iPad Pro How to regain performance on 4th Gen Ipad Pro

[destroyfish]

My wife uses an iPad Pro often for Procreate and Illustrator. She's had it for about 3 years now and her complaint is that it is not performing like it use to. There is a huge delay when it comes to drawing. Now I don't use Apple, I am a PC guy. My analysis is that maybe her thermal paste is gone bad and dried out. That's just my quick assumption. Background apps are good, restarted the device, barely any storage used (100gb out of 512), I don't know how else to explain why the performance could be bad due to my limited experience with apple.

With that said, I'm no stranger to tech repair, is that a common culprit with iPad Pros? or is there something else software/firmware that is beyond our control in terms of performance?

 

[Bigwaff]

Is she using an Apple Pencil or 3rd party stylus?

 

[rui no onna]

Likely software/firmware getting more bloated.

Personally, I've usually found doing erase all content and settings, and keeping apps and other content to a minimum helps with performance on older devices.

 

[mr_jomo]

Likely software/firmware getting more bloated.

Personally, I've usually found doing erase all content and settings, and keeping apps and other content to a minimum helps with performance on older devices.

Adding +1 to recommendation above: we regularly erase and reset our kids' iPads ... that brings performance right back up

 

[destroyfish]

Is she using an Apple Pencil or 3rd party stylus?

She's using the second gen apple pencil, she did buy aftermarket tips could that really cause this though?

 

[destroyfish]

Likely software/firmware getting more bloated.

Personally, I've usually found doing erase all content and settings, and keeping apps and other content to a minimum helps with performance on older devices.

I tried recommending that, on a side note, what is the best way to back up EVERYTHING on the iPad (or any apple product for that matter). I am not familiar with apple so I'm not sure, she is just deathly afraid she will erase a photo or something that she will never get back.

 

[mr_jomo]

iPad and iPhone: iCloud backup

 

[rui no onna]

I tried recommending that, on a side note, what is the best way to back up EVERYTHING on the iPad (or any apple product for that matter). I am not familiar with apple so I'm not sure, she is just deathly afraid she will erase a photo or something that she will never get back.

Encrypted iTunes backup via PC. On a Mac, I think you use Finder for backups. Note, if she has apps that have been completely removed from the App Store, there’s no restoring those anymore unless she uses a third party app like iMazing for backing up apps.

Personally, I just rely on iCloud syncing (photos, files, keychain, bookmarks, contacts, messages, etc) instead of restoring from backup when it’s performance I’m after. Granted, that was on really old devices like iPad 3, 4, Air & Air 2 so the leaner the better.

 

[Bigwaff]

She's using the second gen apple pencil, she did buy aftermarket tips could that really cause this though?

You only mention drawing performance which is distinctly related to the pencil or stylus.

 

[Digitalguy]

There is no such thing as thermal paste in an iPad, and there is no hardware reason for any slowdown (other than a pencil tip). I would back-up, then set up the iPad as new (no restore) and try if it lags. The restore, and if it lags after restore it's some software issue, which means you have to resent it again and set up like new....

 

[Isamilis]

Another thing is iPadOS version. The original version came with the iPad (14?) is snappier than the latest one - for sure. Also the apps themselves are kept updating which make them slower and bloated.

 

[Digitalguy]

Another thing is iPadOS version. The original version came with the iPad (14?) is snappier than the latest one - for sure. Also the apps themselves are kept updating which make them slower and bloated.

Honestly I can't tell any difference in performance between iPadOS 14, 15, 16 or 17 on something with A12X or newer, even with just 4GB RAM, let alone 6GB. Difference in RAM usage, yeah, a little bit, not much, but not something you can see with 6GB RAM (on 4GB RAM device you can feel it, but it's minimal). And I wouldn't assume that updating apps will make them slower unless it because of increased RAM usage on a low RAM device, which is not the case here.
So I wouldn't consider any of this to make any difference (that can be realistically perceived) on a 4th gen pro.

 

[Isamilis]

Honestly I can't tell any difference in performance between iPadOS 14, 15, 16 or 17 on something with A12X or newer, even with just 4GB RAM, let alone 6GB. Difference in RAM usage, yeah, a little bit, not much, but not something you can see with 6GB RAM (on 4GB RAM device you can feel it, but it's minimal). And I wouldn't assume that updating apps will make them slower unless it because of increased RAM usage on a low RAM device, which is not the case here.
So I wouldn't consider any of this to make any difference (that can be realistically perceived) on a 4th gen pro.

From my (limited) experience, my iPad Pro 2020 with iPadOS 14 is noticeably snappier than the M1 Pro with version 16. Old version is not good for security (and compatibility) but that’s another thing.

 

[hippopotamusglorypig]

There is no such thing as thermal paste in an iPad, and there is no hardware reason for any slowdown (other than a pencil tip). I would back-up, then set up the iPad as new (no restore) and try if it lags. The restore, and if it lags after restore it's some software issue, which means you have to resent it again and set up like new....

An iPad requires thermal paste. As do most things with any kind of processor.

 

[destroyfish]

You only mention drawing performance which is distinctly related to the pencil or stylus.

Drawing performance is most notable as with menial tasks such as messenger, surfing the web or streaming, those aren't very intensive processes. So it's hard to gauge if it is a software, hardware, or io problem; however she did state that even with an official pencil, even just regular use of those programs, there is a notable lag in performance that even I recognize.

With that said, I do see everyone's comments and it seems like apple is just terrible with operative system updates and its just easier to wipe the iPad as new and just restore thing slowly. WHICH IS RIDICULOUS IMO, but gotta do what I have to do.

My attempt at the solution; please correct me if I screw up a step.
1. Connect iPad to PC, run iTunes.
2. Use the default My Device back up through iTunes? That way there is some metadata stored on my PC that can restore everything (can't do iCloud because of financial responsibilities so saving things there is inconsistent).
3. Wipe the drive (with a clean conscious that everything is saved)
4. From there I have to start ALL OVER AGAIN, don't restore, but rather install what is required and recover only what is necessary? Is there a way to do this from the iTunes Back up? or is it only a complete system backup, I can't pick and choose specifically what I want to recover?

 

[Digitalguy]

From my (limited) experience, my iPad Pro 2020 with iPadOS 14 is noticeably snappier than the M1 Pro with version 16. Old version is not good for security (and compatibility) but that’s another thing.

My iPad pro M1 is way faster than my iPad pro 2018 with iPadOS 15 and 16 (I have several) and they are no slower than they were with 14. So very different experience.
I am curious to know if anyone has an experience like yours, which is very surprising and should not the case

 

[Digitalguy]

An iPad requires thermal paste. As do most things with any kind of processor.

good to know, but since iPads are tightly sealed ,if they are not opened it's unlikely thermal paste would dry

 

[Digitalguy]

Drawing performance is most notable as with menial tasks such as messenger, surfing the web or streaming, those aren't very intensive processes. So it's hard to gauge if it is a software, hardware, or io problem; however she did state that even with an official pencil, even just regular use of those programs, there is a notable lag in performance that even I recognize.

With that said, I do see everyone's comments and it seems like apple is just terrible with operative system updates and its just easier to wipe the iPad as new and just restore thing slowly. WHICH IS RIDICULOUS IMO, but gotta do what I have to do.

My attempt at the solution; please correct me if I screw up a step.
1. Connect iPad to PC, run iTunes.
2. Use the default My Device back up through iTunes? That way there is some metadata stored on my PC that can restore everything (can't do iCloud because of financial responsibilities so saving things there is inconsistent).
3. Wipe the drive (with a clean conscious that everything is saved)
4. From there I have to start ALL OVER AGAIN, don't restore, but rather install what is required and recover only what is necessary? Is there a way to do this from the iTunes Back up? or is it only a complete system backup, I can't pick and choose specifically what I want to recover?

you cannot pick and choose, and you cannot go back with updates, but if there is some apps or settings slowing down the device, starting from scratch (no restore) may solve the issue, and if it does not solve you can at least restore as it is now...

 

[Bigwaff]

Drawing performance is most notable as with menial tasks such as messenger, surfing the web or streaming, those aren't very intensive processes.

Sorry to dwell but does this statement imply the pencil is being used to perform the same touch interactions as one’s finger tips (normal stuff) as opposed to being used explicitly within an app for drawing activities? If so, is the same performance issues occurring when using one’s finger tips?

Sluggish touch screen on iPad Pro - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[hippopotamusglorypig]

good to know, but since iPads are tightly sealed ,if they are not opened it's unlikely thermal paste would dry

Thermal paste dries due to heat cycles, not the seal of the device. I agree that the thermal paste is not likely the problem here, though.

 

[Tsepz]

My wife uses an iPad Pro often for Procreate and Illustrator. She's had it for about 3 years now and her complaint is that it is not performing like it use to. There is a huge delay when it comes to drawing. Now I don't use Apple, I am a PC guy. My analysis is that maybe her thermal paste is gone bad and dried out. That's just my quick assumption. Background apps are good, restarted the device, barely any storage used (100gb out of 512), I don't know how else to explain why the performance could be bad due to my limited experience with apple.

With that said, I'm no stranger to tech repair, is that a common culprit with iPad Pros? or is there something else software/firmware that is beyond our control in terms of performance?

Is her iPad Pro on iPad OS 16?
I found iPad OS 16 had some slowing down/glitching at times on my 2020 iPad Pro on some of the iPad OS 16 releases, I have been on iPad OS 17 Public Beta since Beta 2 and seen a nice performance bump that has been more stable and consistent with each release, but I wouldn’t recommend she does that until the official iPad OS 17 is out in the next few weeks.

Something was off in some of the iPad OS 16 releases, I am not sure what Apple were doing, on 17 my iPad Pro feels similar to what it was brand new.

Another thing that was an utter mess on iPad OS 16 was Stage Manager, with it activated sometimes the performance on the iPad Pro would be impacted, now in 17 it feels fluid and consistent.

 

[TAJones99]

I just gave my 2020 iPad Pro 12.9 to my sister, I honestly didn’t see any issues with performance. The only reason I got rid of it I found a good deal on the M1 iPad 256. It came with the Logitech keyboard, and a fully case for $860. And the best part was it”s less than a year old.