If this is something you really want to do, create the virtual home button as someone else suggested. I did that on the previous iPad Pro for convenience mostly, it was easier to reach on that big screen than the physical one, it can be positioned almost anywhere. Once you’ve done that go into settings and at the bottom of the General screen use the Shut Down option. When the slider appears press and hold the virtual home button as you did on your previous device. There have been several articles written that you must do this using the Shut Down from Settings and not from the buttons or it won’t do what you want. Whether you need to clear the ram or not you can follow the debate here or elsewhere.
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New iPad Pro’s, clearing what little ram we got
- Thread starter jsmith1
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Maybe you didn’t understand the post....this is NOT last years Pro but the 9.7 Pro from 2016 with 2gb of ram, again NOT last years....I’ve said this so many times what model I’m using and still so many don’t get it....I’ve had many problems with the ram on that model...AGAIN...NOT lasts year model...if I had had that model I wouldn’t have wasted money getting this years with the SAME amount of ram...whew amazing that so many can’t comprehend that I’m NOT talking about last years model
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Why release a NEW product with same component of last year...at these prices, there should have been a ram upgrade regardless of wether you might need it or not....plain and simple we were used by speed upgrade to hopefully not question it......I don’t know about you but when I go buy something NEW, I want it NEW, not leftover from the shelves.
Maybe lots here like buying new and getting partial...I don’t at least for premium prices
My comments apply to all iPad models, and I have had almost every one since the iPad was released. Obviously the latest models are orders of magnitude faster. Making the statement "my iPad is slow, I need more ram" seems to me to be a bit simplistic. There are a lot of reasons that things could slow down, ram usage being just one factor.
Speaking just of Safari, I have seen instances where out of control web pages (maybe due to poorly constructed ads) take HUGE amounts of memory. In one case a webpage on my iMac used 35 GB of ram. Another time on a different system it took so much memory that it actually crashed my system. (The problems went away when I installed adblock plus). This wasn't a problem of not having enough ram (I still had a lot available in the first case), but an issue of a poorly constructed web page and some kind of run-away process. If this happened on an iPad I could certainly see that there would be a problem.
As for "dumping pages", do you mean that when you re-open a tab the page is reloaded?
Normally one would examine the running processes at the time the iPad slows down in order to diagnose the problem. I vaguely remember using System Status Pro to look at running processes, but I don't see that option in the current version. It does show usage (wired, active, inactive), page ins/outs, purges, reactivated, etc. It would take some work to take snapshots at multiple times (when having problems/when not) in order to determine whether inadequate ram was a problem, or something else.
It is a bit unclear to me the meaning of programs closing, in the first quote. I confess I do not understand exactly what happens when you switch tasks on "active" processes. An earlier post states that happens when the iPad needed to purge that applications memory. But that's not always the case. On some apps, such as 1Password and some others that I have, they always start up from scratch and you have to login again. It certainly looks as if this is an issue as to how the programs were written, rather than an issue of the iPad "closing" them.
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So, maybe you don’t buy it then. There’s 4GB of RAM because quite simply, 4GB of RAM is quite a lot for iOS and if there was 6GB, or more, you’d be paying a higher price. Is that simple.
This is true. I agree with you. In my case (completely different) I have a regular 2018 iPad with 2 GB RAM. I installed monitoring program and I could see that the RAM was always on 95 % usage while the processor was on 30 %. That pretty much tells the story. In my case while the processor is powerful the device can't use it because of the insufficient RAM.
That is in general true but in my case I visit the same sort of pages in around 50 % of my time on my phone (Android phone with 4 GB RAM using Chrome), my laptop (Windows machine with 8 GB RAM on Chrome) and my iPad (both Safari and Chrome). iPad is the only one that had issues loading those type of sites and reloading them so I would say it's not about the site itself. In my opinion it's about the RAM and the actual memory management in iOS.
I can't say about others, but yeah for me this is what happens regularly. Both on Safari and Chrome. And it's not about time either. I can look at site in Safari then go to another app and go back in say 5 minutes in Safari and the tab gets reloaded.
I wasn’t going to bother, but as I need to take my mind off the fact I’ve just dropped my mum off at hospital for a serious operation... What the heck.
I will say first of all, yes, these days 4GB of RAM in iOS is without doubt preferable, you’re not wrong there.
However, I just wanted to clear up the CPU/RAM issue for people who maybe don’t know so much about computers as you or I do.
The main thing is that, yes, while being RAM locked can slow down the system. Just seeing that a processor isn’t operating at full speed, while your RAM is almost full, doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem. It’s entirely how a computer is supposed to work, when it’s working properly.
RAM, as we all no doubt know by now, is where temporary information used by the computer is stored. A computer is designed to use as much RAM as it has available, as it needs it.
It’s also not uncommon for information to remain in memory after you’re finished with it. The computer holds it there until either you need to use it again, or, another process requires the memory.
The processor on the other hand, is the brain, it computes the information sent to it and spits out the results to your screen/disk/printer/whatever. It holds information in RAM because it’s faster to access it there than it is to pull it from a hard drive, or solid state memory, which is different from RAM.
It’s entirely possible to have your processor running at 100% capacity, while using only 10% of your available RAM. It’s not so much the amount of information, as how complex the math is. Really complex mathematical processes, such as a 3D game with complex AI, requires more from the processor than say, writing a letter. (He said staying the obvious
)Conversely, your processor can be essentially idling using single digit percentages of its capabilities, while your RAM can be full to bursting.
As I say, that’s just how they’re designed to work. Yes, without a question of a doubt more RAM is better. However that also depends on the operating system in use.
What iOS is especially good at is managing memory. it will of course use as much as it has available, if it needs to, just as with any other computer. But the memory management in iOS is very, very good at freeing up resources if another app needs it to keep overall system performance as high as possible.
That unfortunately is where the reloading/refreshing comes in.
iOS will keep as much information in memory as possible for your apps, especially the currently active one. However when you switch to a different app, it becomes the one with the highest priority, so if it needs to use more memory than is free, iOS will take it from one of your suspended apps.
So at the end of the day, more RAM in iOS will allow you to keep more apps in the suspended state, or fewer apps for longer, which is never a bad thing. But that, as I say is the thing I’m getting at.
Yes, more memory is better, always, but the relationship between the memory and the cpu isn’t quite so simple as it seems. Having the cpu low and memory full is neither bad, nor unusual, it’s just how computers work.
When you’re looking at a monitoring program for instance, it does give you information on the system as it happens. However iOS in this regard is very different to other systems. Unless you’re running many programs in the background, of which there are very few allowed on iOS. What it’s saying is, the memory is full but the monitoring app and background processes aren’t taxing the system. Which is why the CPU is so low.
If you were to do the exact same, but say, stream a video in a window at the same time. You should see the cpu use rise at least a little.
As a test I closed my ~55 apps, leaving just Safari and System Status Pro. I had 163 MB of free memory. I deleted 50 tabs out of the 110 I had open in Safari and the free memory only went up to ~225 MB. I then deleted 25 more tabs and free memory went to 1 GB. Waited a few minutes and free memory dropped back to 185 MB. Deleted more tabs, 10 remaining, until memory was up to 1.5 GB free (out of 4 GB). Refreshed all the tabs, memory down to 740 MB, but kept changing going down as far as 489 MB. Now when I hit a tab it does not reload.
Conclusions:
Closing some tabs releases much more memory than others. The first 50 tabs really didn't release that much, but the next 25 released almost 750 MB of memory, which was re-used rather quickly. So there evidently was some web page that was using a lot of memory.
At this point, with 10 tabs and ~500 MB free, tabs are not re-loading.
Looking at memory prices for a MacBook air, an extra 8 GB of memory is going to cost you $200. There are a lot of posts complaining about how expensive the iPad has become. If you added that much to the base $799 iPad Pro, $873.91 with California tax, that brings the cost to $1073, $1237 with cellular. I realize that these are very rough numbers, but is it really worth spending >$1K just to avoid the minor inconvenience of having to wait a second to have a page reload? There is a simple workaround, just don't keep that many tabs, or memory intensive tabs, open ....
Conclusions:
Closing some tabs releases much more memory than others. The first 50 tabs really didn't release that much, but the next 25 released almost 750 MB of memory, which was re-used rather quickly. So there evidently was some web page that was using a lot of memory.
At this point, with 10 tabs and ~500 MB free, tabs are not re-loading.
Looking at memory prices for a MacBook air, an extra 8 GB of memory is going to cost you $200. There are a lot of posts complaining about how expensive the iPad has become. If you added that much to the base $799 iPad Pro, $873.91 with California tax, that brings the cost to $1073, $1237 with cellular. I realize that these are very rough numbers, but is it really worth spending >$1K just to avoid the minor inconvenience of having to wait a second to have a page reload? There is a simple workaround, just don't keep that many tabs, or memory intensive tabs, open ....
There is plenty of RAM in the new iPad's and last years too. Geez, iOS works so well that there is almost too much RAM. Why do some people diss everything, especiallly when they are clueless?
You think Samsung puts 6GB in the S9+ just to have it? Or that it's memory management is inferior? I do see myself using more than 4GB on it and 6GB Note. It also will get used when in DeX mode.
Apple's suspended apps are, coming from S9 and Note, noticeable. There are burps and tiny "hangs" or choppy response. Maybe Stingray vs Jaguar?
Apple's suspended apps are, coming from S9 and Note, noticeable. There are burps and tiny "hangs" or choppy response. Maybe Stingray vs Jaguar?
Just out of curiosity, if you know for sure you wouldn't buy the 11 inch if you had a 10.5, then why buy the 11 inch now for $800 when the 10.5 is $500?
I hope that everything is OK with your mum!
Yeah. In general I am not a phone of putting RAM just for the sake of it. For example I don't care having 8 GB RAM for phone you know. For iPad and tablet I care, for phones not. It all comes down to the way I plan to use the device.
Thanks a lot for making that post. It was for sure interesting read for me and I am sure for others as well!
I would not call it a problem so much than it makes me asking how the device would perform with the same CPU and more RAM you know. However that's just me. Most people don't monitor their RAM and CPU usage on their devices, but I do it constantly.
It’s entirely possible to have your processor running at 100% capacity, while using only 10% of your available RAM. It’s not so much the amount of information, as how complex the math is. Really complex mathematical processes, such as a 3D game with complex AI, requires more from the processor than say, writing a letter. (He said staying the obvious
That's true but for me what matters is the general usage you know. Like having 5 % cases where CPU is at 30 % and RAM is at 90 % or vice versa is OK. If that happens in 95 % of the cases however for me there is an issue. It's not so much about the CPU itself or the RAM itself it's about the configuration. I don't see a point in paying a lot for CPU if for some reason the device won't ever use it. Same for RAM. With desktop computers I can configure it the way I want it. With laptops I can choose the CPU (not changeable) and then choose a laptop that allows RAM change. It's more future proof and I know what I am paying for. Usually more RAM or more powerful CPU has impact on the battery so I would consider this as well. Like I can have up to 32 GB RAM on my laptop but I don't have it because I don't need it right now. It would only drain the battery. The moment I need it though I will upgrade it.
See I think that iOS is good in memory management in the sense of apps not crashing on you. However it does it at the expense of something else - apps getting reloaded all the time. I dislike both which is why I believe that they should not do 2 GB iPads anymore. Now of course I knew what I was paying for. However I would like an iPad with my CPU (A10X I think it is) with 4 GB RAM. I don't need A12X as there are no iOS apps for me that I can use with that CPU. I do need more RAM though. This is why I like desktop computers and laptops. I can play with configuration more to make sure that my needs are met.
Thanks for explaining that! It totally makes sense. However it's still a bit annoying to me because to me it looks like if I buy iPad Pro 3rd gen I would pay a lot for CPU that I won't use and RAM that I will use to its full potential. Now with iOS memory management you would not experience apps crashing, but you will experience reloads. And the more apps you have, the more reloads you will experience. Apps reload for me is equivalent to bad user experience. It's just the way I feel as an user.
Yes, for me as I have said and I suspect the majority of users paying for the CPU trying to make up the justification for price, and not needed as much as a more balanced setup.
Apps reload are one thing but when your page keeps reloading as you try and read and scroll, it’s a REALLY bad experience.
I would much rather have options for that kind of money as well.
Here's how you do it on the iOS devices with no Home button:
https://www.iphonelife.com/content/how-to-make-your-iphone-faster-clearing-ram
It's worked for me, for example, when I find that web pages aren't loading or email isn't downloading. I set my Max's power button so that when I triple click the Accessibility button appears/disappears.
I'll leave it to others as to whether or not it's a good idea.
- You realize you yourself purchased an iPad, as you say pro 2016, that had the same amount of ram as an iPad (the air 2) released clear back in 2014? So easy on the unfounded righteous indignation
- By your logic of Apple needs to add more RAM every year whether users need it or not? 2010 started out with 256, 2011 would be 512...so 2018 would be well into the double digits, costing A LOT of money. Hmmm
- Not every part in every computing device (or car, or many other consumer products) is new and improved every year. That would be crazy.
- If you have enough RAM, you don't need more RAM. 2 GB of RAM in an iPad in 2018, in my opinion, is not enough ram for a lot of use cases, but those looking for a budget device give up a lot of specs to get that budget device, including RAM. I agree though that being a PRO, the 2016 should have had more RAM too. I understand your concern given your experience.
- In 2018, 4GB of RAM is enough for all iPads being sold if they don't have a 1TB drive requiring more RAM for operation (the reason the 1TB models have more RAM...if Apple could have efficiently used 5GB RAM in those models they probably would have, but jumping up to 6 to accommodate the over 0.5GB that is required by the 1TB made better sense given chip availability)
In a way they may appear to, but it isn't tied to RAM. If your internet connection is slow, or your webpage inundated with numerous and large ads, it can feel like the page is reloading because it pushes you up or down the page as the ads load.
But you are correct, in general pages don't actually reload as you are reading them unless you hit refresh.
Is this what is happening?
Er, why do you need more RAM if you increase the "disk" size?
There needs to be a certain amount of RAM allocated / buffer to interfacing with the data storage (the amount of disk space). To protect read/write speeds, efficiently interact with the disk, etc. that amount of RAM allocated increases as the storage eize increases. So the requirements of RAM are greater on the 1 TB model than the others just to have it keep up. It is very likely not 2 GBs more of a requirement, I think I've seen half a gig more thrown around quite a bit. Sort of hard to efficiently add half a gig of RAM though.
But optimal write performance on that large of a drive requires more dedicated memory than on lower capacity drives.
I don’t believe that any work on RAM is needed. All my ios devices work fine without any “secret “ tricks from anything that’s not Apple.
As good as the processor is claimed to be, I will say that Affinity photo definitely slows under heavy usage with high DPI. Now, this may be a program fault, and not hardware. I have high hopes for photoshop efficiently, but in truth, I prefer affinity photo at this point.