iPhone slows down on 4G vs Wifi

[Elrich]

My daughter has an iPhone 6 that works fine on wifi, but data slows to a crawl when she's on 4G. It takes 5 minutes to upload a photo, she says. We're trying to figure out what could be causing it. One page suggested that some app could be the culprit? Any other ideas?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

Wi-Fi can be approximately 10x as fast as 4G LTE, especially when uploading. Uploading is always far slower than downloading, at least for the majority of consumers.

You could check the battery - it's a known issue that Apple has previously throttled performance when Battery Health is not at normal peak performance. That could definitely slow things down a bit.

How to check battery health and disable iPhone battery performance throttling in iOS 11.3

See if that could be part of the cause other than the above speed differences.

C

 

[Elrich]

Thanks! It turns out to be the "Battery's health is significantly degraded" option. Well, she's been pestering us for a new phone anyway....!

 

[Allen Davis]

Thanks! It turns out to be the "Battery's health is significantly degraded" option. Well, she's been pestering us for a new phone anyway....!

I gave my iPhone 6 to my Mom when I bought a new XR earlier this year. It was her first smartphone, and now she's in love with it, and every time I go for a visit, she has lots of questions, and loves to show off her new-found skills that she's picked up on her own.

But her battery is now degrading, and I offered to get her a newer iPhone, but she wants nothing of it. She'd prefer driving the 75-mile round trip to the Apple store and pay them $79 for a new battery.

Given the quality of Apple's hardware, it's certainly an option to consider, even though the plain Jane iPhone 6 won't upgrade to iOS 13 when it's released. Nonetheless, the iPhone 6 still has plenty of life left in it. And I'm certain Apple will continue to offer iOS 12 security upgrades if they're needed. They've supported older operating systems in that manner before, and I'm sure they will continue to do so.