Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

tl01

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
2,350
649
I bought my son an iPad mini 4 when it came out. It seems slow now...like some apps take quite a bit of time to open. How can I tell if it is performing normally...or maybe I need to erase it and start fresh? The current iPad mini is still the same right? I haven’t heard of the battery issue affecting iPads right?
 
There is a chance that it could have a virus, but only if you downloaded some type of sketchy software. If there are no important files on the iPad I would reset it and start over. If it is still relatively new it should not be experiencing battery issues.
 
It’s a device with an old CPU. That’s why it’s slow.

I got iOS 11 on my Mini 4 and the animations for navigating the OS are choppy as a hell.
 
iOS 11 is a shocker in terms of animations. Its choppy, jittery and laggy at times even on the iPad Pro 10.5.

A fresh install can help, as can turning off certain settings such as background app refresh etc.
 
There is a chance that it could have a virus, but only if you downloaded some type of sketchy software. If there are no important files on the iPad I would reset it and start over. If it is still relatively new it should not be experiencing battery issues.
If it has a Virus - there's no need to reset it & start over (haven't you seen the emoji movie - think of the children!), simply keep it nicely wrapped up in bed for a few days & it should pass - if the symptoms persist please contact your Doctor.......... Sorry, couldn't resist!

I have a mini 4 & did a fresh wipe & install when os11 came out & it runs absolutely fine. So as @TekAdvice suggests I would reset & start over.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RevTEG
you did not say which iOS version you are on, I assume 11. There are reports of slowness, but also many owners say that it does work fine. When you got it soon after release it has been in use for more than 2 years and the iOS has been updated several times. Depending on the intensity of app installation and data transfer it may be useful to try a fresh install after this time.

The iPad mini 4 ist still "current", the debate is on if there will be a successor or not. About viruses, I do not think that iPads can get any. And to my knowledge the battery issue is restricted to iPhone.
 
Agree with the above, if it’s on iOS 11, that’s just the way it is. I have an iPad mini 4, and it is much slower on iOS 11 than it was on iOS 10. And it happens in the same way you describe, delays in opening apps, etc. once an app is open, it’s generally fine but the large delays are mostly in opening apps.
 
I bought my son an iPad mini 4 when it came out. It seems slow now...like some apps take quite a bit of time to open. How can I tell if it is performing normally...or maybe I need to erase it and start fresh? The current iPad mini is still the same right? I haven’t heard of the battery issue affecting iPads right?
Run Geekbench 4 or Antutu and compare results with the norm for iPad mini 4.

That said, I expect that's just crud built up and the Apple A8 showing its age. The A8X (Air 2) is significantly faster than the regular A8 particularly when it comes to GPU (so animations) and multi-core performance. I've always had Reduce Motion enabled on all my devices ever since it was introduced on iOS 7.0.3 (iirc).
 
My Mini 4 still runs smoothly and I didn’t experience any slowdowns with iOS 11. I would do a factory reset and restore using iTunes. There could be a rogue app using cpu cycles or “crud” built up from updating over the air. Don’t listen to the people that say the A8 is old and slow and that’s just the way it is... it’s not true.
 
My Mini 4 still runs smoothly and I didn’t experience any slowdowns with iOS 11. I would do a factory reset and restore using iTunes. There could be a rogue app using cpu cycles or “crud” built up from updating over the air. Don’t listen to the people that say the A8 is old and slow and that’s just the way it is... it’s not true.
It really depends on one's tolerance level. For some, the iPad mini 4 might deliver acceptable performance on iOS 11. For others, it may not.

Kinda like an unthrottled iPhone 6. Some might find replacing the battery on the iPhone 6 boosts performance sufficiently to handle iOS 11 well while others might consider it to be too slow, still.

Heck, I had to disable ProMotion on the iPad Pro 12.9 because after I used it for two weeks, the Pro 9.7 UI felt laggy (without installing any iOS updates or anything). It was entirely perception after getting used to the faster frame rates. With ProMotion off, the Pro 9.7 (and even the Air 2) feels just as fast as the Pro 12.9.
 
iPad Mini 4 comes with the A8 processor, originally released in 2014. Add in Apple's yearly OS "support" - expect it to be slow and get worse from here on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RevTEG
It really depends on one's tolerance level. For some, the iPad mini 4 might deliver acceptable performance on iOS 11. For others, it may not.

Kinda like an unthrottled iPhone 6. Some might find replacing the battery on the iPhone 6 boosts performance sufficiently to handle iOS 11 well while others might consider it to be too slow, still.

Heck, I had to disable ProMotion on the iPad Pro 12.9 because after I used it for two weeks, the Pro 9.7 UI felt laggy (without installing any iOS updates or anything). It was entirely perception after getting used to the faster frame rates. With ProMotion off, the Pro 9.7 (and even the Air 2) feels just as fast as the Pro 12.9.
I just find it strange that I've never experienced choppy or lag issues with my Mini 4 and performance seems as smooth as the day I bought it (with iOS 9) while others complain that it is practically unusable with iOS 11. Makes me think that those with issues either have a screwed up install (during one update something went screwy with exchange making email keep the cpu pinned all the time leading to poor performance and terrible battery life so I certainly can relate to things going sideways after an update) or rogue apps causing issues. That said I do turn off background update for most apps unless it absolutely needs to be on for the app to function as intended.

I would believe that the 6/+ might be starting to show it's age (even with a new battery) due to limited ram, but the A8, despite being almost 2.5 years old, is not very far behind the latest android phones in performance and (with proper optimization) modern Android phones can be quite snappy. Heck, I have an old iPhone 5c that I still occasionally use as an iPod and with it's old A6 it still feels pretty smooth (on iOS 10 of course).
 
  • Like
Reactions: hanser
There is a chance that it could have a virus, but only if you downloaded some type of sketchy software. If there are no important files on the iPad I would reset it and start over. If it is still relatively new it should not be experiencing battery issues.

I've never heard of an un-jailbroken iOS device having a virus.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RevTEG
There is a chance that it could have a virus, but only if you downloaded some type of sketchy software. If there are no important files on the iPad I would reset it and start over. If it is still relatively new it should not be experiencing battery issues.

Hogwash.

Yes, a restore will very likely fix the problem but the problem is definitely not a virus.
 
My mini 4 is at 10.3.2 and is running just as fine as the day I bought it. If the OP is running theirs at 11, then perhaps wiping it out and setting as new will help.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RevTEG
I just find it strange that I've never experienced choppy or lag issues with my Mini 4 and performance seems as smooth as the day I bought it (with iOS 9) while others complain that it is practically unusable with iOS 11. Makes me think that those with issues either have a screwed up install (during one update something went screwy with exchange making email keep the cpu pinned all the time leading to poor performance and terrible battery life so I certainly can relate to things going sideways after an update) or rogue apps causing issues. That said I do turn off background update for most apps unless it absolutely needs to be on for the app to function as intended.

I would believe that the 6/+ might be starting to show it's age (even with a new battery) due to limited ram, but the A8, despite being almost 2.5 years old, is not very far behind the latest android phones in performance and (with proper optimization) modern Android phones can be quite snappy. Heck, I have an old iPhone 5c that I still occasionally use as an iPod and with it's old A6 it still feels pretty smooth (on iOS 10 of course).
I’ve only had my mini for a few days but so far it’s been pretty smooth. It’s not as fast as my iPad Pro 10.5 or my iPhone X but it’s still plenty fast. I had a 6 plus and used it for a year. By the end of the first year the lack of ram was really obvious. I agree that the mini does better for having an extra gig of ram.

I have a kids kindle fire at home that we purchased for my 19 month old for Christmas which has the same specs as the 7 and 8 inch kindle fires for adults. The mini 4 runs a hell of a lot better than that. The fact is if you want a small tablet the mini 4 is the best you can get if you don’t have a preference for android. Most of the smaller android tablets that have been released in the past year are running on budget specs. Samsung’s best small android tablet was released in 2015 and is a rehash of the same tablet they brought out the year before. It will never see Android Oreo let alone android P.
 
As others have said, iOS 11 is power hungry, however one important element here is how much disk space is left. That wasn't mentioned. If if the iPad is full it will really get sluggish. Delete some apps, pics etc if thats the case and it should be fine. Both my kids have the same iPad and have zero issues. They are plenty fast and running up to date iOS.
 
There is a chance that it could have a virus, but only if you downloaded some type of sketchy software. If there are no important files on the iPad I would reset it and start over. If it is still relatively new it should not be experiencing battery issues.
To be clear for the benefit of those who might not know, there are zero viruses in the wild that can infect iOS. Any app you can download from the App Store is also virus-free. If a device is jailbroken, that's a different story, but the OP didn't indicate jailbreaking. As others have said, iOS 11 runs slower on iOS devices than earlier versions.
 
To be clear for the benefit of those who might not know, there are zero viruses in the wild that can infect iOS. Any app you can download from the App Store is also virus-free. If a device is jailbroken, that's a different story, but the OP didn't indicate jailbreaking. As others have said, iOS 11 runs slower on iOS devices than earlier versions.
That is correct.

On a slightly different note, there is malicious software out in the wild that can attack and infiltrate an iOS device. That type of software runs on other systems and seeks out devices to penetrate. That is different than a virus installed on the device itself.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.