Q: IPAD2 very slow after IOS 8 upgrade

i just loaded the new 8.0.2.  It is still quite buggy.  Constant reloading, occasional freezes, mail slow to load.  Have had to reset twice because of this.  Apple needs to pull this, take its time and get it right.  I use an iPad 2 and see no excuse for this mess.

After upgrading my iPhone 4s to ios7 I lost wifi ability and eventually my phone started slowly to die. Apple told me it was because when an upgrade starts to install it checks unit for bad or broken things and then turns them off, so obviously my wifi thing inside the phone was bad- even though I never had a problem before. biut they would be happy to replace with the same model for $100. I had no choice and did. My hubby's ipad 3 started crashing all the time and getting very hot after only a half hour or so. Now with ios8 his iPad is working much better but my ipad 2 is slow, jumpy, and crashes.  Apple support says it's not an actual problem- the 7 update and now the 8, but since you can find thousands of the same complaints on the web I realize their marketing plan is indeed to kill your old devices so you have to buy a new one. I did get the iPhone 6 but I think it will be my last Apple purchase. My son was going to get his first iphone for Christmas but I don't think so now.  Also his iPod touch is virtually unusable now, and he is heartbroken. Way to go apple.  You should change your name to lemon.

SOLUTION - I had to perform the hard reboot 3 times but afterwards my ipad2 was very responsive and back to normal. Mine is pretty full and I didn't have to delete anything.

1Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button. Hold both buttons for about eight seconds. This will force the iPad to turn off.

2Turn the iPad back on. Press and hole the Sleep/Wake button for a few moments. The iPad will turn back on and display the Apple logo.

-from wikihow

Having tried the hard reboot several times after upgrading to iOS 8 with absolutely no difference, the only improvement was after returning to 7.1.2

Hard reboot seems to work as an exception rather than a rule.

This worked for me as well.....I just got a call from Apple.  They are listening.  They had me reset my wifi....do know that I did the 8.0.2 update...or whatever that fix was supposed to be, I did your hard resets on my own before I read your posting, and like you it did wonders....also followed another message where if you are in safari, to "pinch" that screen?  Don't know about that, but it does seem to be working great.

Now on the battery life...it is terrible...no doubt about that...I seem to have to recharge everyday, which is unusual for me....anyway so far so good with the reset of my wifi...no hassles there....The apple technician did point out something VERY IMPORTANT...so listen up and maybe this will make sense to all of us out there...with the new update, this does NOT MEAN that the 3rd party apps or programs have been updated!   So when you step back and think about it, that totally makes sense...so before everyone gets mad and chucks our ipad2's maybe it is worth the time to stop and think...what program you are in when it freezes up.......and if it is a 3rd party app or program, then you will just have to wait until THEY catch up.....makes more sense to me now...I do hope that the update to this update is indeed the real "fixer" and we can put this behind us.

I Tried several hard reboots/resets: Nothing.

I Have found a great improvement

in general settings turn off the background app refresh

not sure if this is a new ios8 feature but it was killing my iPad 2 64gb

So true! I really dislike some of the things Apple is doing lately. I am so disappointted.

Same. Safari and apps run VERY slowly since iOS 8 upgrade (including 8.0.2). Sometimes web pages won't open at all. Scrolling through a news article is almost impossible (no/intermittent touchscreen response). Apps freeze constantly then return to life after half a minute or so. All was fine prior to upgrade. Tried closing all background apps. Tried resetting. Still bad.

My iPad 2 has been suffering from most of the problems mentioned in this tread. I updated from iOS 8.0 to iOS 8.0.2 and there seems to be a small increase in stability and performance (perhaps it's just wishful thinking...).

One thing that seems to have actually helped some, is to go into general machine prefs and turn OFF everything that I do not use or need including background updating, searchlight, notifications (except for 3 that are critical for me), etc. etc. Go through every thing today and again tomorrow and SHUT THINGS DOWN. If you turn something off, you can turn it back on later; it will still be there. Also on the preferences pane, go through ALL the applications and turn off everything possible that involves background processes, unless something is really needed.

Put down the koolaid.

Safari is not 3rd party app.  Neither is the built-in mail program.  The problem is with iOS 8, not 3rd party apps.

glad you enjoyed your reassuring discussion with the cult representative, but most of us aren't buying it.

your right!!!  Now more koolaid....i am not happy here, that is for sure...and I have to do without some of my apps to boot...but it is working "better" which is not good enough...by far not good enough...I was happy only because it seems to be working Better....as anyone else out there contacted support over the issues??  If so, what did you discover??

I spook too soon.   I had not updated my band's iPad 2 from 8.0.0 to 8.0.2.   I did so today and saw zero improvement in speed with it.

Very laggy and that is HORRIBLE for my band because this thing has to work in real-time with a Mackie mixer.

The iPad is the control surface, it replaces the knobs and sliders on a mixing console.

I guess I will attempt to downgrade it to 7x and just reload ONLY the Mackie app.

Meanwhile, my main iPad 2 64GB w/Verizon cellular is still jerky and laggy.   It is also used as a control surface for our Mackie mixer (DL-1608 if you want to Google it).  And while it did work at our last gig, my wife reported it being very difficult to work with (she runs sound for us from out front).

I used the other iPad (that i just updated today) for controlling our 3 monitor mixes, and it seemed "okay".

Certainly not responsive like the old 7x was.

I may bite the bullet and just reload my main iPad to 7x and spend the hours to install every app and reconfigure them.   So many of these apps have no way to save their config.  Apps like my video camera controllers, CCTV and Surveillance video monitors, customer tools (I work in the IT field), etc.

If I go that route, I might as well just buy a new Android tablet and configure it from scratch, it'll be the same amount of work for me.

*sigh*    Apple has sure let me down.

Even after upgrading to iOS 8.0.2, I am still been unable to use the cellular on my iPad 3rd generation. I've reset my iPad and tried all of the suggestions others have listed to no avail. I use my iPad for work, so my iPad is basically useless unless I'm around wifi. Help!!!

  My safari and regular apps should never be so slow. New update is their fault. It should not have been put out so soon if so flawed. I also do believe they do it ill owing that eventually the latest IPads will be rendered useless and will incite new purchases. Not me though.