iPhone Tip: Speed up your iPhone without Restarting it.

[TheSpaz]

If you're like me... you use your iPhone for more than just iPod.app. Did you ever notice that after a brand new update or a restart, your iPhone feels snappy again? Do you have to restart your iPhone every day to get it to feel this way again? Do you often force quit Safari?

Here's a tip that I've been using for quite a while and I wanted to share it with the lot of you. Here it goes:

To speed up your iPhone without having to quit Safari, just create a new blank web page, then close the web page you were viewing. Now you can leave Safari running and you'll notice a speed increase on launching other apps now. It's pretty cool.

I noticed that it's pretty much Safari that slows down the iPhone. Mail doesn't do much in the background (except for when it's checking mail) and iPod app uses hardly any memory when it's not playing music... so creating this new page is an easy way to free up some memory to speed things up a bit.

Like I said before, I've been using this trick for a while now and it's just as effective as force quitting Safari (which I do not like to do since it I feel weird for force quitting something that's not stuck or frozen).

There you have it. If you have any other tips on how to speed up your iPhone for a smoother experience, post them here. I'll post more if I think of some.

[Vandam500]

Interesting indeed but does this really work?

[TheSpaz]

Interesting indeed but does this really work?

Try it for yourself. As soon as I create a new page and close the other one, my apps launch super fast. But, if I have a webpage open, it takes a few seconds. I hate it when I wanna text someone back in a hurry and SMS takes like 3 seconds to open when it should take 1 second. I prefer the 1 second. It doesn't sound like much but, when you're going back and forth between SMS and BeeJive and other apps, it gets frustrating quick.

[ppc750fx]

Interesting indeed but does this really work?

I haven't exactly done any formal testing, but I haven't found this tip to offer any improvements.

Memory usage seems about the same too.

[bradenwh]

My iPhone seems to act the exact same way after I do this.

Maybe it's just a placebo effect?

[darkmeton]

iphone OS , unlike windows mobile, doesn't leave any open apps running on the background, when you close them. That's why everybody is waiting for push notifications. So it is hardly unlikely that safari eats up memory, since when you leave it, it just closes. Nothing runs behind. That's the whole idea actually of why iphone OS is much better than windows mobile . It has NO task manager ( to manage tasks running on the background)

So I don't think that safari trick actually works. I've been doing it for a year now (because i always want a blank page when I open it) and I've seen no speed improvements.

The only RADICAL speed improbement that I saw was when I un-jailbroke it. Man it goes three times as fast.

[TheSpaz]

iphone OS , unlike windows mobile, doesn't leave any open apps running on the background, when you close them. That's why everybody is waiting for push notifications. So it is hardly unlikely that safari eats up memory, since when you leave it, it just closes. Nothing runs behind. That's the whole idea actually of why iphone OS is much better than windows mobile . It has NO task manager ( to manage tasks running on the background)

So I don't think that safari trick actually works. I've been doing it for a year now (because i always want a blank page when I open it) and I've seen no speed improvements.

The only RADICAL speed improbement that I saw was when I un-jailbroke it. Man it goes three times as fast.

Not true. There are currently 3 applications that run in the background: Safari, Mail and iPod. Trust me, if those were opened at any time, they stay running until you force quit them by holding home for 10 seconds.

[darkmeton]

there is NO way apps are running on the background. If mail was running thn why would we need push or fetch? When a mail would come we would be notified. Also you can see the keynote about the app store introduction. It clearly states that ALL apps close when you exit them ( except for music).

[threezero]

Not true. There are currently 3 applications that run in the background: Safari, Mail and iPod. Trust me, if those were opened at any time, they stay running until you force quit them by holding home for 10 seconds.

i thought this is a fact how come ppl are still arguing this? I guess nobody try doing anything else on the phone while listening to music :rolleyes:

I ever remember sum graphic intensive games recommending force shutting down safari and mail to increase the performance.

[ppc750fx]

there is NO way apps are running on the background. If mail was running thn why would we need push or fetch? When a mail would come we would be notified. Also you can see the keynote about the app store introduction. It clearly states that ALL apps close when you exit them ( except for music).

Sorry, but you're wrong.

Applications from the App Store are subject to this requirement (as well as being sandboxed). Other apps, such as those for the core functions of the phone (as well as some homebrew apps) are not.

MobileMusicPlayer, MobileMail, MobilePhone and MobileSafari can all remain running even when they're not displayed.

Also, just having your mail client running doesn't meant that it's actively connecting to your server and checking for mail. The fact that the app is running doesn't mean that its constantly checking for e-mail...

[bradenwh]

there is NO way apps are running on the background. If mail was running thn why would we need push or fetch? When a mail would come we would be notified. Also you can see the keynote about the app store introduction. It clearly states that ALL apps close when you exit them ( except for music).

Oh my gosh! How exactly does Safari not quit when you close it? You can't deny what you can test. App Store apps are required to close, due to memory and battery management, but Mail, Safari, and iPod do run in the background. Let's stop arguing something that has undeniable facts, hmm? Get a life.

[ppc750fx]

http://i34.tinypic.com/9fxkl0.png

Right. Next order of business?

[TheSpaz]

http://i34.tinypic.com/9fxkl0.png

Right. Next order of business?

You are awesome! I thought everyone knew that Safari, Mail, iPod and Phone ran in the background... I guess not.

Also, I noticed that sometimes Maps runs in the background for a short time. If I find my location, and click home, then click back to Maps... it loads right up as if it never closed... Try it. I think it runs for at least a couple of minutes extra.

[darkmeton]

Really ?? Guess I've not been reading the forum much . :P

OK my mistake.

[jwilcox09]

I definately noticed a difference in performance. I had several graphic intensive web pages open on my phone and when I tried this trick, I definately noticed my phone faster. I was having problems with the speed of replying in mail and it seems to have fixed itself.

Thanks for the great Tip...

[TheSpaz]

I definately noticed a difference in performance. I had several graphic intensive web pages open on my phone and when I tried this trick, I definately noticed my phone faster. I was having problems with the speed of replying in mail and it seems to have fixed itself.

Thanks for the great Tip...

You're welcome. It usually works for me too. Hey, I guess if only one other person benefits from this tip... so be it. I thought it was cool.

[wackymacky]

Why the blank page though? If you kill the app with the force-quit does'nt it free up the memory resources?

[pokute]

thanks for the tip spaz

[TheSpaz]

Why the blank page though? If you kill the app with the force-quit does'nt it free up the memory resources?

I don't think force quitting is very good. I hate just stopping a process by killing it. I'd rather do it the right way.

[bradenwh]

I don't think force quitting is very good. I hate just stopping a process by killing it. I'd rather do it the right way.

What is the right way to fully close an app that runs in the background? As far as I know, killing it is the only way. Why do you have a phobia of doing this?

[deadsouls]

there is NO way apps are running on the background. If mail was running thn why would we need push or fetch? When a mail would come we would be notified. Also you can see the keynote about the app store introduction. It clearly states that ALL apps close when you exit them ( except for music).

you clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

[ppc750fx]

What is the right way to fully close an app that runs in the background? As far as I know, killing it is the only way. Why do you have a phobia of doing this?

Force-quitting by holding the home button is the equivalent of using 'kill -9'. I suppose if you're feeling nice, you could use the terminal to "just" kill it instead... :D

Besides, why kill it? There aren't any performance issues that I've encountered by leaving it open...

[mkaake]

Why the blank page though? If you kill the app with the force-quit does'nt it free up the memory resources?


Mobile Safari will attempt to hold whatever pages are still loaded in cache as long as possible. So if you have a non-blank page (or pages), it will continue to hold the cache for that page until the phone must free up additional resources for whatever task is at hand.

This is why often you can be looking at a page in Safari, and come back to it later without having to reload the page. However, there are times (usually after using a memory intensive app, or you've used several apps) when the page needs to completely re-load before you can see it.

There's actually a very good explination of all of this on daringfireball that was posted a few months ago, if you're interested in learning more (or learning from someone who's taken a whole lot more time to learn about it than me!)

<edit - here's the pertinant info>

The iPhone (and iPod Touch) only have 128 MB of RAM, and WebKit can use a lot of memory. When memory gets tight, the system sends low memory warnings to running applications, telling them to purge what they can. Eventually, the system will start forcing apps to quit in order to free more memory. That’s why sometimes when you relaunch Safari, it remembers the URLs, but has to reload the content for all of your open web pages — that’s what happens when Safari is asked to quit while it’s running in the background.

taken from:

http://daringfireball.net/2008/10/in_the_background

[TheSpaz]

Sorry to bring this thread back to life, but I made a new discovery. When you make a new page in Safari and close the old page and hit the home button... Safari actually QUITS completely. You know how I know? I downloaded and installed an App called Free Memory 1.4. It shows you all the running processes and when I close Safari on a blank page, it actually quits Safari. So essentially, you're getting the same results as force quitting Safari, but without actually having to force quit it.

Edit: I just hit 3,000 posts with this post.

[branjosef]

Very interesting... So far the only way I've been able to speed up my iphone is to run with it. :D


I'll have to try this.

[deadsouls]

Sorry to bring this thread back to life, but I made a new discovery. When you make a new page in Safari and close the old page and hit the home button... Safari actually QUITS completely. You know how I know? I downloaded and installed an App called Free Memory 1.4. It shows you all the running processes and when I close Safari on a blank page, it actually quits Safari. So essentially, you're getting the same results as force quitting Safari, but without actually having to force quit it.

Edit: I just hit 3,000 posts with this post.

so then why not just force quit safari then? i highly doubt pressing the multiple page button, selecting new page, hitting the multiple page button again, scrolling back to the original page you had opened and then closing it finally is really all that quicker than just holding the home button down for 7 seconds.

[ppc750fx]

so then why not just force quit safari then? i highly doubt pressing the multiple page button, selecting new page, hitting the multiple page button again, scrolling back to the original page you had opened and then closing it finally is really all that quicker than just holding the home button down for 7 seconds.

Because SIGKILLing something isn't usually a good idea. At least this way you give MobileSafari a chance to quit correctly and clean up after itself. If you just kill -9 it you risk experiencing the side effects of an improper shutdown (whatever they may be.)

[mkrishnan]

Did anyone happen to test if this, besides speeding things up, improves the amount of free memory (which seems to be the cause of a lot of slowdowns and crashes with games... particularly the Gameloft games seem to have problems with this and sometimes require rebooting the phone to get them to work smoothly)? In addition to the number of background apps and their CPU time, their memory footprint seems to be a big issue, also.

[TheSpaz]

Did anyone happen to test if this, besides speeding things up, improves the amount of free memory (which seems to be the cause of a lot of slowdowns and crashes with games... particularly the Gameloft games seem to have problems with this and sometimes require rebooting the phone to get them to work smoothly)? In addition to the number of background apps and their CPU time, their memory footprint seems to be a big issue, also.

It does free up memory. I think that is why things speed up... because with more memory, the iPhone doesn't have to use as many page-outs.

[jake921660]

so then why not just force quit safari then? i highly doubt pressing the multiple page button, selecting new page, hitting the multiple page button again, scrolling back to the original page you had opened and then closing it finally is really all that quicker than just holding the home button down for 7 seconds.

I regularly do all this in about 3-4 seconds so yes it is faster.

[gericb]

I have been very interested in this topic as a whole, and watching the various forums, and technical commentaries.

I don't really know the Apps. rules/requirements, but I use a very basic App. that seems to be for all practical purposes, to be running in the background.

It's called "LapTimer" I use it for client billings. I tested some other Apps. out there, but what I liked about this one was I could start the timer, 4 independent ones available, and then do whatever else I need to on my iPhone and never have to worry about it losing time...talking on the phone, browsing, games, and when you come back to the LapTimer, its been there like a rock start keeping time. :)

[ppc750fx]

I don't really know the Apps. rules/requirements, but I use a very basic App. that seems to be for all practical purposes, to be running in the background.

It's called "LapTimer" I use it for client billings. I tested some other Apps. out there, but what I liked about this one was I could start the timer, 4 independent ones available, and then do whatever else I need to on my iPhone and never have to worry about it losing time...talking on the phone, browsing, games, and when you come back to the LapTimer, its been there like a rock start keeping time. :)

It's not running in the background at all. Upon exit it simply saves the current time. When you resume it, it immediately reads the current time. Simple substraction then lets the app "know" how long it's been since it last was running.

[dejo]

It's not running in the background at all. Upon exit it simply saves the current time. When you resume it, it immediately reads the current time. Simple substraction then lets the app "know" how long it's been since it last was running.
I'd guess it doesn't even save the current time upon exit, but rather saves the start time when you start the timer. Then it can always tell how much time has elapsed with even simpler subtraction.

[mkrishnan]

It does free up memory. I think that is why things speed up... because with more memory, the iPhone doesn't have to use as many page-outs.

Ahhhh, good to know. I wonder how clearing the cookies/cache/history of Safari via the Settings options to do so compares? Is that program that can monitor free memory still on the App Store? Maybe I can check it out....

[TheSpaz]

Ahhhh, good to know. I wonder how clearing the cookies/cache/history of Safari via the Settings options to do so compares? Is that program that can monitor free memory still on the App Store? Maybe I can check it out....

Yeah, it's called Free Memory and it's $.99

[agavainc]

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[iFerd]

Yeah, it's called FreeMemory and it's $.99It seems that FreeMemory's developers have released a new application called MemoryInfo that does similar work, but recovers more free memory. Since it isn't a literal update of FreeMemory, it costs another $0.99 to get it. :(

I did it anyway.

[ntrigue]

Unbelievable! This just works :) I still think a complete restart is a more dramatic speed-up but this works.

[k2dragon]

http://i34.tinypic.com/9fxkl0.png

Right. Next order of business?

What is the step by step guide to view this?
Thanks!

[Snide]

What is the step by step guide to view this?
Thanks!

http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&q=how+to+ssh+into+iphone

In short:

1. Jailbreak iPhone
2. Install OpenSSH
3. Open Terminal app on Mac, log in by typing root@(type iPhone's IP address here).
4. Type iPhone password (alpine by default).
5. Type "top" (without quotation marks).

[mdntblu]

Sorry to bring this thread back to life, but I made a new discovery. When you make a new page in Safari and close the old page and hit the home button... Safari actually QUITS completely. You know how I know? I downloaded and installed an App called Free Memory 1.4. It shows you all the running processes and when I close Safari on a blank page, it actually quits Safari. So essentially, you're getting the same results as force quitting Safari, but without actually having to force quit it.

Edit: I just hit 3,000 posts with this post.

This is true. i've had that Free Memory app for a long time and I noticed that a while back. So force quitting is essentially the same thing as opening new blank pages and the cool thing is when you force quit it then you don't loose all the websites you were on in case you look at them frequently which is what I do. And with 3.0 OS now in order to force quit something you can't just hold the HOME button anymore. You actually have to be in the app you want to force quit, hold down the lock button until you see the Red power off thing come up and then hold down the HOME button to force quit the app. Doesn't matter if you have a 3GS with Voice command or not it still has to be done this way.

Want to win lighting for your home/office? Visit http://tinyurl.com/lightmyworld and twitter away!!!

[TheSpaz]

This is true. i've had that Free Memory app for a long time and I noticed that a while back. So force quitting is essentially the same thing as opening new blank pages and the cool thing is when you force quit it then you don't loose all the websites you were on in case you look at them frequently which is what I do. And with 3.0 OS now in order to force quit something you can't just hold the HOME button anymore. You actually have to be in the app you want to force quit, hold down the lock button until you see the Red power off thing come up and then hold down the HOME button to force quit the app. Doesn't matter if you have a 3GS with Voice command or not it still has to be done this way.

Want to win lighting for your home/office? Visit http://tinyurl.com/lightmyworld and twitter away!!!

Since you brought up 3.0:

Now instead of having to make a new page and close the old one, you can just hit the new page button and the close button appears on the current page you're on... saving you a couple of steps.

[mgrant1]

Here's a few current tips of how to free up space and have a faster running iPhone.

-Follow the steps you've seen out there that advise running on at lease 500mb disk space. Turn off push services and enable fetch. Clear out that browser cache. You should see mild improvements.

-On a hacked phone, get your hands on the what are possibly the two greatest apps our there: backgrounder and kirikae. They work in tandem. Bger enables apps to run in the bg (much like native apps do by nature). It also allows you to turn off native apps running in the background. :) Kirikae enables you to switch between apps. So... You might want to jump from say Evernote to facebook. There would be enough free space to do this with no problems granted Evernote and facebook are the only apps running. Sometimes you can work in a possible 3rd of 4th app running, but then It gets a bit tired and iPhone does what it will do by nature... quitting apps. But the mere ability to put native apps to sleep is an advance in itself. :) Oh, and you ALWAYS know what app is running because you get a small badge on the corner of each app that's currently running. It's like a reminder saying, "hey, I'm using ram, if that's ok with you!" Double click your home button and a screen pops up. You now have a list of running apps displaying their icon and the option to close the running app with a tap of the screen on a little "x" just next to the icon. Sweet!

-Get your hands on an app in the app store called push gmail. It's super light and will notify you when you get a new message in your gmail account (granted, your a gmail user). This is great because you can turn off all push services in the phone, but only allow for this (light weight) app to deliver a push notification. Plus, you get notified in several different sound flavors. So you don't have to check your phone when you hear someone else's mail chime. Your chime will be custom. And, you then open your mail app so that it can then retrieve the mail you already know has arrived (you got to preview the message in the push notification pop-up).

-Now, mail and other services like safari like to run in the background. I've found that mail hardly ever wants to quit. This is because the settings in the app are geared to constantly check for new mail. Even when you close the app in backgrounder, it might want to fetch for mail an hour later and stay running once it secretly reopens. For this, there's and extra layer of protection that I stumbled across in cydia. There's an SBSetting toggle called "push mail" that will keep mail closed if you set the toggle to off. Now, when mail is closed it will stay closed.

-Finally, when all else fails, I found yet another method to free up some space. It's in SBSettings. It's called Processes. This should appear to be a toggle, but once you press the button, you are presented a small screen that resembles backgrounder's list of running apps. You may choose to close an app, or select one big button that says "free up memory." Once FUM is pressed, you can watch as the number of available MB jumps from some low number (like 10) to something smooth (like 45)... SBSettings has built within the interface a convenient view of several items such as free hard disk space, ram available and even your phones ip addresses for both wifi and data. (This is how you can watch as space is freed up). Sometimes mine reaches up to 53 MB available, and I'm flying again, all from my 2g phone. Fortunately, all iPhone models have access to these methods for freeing up ram.

Please let me know if this helps anyone. I've lived off these features for some time now, and the developers of kirakae and backgrounder have really worked in some powerful features that are very compact and lightweight and don't eat up the very ram you're trying to free up. Hats off to them for a great job. Now if you would excuse me, I've got some memory to free up!

(written in simplenote, cut and pasted into safari, running both simultaneously, switching between apps using backgrouner and kirikae).

[-aggie-]

I've seen nothing that's changed from doing this tip or the others for a non-jailbroken phone. Maybe I'm just not perceptive enough.