iPad mini Extremely slow iPad mini gen 4 after disk is 100% full

[kave]

I had my iPad mini gen 4 64GB repaired at Apple so I got a refurbished device.
When I started it I restored from my iPad Pro 256 GB backup, resulting in the Mini became full. I erased lots of apps and data etc, but still with 32GB free its extremely slow. Updates, reboots etc, still just to get the keyboard to switch from letters to numbers takes three seconds.
I will now restore it as new, even disabling iCloud backup seems to take 10 minutes.
I will report back here with my findings.

 

[ericwn]

I’d also have taken the route of a clean install with no backup re-applied, that should improve things.

 

[jwolf6589]

I had my iPad mini gen 4 64GB repaired at Apple so I got a refurbished device.
When I started it I restored from my iPad Pro 256 GB backup, resulting in the Mini became full. I erased lots of apps and data etc, but still with 32GB free its extremely slow. Updates, reboots etc, still just to get the keyboard to switch from letters to numbers takes three seconds.
I will now restore it as new, even disabling iCloud backup seems to take 10 minutes.
I will report back here with my findings.

I had the gen 4 but upgraded to the 5 and believe me it’s much much faster! I was having speed issues with the 4 so the 5 is much nicer.

 

[eelpout]

The iPad Mini 4 is pretty marginal and slow at this point. IMO there just isn't enough RAM (2 GB) for the last version of iPadOS (15) that was released for it. If it had even 3GB of RAM I think it would still be fine, but that's not the way Apple does things.

 

[rui no onna]

The iPad Mini 4 is pretty marginal and slow at this point. IMO there just isn't enough RAM (2 GB) for the last version of iPadOS (15) that was released for it. If it had even 3GB of RAM I think it would still be fine, but that's not the way Apple does things.

Nah. That A8 is just way too slow at this point.

It’s around 1/5 the performance of the M1 in single-core, 1/10 in multi-core and around 1/40 in GPU compute. Even compared to the 2019 mini 5 (A12), it’s 1/3 single, 1/4 multi and 1/10 compute.

 

[Digitalguy]

The OP never reported back, but my guess is that the issue was not storage. One possible issue was the upgrade to iPadOS 15. My mini 4 was decent until IOS 12, started slowing down with 13 and was almost killed by 14. Mini 5 is 4 generations newer, so not even close...

 

[SeenJeen]

I have a fresh install on an 4th gen Mini. It's slow, especially for browser tasks. Definitely past it's prime.

 

[kave]

Reporting back. A restore made it much better, but still is so slow, I guess its ipad OS 15 to blame. Basic use was never a problem during its first years. I actually had a loaner new mini gen 6, but that felt choppy compared to my current gen iPad pro m1. Thats why I decided to repair/exchange the mini 4, but for the price I payed to apple it was not worth it. I somehow forgot how dam old this device was.
Sidenote, I sometimes bring out my first gen ipad, it still feels faster with iOS 7 or whatever that runs.

 

[ratsg]

there really needs to be a way to get back to older releases. Yea, security, ......

At least an older device can be usable for some things.

 

[eelpout]

Nah. That A8 is just way too slow at this point.

It’s around 1/5 the performance of the M1 in single-core, 1/10 in multi-core and around 1/40 in GPU compute. Even compared to the 2019 mini 5 (A12), it’s 1/3 single, 1/4 multi and 1/10 compute.

The OP never reported back, but my guess is that the issue was not storage. One possible issue was the upgrade to iPadOS 15. My mini 4 was decent until IOS 12, started slowing down with 13 and was almost killed by 14. Mini 5 is 4 generations newer, so not even close...

Yep. Had the same experience. iOS 15 was something I wished I had never upgraded the Mini 4 to. 😄

Anecdotally, I have an old Huawei Android tablet from around the same era. It came with 4GB of RAM and still works great.

 

[kave]

Yep. Had the same experience. iOS 15 was something I wished I had never upgraded the Mini 4 to. 😄

Anecdotally, I have an old Huawei Android tablet from around the same era. It came with 4GB of RAM and still works great.

So getting NO updates is an actual advantage for the Android OS . Security etc crap but great performance.

 

[rui no onna]

Yep. Had the same experience. iOS 15 was something I wished I had never upgraded the Mini 4 to. 😄

Anecdotally, I have an old Huawei Android tablet from around the same era. It came with 4GB of RAM and still works great.

Lol, I kept my iPad 4 on iOS 6 for the longest time. UI and apps were smooth/responsive.

It was pretty crap for web browsing though (slow rendering and lotsa webpage incompatibilities).