or an add-on VPN client apps, or add-on ad-blocker or browser extensions, remove all that as a test, restart, and check the resulting performance.

Check the iPad performance on a different Wi-Fi network too, on the off chance there’s a local Wi-Fi software or hardware problem, or local Wi-Fi interference.

Do other devices on this Wi-Fi have similar performance issues?

I’d think hard about battery service in an iPad 5th gen too, given its (2017) age. That iPad tops out at iPadOS 16.

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Answer 3

Googmeister Author

Level 1

42 points

Jul 27, 2024 3:34 PM in response to LotusPilot

Thanks for your response. I’ve seen those messages on my devices.

However, I should have made this clear in my initial post, this issue has been ongoing for a minimum of a few months and possibly several more than that.

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Answer 4

Googmeister Author

Level 1

42 points

Jul 30, 2024 5:12 PM in response to MrHoffman

MrHoffman - Thanks for your suggestions.

None of my dozen or so devices have this type of issue on my network.

I will try walking through your suggestions.

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iPad has become very sluggish

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