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Poll: Some users reporting sluggishness and crashes with iOS 9 — is your iPhone slower after the update?

ios-9-features

Along with the new features, iOS 9 promised an improvement to the ‘foundation’ of iOS with performance boosts and battery usage improvements across the system. However, as always seems to happen with new versions of iOS, not all users are satisfied. There have been many reports that iOS 9 is causing lagginess, especially on older hardware such as the iPhone 5. Some phones are getting stuck on the ‘slide to upgrade’ screen and users are frozen out of their devices completely.

Seeing as iOS 9 supports all the same devices as iOS 8, it’s quite important that the OS runs well on all iPhones and iPads, not just the recent Apple devices with the faster A7 or A8 processors.

How has the iOS 9 affected your iPhone? Is it slower than before the update … or maybe it’s actually faster? Let us know with the following poll …

Let us know in the comments if you are having problems and mention what devices you are using. For those affected, you can try the usual tactics of factory resetting the device rather than restoring from a backup. This works for a lot of people where something slightly weird happened whilst updating. Otherwise, it may be worth holding off until Apple releases a revision update for iOS 9 — many beta users report iOS 9.1 is a lot more stable and responsive than iOS 9.0 is.

Here’s a good comparison of iOS 8.4.1 vs iOS 9 on all of Apple’s supported iPhones for reference. If your iPhone is substantially slower than what’s shown in this video, then there’s probably something wrong and you should consider resetting and starting over.

You can read our full walkthrough of iOS 9’s new features here. Apple’s iPhone 6s and 6s Plus but we expect performance on them to be stellar as they ship with Apple’s newest A9 chips.

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Comments

  1. Tim Baker (@IAmTimBaker) - 9 years ago

    I’ve been using the betas of 9 and while it was very sluggish in the beginning, the last 2 betas before public release saw great speed improvements. There are still some minor hiccups that I will see here and there with iOS 9, however this is normal with every major OS update and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some 9.1 fix a lot of this minor hiccups.

    • Stetch´s Photo - 9 years ago

      For me iOS 9.1 Beta is faster than iOS 9.

      • I am also experience better battery life and performance from the iOS 9.1 beta, which is kind of nice considering in previous betas my battery life usually tanks while bugs are being fixed.

  2. danbridgland - 9 years ago

    This was the case through the beta’s also.

    I fixed this by clearing Safari cache – Go to Settings, Safari, Clear History and Website Data, then confirm with Clear History and Data,

    You may need to clear down a couple of times, as evidenced by the Settings, Safari, Advanced, Website Data entries, this should be clear after first clear down, but it wasn’t for me, I needed to run the clear again.

  3. davidt4n - 9 years ago

    Some bugs I found on my 6+:
    -The app store update / download is somehow slow
    -If constant changing of orientation you may find some UI glitches
    -Screenshot will not remove the Assistive Touch logo.
    -Siri icon in AssistiveTouch cannot be access, u need to turn off and on siri in settings.
    -opening the folder with many apps somehow slows.
    -mail mark all to read isn’t working.

    • applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

      Same here

      – I’ve had the App Store app icon showing badges meaning there are updates and when you open the app to update, the ‘update’ button becomes an ‘open’ button as if the app were already updates while it has not.
      – Also had slow app updates
      – Siri suggestions not working.
      – Random restarts

      Way more bugs than iO 8.0 last year…

      • I also noticed that “open/update” issue in iOS 8 and iOS 9 recently. Do you think it might be something with server traffic? Apple turns off those updates to preserve other resources or something?

    • Definitely noticed the orientation changes UI glitches!

    • Anyone has sluggish animations when opening the app switcher?

      • trparky - 9 years ago

        Yeah, I see that as well.

      • isshak96 - 9 years ago

        Trparky
        what is the iphone do you have that lags

  4. applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

    I have already had 2 random restarts if you know what I mean. You’re doing something and all of a sudden you see the white screen with the apple.

  5. daving313 - 9 years ago

    I feel like this article is now re-regurgitated after every major iOS release.

  6. Graham J - 9 years ago

    I have it on an original Mini and iPhone 6. Not noticing much difference on either. Except the task switcher which seems a touch laggy.

    • John Collier - 9 years ago

      I hate the update…keyboard typing LAG, scrolling down the page LAG and FREEZING……incredibly slow now to what it was before…….bloody horrible

      • rick gregory (@rickg) - 9 years ago

        Do an encrypted backup to your computer using iTunes. Do a restore of iOS9, then restore the backup. Very likely to fix it.

  7. Generally my iPhone 6 is significantly faster, but I base this mostly on development throughout the betas.

    The reason why I voted faster, rather than significantly faster, is that a single app, Crossy Roads, now takes 20 seconds + to open.

  8. I never did understand people who claim it is sluggish for them and I never will. I have an iPhone 4S and everything works great for me (I’ve even been using PB iOS 9, currently on PB iOS 9.1). What do you have? An iPhone -3000? Don’t be kids.

    • dcperin - 9 years ago

      Why could you not understand that? Not every phone will produce the exact same results. My iP6 had a bit of lag to it until I cleared everything off of it then put 85gb worth of stuff back on it. My mothers 5C is has HORRIBLE lag, even getting stuck on the lock screen sometimes. Factory reset and wipe did nothing. Again, every situation is different……

  9. sword 2 pen (@sword2pen) - 9 years ago

    There are a couple of bugs in iOS9 on my 5s, however I have friends with 6 Plus iPhones that have major lag and other issues :(

    My 5s runs pretty much like iOS8.

  10. ishan24 - 9 years ago

    I don’t think think that its slower because i am having 6+and its running smoothly. But yeah not faster, its the same as iOS 8.

  11. RP - 9 years ago

    iPhone 5s, I’m running 9.1beta and for me I get much better battery than the last 9 beta.

    I’m having no problems with any of the betas but 9.1 is far better on mine.

  12. I’ve noticed that a text can come in and be shown as just the number for a couple of seconds before the Contact is recognised as a known person. Never had that problem before the update to iOS9.

  13. Paul Van Obberghen - 9 years ago

    Upgraded my iPad 3 and indeed, after a particularly long update process, it feels much slower than before. I think I’ll wait a bit more before upgrading my iPhone 6.

    • airmanchairman - 9 years ago

      My iPad 3 has been struggling since iOS 7, and I was expecting a complete standstill with iOS 9 given the difficulties with iOS 8. But I went ahead anyway, and am glad that I did (I still think it was foolhardy!) because it is marginally better and all the expected feature upgrades are working to my surprise and delight.

      Siri is faster and more precise; text/font options within Notes and Reader mode in Safari are a pleasant surprise. Overall, the iPad is slightly faster and smoother than it was under iOS 8. Haven’t checked all Apple and 3rd party apps yet. So far so good.

      My iPhones 5 & 5S upgraded without incident and are definitely smoother and faster than before. Testing is still under way, but pleased thus far…

  14. PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

    I never install an iOS version 2 years newer than the version the iPhone came with. So iOS 9 will be the latest on my 6. Next years’ iOS 10 (iOS X?) will come on my new iPhone 7 (iPhone X?).

    If you install a new iOS version on a 3 year old phone you’re likely to see the phone slow down a bit. Not a given, but to be expected. Sometimes they fix this halfway their upgrade cycle.

    YMMV as slow/fast can be a user perception thingy.

  15. rgbfoundry - 9 years ago

    The SluggiOS app only installs on older devices on iOS9. It runs in the background to compel new hardware purchases.

    • rgbfoundry - 9 years ago

      I forgot to mention iOShit. It prevents downgrading to the previous OS after you realize you’re in a world of hurt.

      • dcperin - 9 years ago

        You can downgrade man. It takes very basic knowledge of how iPhones work and how to remove iOS then reinstalling the version u want. Many websites offer the .ipsw files to do it, with walk through instructions.

      • viruss619 - 9 years ago

        I downgraded to ios 8.4.1… In ios 9 on my iphone 6 animations wer automatically turning off.. My iphone was totally a blank piece of shit wid no animations… All d home icons wer used to come directly no animations at all.. Tried all hard resets n restoring nt same issue.. Ios 9 sucks big time

  16. theagentmike - 9 years ago

    I believe iOS 9 broke my AirPlay music streaming functionality. Before upgrading, I was able to stream music to my AirPlay speakers perfectly fine. Now, they won’t stay connected and won’t play anything. When I tap the speaker and press play, it disconnects and plays the audio from the device speaker instead.

  17. vandiced - 9 years ago

    Slow animations when app switching, pulling up control craft a are very common

    IPhone 6+

  18. rogifan - 9 years ago

    No issues with my 6 or Air 2.

  19. Rolf Haug (@rolfhaug) - 9 years ago

    I jumped right from 8.4.1 to public beta 9.1 and it is noticeably faster than 8.4.1. It’s been fast, smooth, and reliable. Definitely not downgrading to 9.0 after the comments I’ve read! I may have to install 9.1 on my 6S when I get it

  20. gkbrown - 9 years ago

    One of the first things I noticed about iOS 9 was improved responsiveness. I have an iPhone 6.

  21. joshwa12 - 9 years ago

    My iPhone 6i t’s blazing fast! And I hate to admit it but safari it’s super snappy and lag free with an addblocker installed.

  22. bunim1 - 9 years ago

    Since iOS 9 – My iCloud that has my iPad 3 and iPhone 6 Plus at first deleted the iPad backup I have going for years. Now backed that up and it deleted my iPhone backup. I cannot do the backup it crashes Each time now

  23. smartysanky - 9 years ago

    Everyone’s mind will be blown with 9.1

    • Radek Miszczu Górny - 9 years ago

      Apple will never deliver good OS again, unless they change their philosophy of software development. All they are doing last years, is promising. They never meet the expectations, and even though, many people are trusting them. It’s actually quite funny.

  24. Dan King (@arras) - 9 years ago

    I’ve certainly had issues with iOS updates in the past, but this one seems to be pretty smooth. My go-to apps are all running as expected, no odd or weird behavior. My iPad is running 9.1 and it seems to be ok as well

  25. Vinay Vaghjiani - 9 years ago

    My iPad Air 2 is lagging alot after completing the update :(

  26. rettun1 - 9 years ago

    Control center is a little more choppy now. And actually typing that last sentence on my phone saw some lag lol. Some apps, like News, just didn’t load any content the first day (just a white screen with menu bars). And there’s really only one more ‘nitpicky’ thing, which is that since they’ve animated the text selection bars, it does seem to take a little time before they show up in the right spot. Other than that it has been nice and smooth. I am loving the update on my Air 2.

  27. squuiid - 9 years ago

    Definitely having slowdowns since iOS 9 GM seed, and continue to have after the actual GM.
    Noticed it as soon as I installed the GM seed. Definite sluggishness in places, iPhone 6.

  28. pdoobs - 9 years ago

    i keep activating siri. i’m not sure if the hold home button timing has been changed but this problem didn’t exist prior to ios 9. i guess this issue could technically be related to the public beta 9.1 that i’m running.

  29. Mike Retondo (@mretondo) - 9 years ago

    Scrolling is lists stutters all the time. This use to be fluid. I have a 32GB 5S.

  30. Prem Patel (@prem_4tw) - 9 years ago

    I believe a bunch of apps are going to wait until the iPhone 6s comes out to update their apps to iOS 9 so they don’t have to do multiple updates in a short period of time. Some of my apps have already updated to iOS 9 but not all of them.

  31. Kaloyan (@hellokalo) - 9 years ago

    I’m on an iPhone 5s and apps on iOS 8 opened instantly and now it takes a good 6-7 seconds to open twitter, music, safari, camera..

  32. Howie Isaacks - 9 years ago

    I’ve updated my iPhone 6 and my iPad mini 3. Both work great. No issues.

  33. Mine has crashed a few times since upgrading on my 5S. I’ve had to manually reboot a few times as well after apps wouldn’t open. Non related – I miss accessing my favorites when you pressed the home button twice. Anyone know how to bring that back or do something like that which isn’t the swipe right Siri recommendations page?

  34. Ken Devreese - 9 years ago

    I installed iOS 9 and my battery life instantly was cut in half. Messages kept crashing. The whole system was very erratic. I performed a full restore, reinstalled all my Apps and its back to normal now.

  35. iPhone 5 here. Seems almost as fluid as with iOS 8. However, after swiping to unlock there is a hint of lag, as it doesn’t register the first number of my PIN unless I wait a fraction of a second. This wasn’t a problem on iOS 8.

  36. TechSHIZZLE.com - 9 years ago

    The biggest issue I have is that changing the screen orientation is either very slow, or doesn’t happen at all. Occasionally, the UI elements will switch, but the background wallpaper won’t. This is on both my 6+ and iPad Air 2.

  37. lcfbill - 9 years ago

    Some of those benchmark “advantages” are pretty trivial. The multitasking view is slower to come up but it is a more complex layout to render in iOS 9.

  38. Scott Lunsford - 9 years ago

    I’ve seen a little sluggishness in the keyboard when clicking into multiple fields and the cap turning on and off, but overall I see no real improvement or segregation. I’m running on an iPhone 6, 128.

  39. Jim Hassinger - 9 years ago

    Well, honestly, even on the 4s, the advantage isn’t huge, and that slow Maps includes transit. Wait a second, get a bus route… and other good changes. On the 5s and 6, it’s a no-brainer. The added capabilities, and the speed increase, way better.

  40. Billy Cloona - 9 years ago

    my ifone 5 has frozen with update 9 it will let me do my code then when it comes to open it said updating and then goes to white screen again and wont swipe help

  41. Wanyi Pratiknyo - 9 years ago

    After upgrade to ios 9 my cellular lost it’s network, the only thing that is appearing is searching….. anyone know why or have any idea why?

  42. Wanyi Pratiknyo - 9 years ago

    After update to iso 9, my iphone 6 lost it’s cellular network, now it is only searching… any one know why?

  43. Linda M Saddington - 9 years ago

    Awful on ipad2, gaming has become sluggish, text in game chat not spontanious, even been booted out of games, none of which happened before.

  44. Janos Sitar (@Sitarj) - 9 years ago

    I’ve had a lot of stuttering in Alto’s Adventure on my iPad Air since upgading to iOS 9

  45. Tom@L (@_ArcTic_FiRe) - 9 years ago

    It feels fast when scrolling or using the apps but there are many random and occasional stutters that resemble sudden cpu usage spikes, esp in the task switcher. Looks like need more polish.

  46. Brandi Duale Gregory - 9 years ago

    I cannot get any of my apps to work, including Apple apps like Music, Camera, Health, etc. It is RIDICULOUS. I cannot even make calls or text normally. I have an iPhone 6 so I really view this as unacceptable since I have what is supposed to be the newest device.

  47. Stick - 9 years ago

    I updated my iPhone 6 (64 GB, bought the morning of initial release) yesterday (the day after the iOS 9 released). Download and install went as normal. I did have some initial issues logging back into iCloud after the install, to the point that it kept trying to load my username & password without actually accepting it. However, after waiting for several minutes, I decided to back out of the login, but then found that I was logged back in when I went to my settings and clicked on iCloud, so I guess it did take, but the login screen must have gotten stuck… I also had some issues with my iTunes (on my MBA) saying that it couldn’t access the in store purchases too. As of now, I do not get the notification box any longer (but when I did get it, I got it ALOT!)

    Now, today, (2 days after the release, and 1 day after iOS 9 install), my iPhone 6 seems to be working fine. About the same as it was before the update actually. It’s hard to say how battery life, or exactly how the OS works out, as I figure it will take a few days for everything to settle in, not to mention, me getting back to my normal usage with the phone (it’s now the weekend, and I am going out of town). At this point, I think my phone will be ok, and have no reason not to think the iOS 9 update may not increase the speed and battery life of my phone, but I guess I will have to wait and see. (Also, I don’t know how to “test” the speed, other than just me using it. But, surprisingly, even after owning my iPhone 6 for a year now, I am surprised in that it still runs very well IMO. Even the battery life is still satisfactory. This is my first iPhone (coming from Androids) and I will admit, I am quite pleased with my decision to give an iPhone a try. Not that the Android’s sucked, but at this point in time, I am still happier with the overall phone that I have been with any other phone… just saying.)

    We also updated my son’s iPhone 5c and it seems to be going fine too. No complaints from him about anything acting funny anyway…

    I haven’t updated my wife’s iPhone 6 (16GB, bought same day as mine) yet and will likely wait until we get back from our weekend trip so we don’t have to deal with anything funny that may happen over the weekend while we are away.

    Some thoughts on some of the new features so far (that stand out to me):

    I like that I can “Go Back” to a previous app with the button in the top corner now. Much easier than double clicking the home button and then scrolling through the apps in the background.

    My Discover card can now be used for Apple Pay. (It wasn’t before this update…)

    I like the new keyboard.

    Not a fan of forced apps, but do like the Find Friends app (although, I understand it was available before this update.) So far, it works much better at keeping up with my son than when using the “Details” in the iMessage app…

    Wish I could delete the New App…

    So far, I liked the old layout method of open apps when double pressing the home button. Not sure I like the stacked method on iOS 9… but I figure i will get used to it.

    Also, I love that they upped the $0.99 iCloud storage to 50 GB! I thought 20 GB was a good deal for that much, but 50 is just that much better! (For my needs anyway…)

    There are some other small things, but none comes back to mind at this moment.

    Overall though, I am happy with the phone, and up to this point, I am happy with the update too!

  48. Billy Cloona - 9 years ago

    my ip5 has frozen during update white screen,

  49. srgmac - 9 years ago

    No — my phone is actually faster. 5S here.

  50. Craig Gottschalk - 9 years ago

    iOS9 crashed on first startup after upgrade on my 6plus. Been fine ever since. Doesn’t seem like much different…

  51. William - 9 years ago

    Why not order the poll from slow to fast or fast to slow? Right now, it’s ordered as fast, slow, slower, same, faster.

  52. Is anyone having the issue where the icons are missing in the app switcher? It seems like all the stock apps icons aren’t working….

  53. mruiz1979 - 9 years ago

    My sons phone is a 5S and it completely stopped working. After we did the update it keeps going back to the screen that says slide to update. But it freezes and u can’t slide. I have done a reset by pressing the home key and the power key which unfreezes it but when I slide to update it goes throw the steps but then goes back to the slide to update page and freezes again. So it ruined his phone.
    Mine is a 6+ and it took a day and night to do the update and then it made it super slow and it keeps making mine freeze as well. What were they thinking with this update?

    • Metl Mann - 9 years ago

      Sorry you are having issues. The fact that both phones failed in their updates suggests that something is wrong with your Internet or if you are updating from a computer, with iTunes etc. Apple support is very good, please give them a call.

  54. Radek Miszczu Górny - 9 years ago

    Can we have smooth OS in XXI century already?

  55. infiniteloopusa - 9 years ago

    I found below issues :-
    1) search screen (swiping finger down ) is very sluggish, some time it doesn’t work comes up in first swipe down.
    2) while choosing wallpapers under the Settings-> wallpaper , it does not let us choose new wallpaper in first screen touch on new photo.
    3) Siri while power on, doesn’t work always. Have to repeatedly speak “hey Siri “.
    4) Siri voice feedback has got turned off. It speaks back only after I give one command.

    Hope someone from Apple can list down our all issues and fix them in next release.

  56. Robert Brimm - 9 years ago

    Using iPhone 5 verizon; I was previously using a HTC one M7 with lollipop and the iPhone is a hand me down from my wife: The iPhone 5 was running 8.4.1 and phone was sluggish, jittery and had poor battery performance. I replaced the battery in late July which helped the poor battery performance but still not stellar. Updated to the iOS9 Beta late August, phone was more responsive and the jittery disappeared and battery performance also improved; though a few bugs were noticed but to be expected with a beta. Updated to beta 9.1 and the phone is smooth, responsive and best battery performance yet. The phone never had any issues with updating to the beta 9.0 or the beta 9.1 of course I made sure I was on wifi and connected to the AC… I’m very pleased with the performance of the iPhone 5 running iOS 9.1.

  57. Filipe Sá (@saguerra) - 9 years ago

    9.0 Beta 5 was faster them 9.0 GM on my iPhone 6

  58. On ipad min 2 and WordPress typing is extremely sluggish I wish I did not upgrade !

  59. Carla Weems - 9 years ago

    Ios9 has slo we’d ALL MY LOUSY APPLE DEVICES—- ios9 Sucks the big one.

  60. Michael Droeger - 9 years ago

    Camera problems here. Portrait-to-landscape (and back) orientation lag time, but more problematic are shutter issues. Yesterday I would fire up the camera, snap a shot, and then the shutter would freeze and not let me take another picture. Had to close out a restart almost every time I wanted to take more than one picture. Another time the burst mode came on and wouldn’t stop until I closed out.

  61. pdixon1986 - 9 years ago

    I’m using iPhone 6plus.
    Apps often show a black screen before opening

    Some apps when I press the home but it freezes.

    iOS 9 isn’t a great experience.

  62. Courtney Badger - 9 years ago

    I have an iphone 6 and my phone is slower and keeps freezing. My apple maps is having problems and things don’t seem to work together or sync well. I am telling everyone not to download it. Can i go back to iOS 8?

  63. Metl Mann - 9 years ago

    My 5 has been mostly okay, but there have been a number of brief hangs during normal use. I did a power off/on and that helped some. I also just did a Safari website data clear. We’ll see.

  64. Mark Sim (@MarkSim15) - 9 years ago

    Safari doesn’t work after ios 9 upgrade. Tried to sync safari on my phone with Safari on my MacAir. This was done by double clicking home button and hitting the Safari button. Now when I try to pull up the Safari on my phone, the screen just blacks out.

  65. Shankar (@gbshankar31) - 9 years ago

    I am using iphone 6 unlocked AT&T version with a different carrier. In ios 8, I was able to setup personal hotspot and Facetime over cellular network. Now, after upgrade to ios 9, cellular data does not work, and Personal hotspot and Facetime over Cellular Network Disabled. By the way, I unlocked the iphone again using Itunes, and updated the APN settings. But, it still does’t seem to work.

  66. Unic Paudel - 9 years ago

    I’ve just updated to iOS 9 and the performance is very slow and sluggish the animation while multitasking it lags while scrolling and when opening an app while multitasking and I did reset it to scratch from recovery mode too. It’s still sluggish and why is that ??

    • Mike Beasley - 9 years ago

      iOS 9 is just sluggish like that. It has been since the first beta, unfortunately, and it seems Apple wasn’t able to fix it before pushing it live. Luckily, iOS 9.1 beta is much more stable and seems to have most of the kinks worked out. I think Apple probably needed to finalize iOS 9 very early so they could put it on the iPhone 6s units before they shipped. Because they had to end development so early, they weren’t able to iron out all the wrinkles. They had additional time to work on iOS 9.1, and that’s why it’s so much better.

      Hopefully 9.1 will ship pretty soon.

  67. DamoTheBrave - 9 years ago

    My iPad Air 1 is certainly leggy – most notably in Safari which often won’t scroll a webpage.
    Won’t be upgrading iPhone until it’s fixed.

  68. On iPhone 5s, there is a log of stutter and occasional lag with iOS 9. Sometimes the screen turns black when launching an application for a second then the application actually launches!! Also, my free space has decreased by 1GB so far 48 hours after the upgrade. Seems building an index for new Spotlight Search is taking a lot of space.

  69. Mc Cande - 9 years ago

    So I had my iPad 3 on 7.0.4 for god knows how long. I finally took the plunge and upgraded to iOS9 after seeing some comments indicating that this finally my be the first upgrade not deteriorating performance. Unfortunately it isn’t, the biggest hit in my view is Safari. It has trouble rendering pages. It is so much slower than before. Scrolling on in Safari causes web pages to go blank and you need to wait while it rerenders them again. This iPad is basically only used for web browsing. From my point of view don’t bother upgrading or you will be annoyed. : (

  70. hiorgos - 9 years ago

    Really slow iphone5 for me :(

  71. Ray Raymond - 9 years ago

    Since downloading IOS 9, my screen has frozen 5 times and am unable to turn the phone off nor navigate. Fortunately i remembered and tried the I-Pod reset method and it worked. Several times when I tapped on a video in FaceBook, Facebook crashed and took me to the app screen. I had to reopen Facebook. Most video’s don’t play or they buffer so often I get frustrated and exit. Some videos play very quickly and very well, most don’t. I have particular problems with YouTube videos in Facebook.

  72. Sailesh Ghelani - 9 years ago

    After the ios9 update apps won’t download. Keep loading but nothing else.

  73. William Robinson - 9 years ago

    It’s hard for me to judge faster or slower on my iPhone 6. It appears to be running at the same speed for the activities I do the most. What I have noticed however is greatly improved battery life, at least when the phone is idle. My typical charging method is to charge the phone when I get up in the morning and then when it reaches 100% to unplug it. This is, from what I read, preferable to keeping it plugged in overnight, which can weaken the battery. Before iOS9, during the course of the day, even if the phone wasn’t used and just sat on my desk, the battery would drain to the 60% remaining by night. Since upgrading to iOS9, the battery under the same situation, will remain at 100% practically until I go to bed at night. And by the next morning it will only decrease to 96%. Since I have an iPad, I don’t use the iPhone for constant internet access, and I can go for over a week without making or receiving a phone call. So I am not the typical user.

  74. I’m on iPhone 5S w/T-Mobile. Upgraded to ios 9 and noticed sluggishness when I swipe and Siri is no longer talking. She respond by text only. Called Apple and they could not figure it out.

  75. Angela Williams-LeBlanc - 9 years ago

    Hubby & I have 4s’s. The ios9 has crashed both our phones. It just keeps going back to the slide to upgrade screen which we’ve done 30 times. Guess we’re going shopping for 2 new phones. Not sure if they will be Apples this time.

  76. ltedward - 9 years ago

    Had beta 3,4, 5 and GA prerelease all worked very well on my development device. I felt confident Production Release would be solid. Prod release iOS 9.0 sucks. Slow, crashes. Lost emails. Lock screen notifications not working right. What happened?
    I upgraded my prod device as well. Now two crappy iPhone 6+’s
    My best bet is to factory reset both and restore. I am warning my company not to upgrade (68, 000 phones). Apple you need to fix this immediately.

    • crichton007 - 9 years ago

      You’re basing a decision for 68,000 phones based on a sample size of one?

      • phislamjam - 8 years ago

        Make that sample size of two. I’m 100% apple loyal, I have over 25 devices in my family. We mostly all have troubles with the update. To the point that it has taken me two minutes to write this short post. I’m pissed.

      • Douglas Kelban - 8 years ago

        No, there are many complaints about IOS 9 screwing up email. I made sure to check that out before posting. I am well aware of how statistics work.

  77. Rebby Agone - 9 years ago

    Phone began to freeze up as soon as release came out. Thought it was dead, but it came back to life long enough to install, add new set up, and run for < 1 hour. Now dead forever. Thanks, Apple. ios 9 rocks- can't wait to buy a new phone. No, I won't be upgrading to a 6 just cuz 9 killed the old one.

  78. Chad MC - 9 years ago

    Turning off transparency seems to make a substantial difference in the smoothness and fluid nature of the entire OS. It was feeling like a cheap Samsung right after the update. Not fluid or smooth at all.

    • viruss619 - 9 years ago

      Same happened wid me… All d smoothness n animations wer missing right after d update… Den I downgraded to ios 8.4.1 n now its smooth…

      • Alexander Wald - 9 years ago

        how can you downgrade, when apple stopped signing 8.4.1?

      • viruss619 - 9 years ago

        I visited apple service centre in india n dey said u have to wait untill next update n i tld dem i cannot waut si dey told downgrading is d option available… N dis option is available only till few days after ios 9 was being launched

  79. Ive been completely locked out of my iPhone 5. WTF??

  80. Davis - 9 years ago

    iOS 9.0 on my iPad 3 has been working fine. My iPhone 4S is another story altogether. LAGS, freezes for up to two minutes and apps that crash back to the home screen at launch.

  81. anujraibiala - 9 years ago

    I’m owning an iPhone 6 . Before upgrade to iOS9, it was working smoothly like butter flow. But after upgrade to iOS9, it’s terribly showing sluggishness. Whether you navigate through Settings, Facebook, Twitter, iBooks, Contacts… Everywhere it’s getting proved that iOS9 have problems.

    I’m waiting for Apple to release a fix for this otherwise it will terribly suck me whole.

  82. I feel that “updates” will always slow down older devices to encourage (force) you to buy a new one, whether it is by coincidence or on purpose or my paranoia . This applies to all devices not just on the iPhone.

  83. Metl Mann - 9 years ago

    9 hangs frequently on my iPhone 5 and iPad 4th gen. It doesn’t crash, just hangs for 5-10 seconds fairly often.

  84. Jaissal Sonigra - 9 years ago

    Cool video. I’ve got the latest iPod Touch 6th gen and my mum has an iPhone 6. I’m still suprised that Apple haven’t added a ‘Close All’ button for the Multitasking. I don’t understand why Apple are allowing older devices to update to the latest software. Like the iPod Touch 5th gen I had still being updated to iOS 9 for some silly reason. Same with the 4S which uses the same A5 chip. What are the testers of these older devices doing!? Apple just wants you to be fed up of your old device and buy a new one. Risky but, probably works most of the time.

  85. Gabriela Camilo - 9 years ago

    Is there any news on fixing the iOS 9 “slide to update” page freeze? I can’t even get pass that page, probably if I did, I would have apps crashing also.

  86. Jim Organ (@jorgan10s) - 9 years ago

    I have had no problems and it feels as if I am getting more life to my phone than before and I have an iPhone 6. I loaded it the first day it was available and I like most of the new features.

  87. John Hart - 9 years ago

    any one have this stupid gray bar in the text bar looks like it has a timer to the right with three zeros
    never had before ios9 on a 5s 16gb

    • isshak96 - 9 years ago

      Anyone hase the 5s, is it really that slow or lagging for the ios 9? I liked the new features that’s why I want to upgrade, but I don’t want to kill the speed though

      • isshak96 - 9 years ago

        sorry for the miss type, any one has the iphone 5s**

    • srgmac - 9 years ago

      ?? What? Take a screen shot? I have the 5S — 16GB, runs awesome with iOS 9, I don’t see any gray bar but I don’t really know what you’re talking about.

      • John Hart - 9 years ago

        I have a shot of it but not sure how to post it here

    • Kim Essig - 9 years ago

      I do … it’s so annoying too, have to reboot to rid of it

  88. John Hart - 9 years ago

    WTF with all the phones apple has screwed up yet again i am surprised no one has ever filed a class action law suit against them. we paid a lot $ for these POS’s
    If they cant bring software to prime time that works first time they shouldn’t be doing it that is what beta is for, test it till it’s ready.
    We should hit them in their pocketbook for once, they are not afraid to charge us!

    • Gregory Wright - 9 years ago

      Please! Anytime software is upgraded there is bound to be bugs. It comes with the territory. It is the exception when no bugs appear. I haven’t read the user agreement end to end but I’d be willing to bet software bugs and glitches are covered. So, there goes your Class Action.

      • Douglas Kelban - 8 years ago

        In my experience most “bugs” in programs, software, car systems and design, and other products is the fault of the manufacturer, who in pursuit of speed and profits, don’t adequately test their products.

  89. srgmac - 9 years ago

    Looking at these benchmark scores it makes me glad that I bought the 5S and upgraded when I did — the SoC the 5S uses is so friggen awesome — it came out a year before everyone else thought it would — it’s so much faster than the 4S/5 and not that much far behind the 6/6Plus! Honestly unless the 6S/6S Plus give a really big advancement, I’m going to wait until next year to upgrade. iOS 9 runs great on my 5S.

  90. Cherrie Kerwell - 9 years ago

    The worst thing for me is that they got rid of Autofill. I use the Internet for a lot of things & this feels like Android all over again. I hated Android bc of their constant updates. Apparently Apple is trying to make the iPhone like an Android. Big mistake. And yes, my iPhone 6 Plus is freezing up, running very slow & not worth the extra features. I have the update to IOS 9.0 as of today & hasn’t helped anything. Makes me wish I didn’t have this phone anymore. Same garbage on my iPad Air 2 also. Why can’t companies leave things alone when something is working well? New & improved is always a mistake.

  91. It rendered my iPhone 5 useless. It freezes for prolonged periods of time and eventually appears to restart, and when it “works” its sluggish and feels horrible. I had to soft reset it so many times since that I lost count. Now what saddens me the most is I preordered the 6s and I promised this phone to my mom – a good upgrade from her 8GB iPhone4 to iPhone5 64GB. Now, how can I give this useless brick to her. And it was working perfectly before… Apple should allow to roll back IOS version – it’s in the paying customers interest to do so – just like paying customers can do that on a traditional computer. For the last 3 hours I could not get to send a message, nor back it up so I can do a factory reset. It’s like it’s possessed, keeps freezing and restarting and draining battery like its on fire.

  92. kevinandrews - 9 years ago

    Hey 9to5! Thanks for this poll and report as it only reaffirms to me that I will not be upgrading to IOS 9 anytime soon, even if it means I can’t upgrade to watch OS2. My iPhone 5s, iPad Mini2, iPad Air2 are smooth, fluid and bug-free.

    • Roberto Abramson - 9 years ago

      Hi! so is mine iphone5: frozen.doesn’t shut off, no sliding screen. DEAD. What to do, please?
      Installed the ios 9 about 2 weeks, smooth operation. Suddenly, it collapsed with no physical accident.

      • Roberto Abramson - 9 years ago

        Thanks. Having done boot (pressing round button together with on/off button) , it worked fine. Regret having lost time downloading IOS 9 and hope Apple’s technicians will update it asap.

  93. Billy Baker - 8 years ago

    Its almost like a first semester programmer made ios 9. I’m on the beta 9.1 and everytime i turn on my phone it crashes regardless of whether i want to put in my pin or to use fingerprint sensor. If i get to unlock it then the chances of it crashing again are higher. Literally trash and wish I didn’t just buy an apple watch

  94. viruss619 - 8 years ago

    I’m getting an weird problem after updating to ios9.. Plz let me know in d comments if anyone experiencing dos problem.. Jus after I updated to iOS 9 all d visual effects n animations are missing .. From what’s app if I press home button all d home icons are coming directly no animations… Plz let me know any solutions to dis :(

  95. Achmad Mulyadi - 8 years ago

    I want my iOS 8 baaaack!!!

  96. hunglikejesus - 8 years ago

    OMG!!! I wanna just throw this fucking thing out of the window. It’s become almost too frustrating to even turn this iPod 5th on. Fuck me apple you all did this onto purpose.

    • Jaissal Sonigra - 8 years ago

      Ahh i can feel your pain. You should have done what I did and check forums before updating to the latest iOS. I kept my 5th gen iPod Touch on 7.1.2 because that was the best it could run. Unfortunately I had to update it to latest iOS when factory resetting it to sell it. I’ve got the 6th gen Touch now and haven’t updated it to iOS 9.0.2 yet either.

  97. i have a gray bar in my messages that wont go away cant see what I am typing is there a way to fix the proplem

  98. Douglas Kelban - 8 years ago

    A big known-by-apple problem with IOS 9 concerns the upgrade screwing up email. My iphone and ipad won’t download emails with images, and I keep having to go into Settings to re-enter my outgoing server password, or else mail I send doesn’t send, and just flashes back and forth with the other window. Yesterday, I had to do the same for my incoming mail, which I wasn’t getting on my computer, but was getting on my ipad and iphone. THANKS A LOT, APPLE. WHO’S DOING YOUR PROGRAMMING THESE DAYS: A CHIMP?

  99. Andrea Hernandez - 8 years ago

    I don’t know whats wrong with my 5c. After the update the screen has been going black & when i try to press the home button to the screen, it won’t turn on. But after like a few minutes or hour past i press it again & it’ll come on. Its really making me mad.

  100. IOS 9.1 Youtube notwork by today remove youtube app and reinstall again, still notwork.

  101. HeatherB (@ntmyname) - 8 years ago

    My ipad3 has been having fits ever since the 9.1 update. It’s never had so many issues after an update. It crashes several times daily, which rarely used to happen. Pages freeze up. The whole u it freezes up. It’s slower, in general. It’s starting to feel unusable…

  102. Jessica - 8 years ago

    Since the update my phone has been slower than ever. It is constantly freezing up on me. Sometimes it restarts on its own, other times I have no choice but to do a hard reset myself to get the screen to unlock. Worst update ever in my opinion.

  103. John Boles - 8 years ago

    Way Slower now not working at all.

  104. John Boles - 8 years ago

    killed my phone, not an option on your poll

  105. pelegri - 8 years ago

    My 5s on Verizon was working fine until about a week ago. It was eating my battery very quickly so I checked and it looked like “Siri” was using a lot of battery. I turned “predictive Siri” off and that seemed to solve that but shortly after my Mail started crashing. I’ve switched to “Fetch” on my Exchange mail account to see if that fixes the issue but all of this was working OK. It seemed to me the trigger was the Verizon carrier settings (mandatory?) upgrade.

    • Douglas Kelban - 8 years ago

      I don’t notice a speed difference. HOWEVER, I now have a very annoying problem since IOS 9: pictures forwarded to me as part of an email are not shown. Instead, I get a “not downloaded from the server” message on the email: never happened before IOS 9. Supposedly, this is a known issue to Apple, who shows no inclination to fix it.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.