A Wi-Fi connection is a necessary feature of any iPhone, but a weak signal can make browsing the web, using software, or streaming difficult. In these cases, you can look into ways to boost your iPhone’s Wi-Fi speed. Continue reading to learn how to improve Wi-Fi speed on iPhone and iPad.
How to Improve iPhone Wi-Fi Speed
Let’s look at several ways to make your iPhone’s Wi-Fi faster.
1. Restart Your Router
This is an often-overlooked measure, but restarting the router can often improve iPhone Wi-Fi performance, particularly if other devices are experiencing issues. Restarting your router restores it to its original state, removing any temporary issues.
Simply find your router’s physical power button and turn it off and on to restart it. Alternatively, you should unplug the power adapter. Wait a few seconds before turning it back on.
2. Play Around With Router Positioning
Indoors, the typical Wi-Fi signal has a range of about 150 feet. The longer the distance between your iPhone and the router, the weaker the signal, so try moving your router closer to where you use your iPhone or iPad the most.
Barricades, such as walls and floors, will slow down iPhone Wi-Fi speeds. Consider placing the router in a visible location that is free of obstacles. It’s easier to prevent interference from furniture and other objects if you raise your router higher.
On an iPhone, look at the cone-shaped stripes in the top-left corner, which signify Wi-Fi power, to see how strong your link is. Three bars indicate a heavy signal, two bars indicate a moderate signal, and one bar indicates a weak signal.
3. . Take off or replace your iPhone case
The majority of materials used to make phone cases do not obstruct or interfere with Wi-Fi signals. Some, however, can—these are usually metal cases. Metal interferes with the antenna’s reception, which is positioned near the top of your iPhone depending on the model.
If your phone case is metal-plated, replace it with one made of silicone, plastic, or leather. Metal rings or PopSockets that stick to the back of the phone should also be avoided.
4. Limit Network-Heavy Activities
Wi-Fi speeds can be slowed by downloads, streaming, and some games. Check what’s using your bandwidth to see if there are any obvious culprits. If this doesn’t help your iPhone’s Wi-Fi speed, you’ll have to run each program or feature one at a time to figure out which ones are slowing it down.
The good news is that you can limit how much bandwidth your iPhone consumes. To begin, check the apps consume the most data by looking at their data consumption on your iPhone. However, depending on when you last reset the statistics, this may or may not be correct.
To check your iPhone’s data usage, go to Settings > General > Data Usage.
To minimize bandwidth consumption in the background, consider switching off automatic software updates:
- Head over to Settings > App Store.
- Disable app updates.
You’ll have to manually update apps if you disable this setting:
- Launch the App Store application.
- Scroll to the bottom and select Apps.
- In the top-right corner, tap your avatar.
- Under Available Updates, select Update next to each app.
VPNs use a lot of bandwidth, so if you use one at home, you may want to turn it off.
Since streaming can put a strain on your network, whenever possible, download media (at non-peak times) rather than streaming it, particularly media that you consume frequently, such as music. This will take up some storage space, but it will reduce the load on your network in the long run.
5. Keep your iOS up to date
Your Wi-Fi connectivity could be hampered if your device’s software is out of date. Updates to iOS repair bugs and increase overall iPhone operability, including network stability.
To update iOS, follow these steps:
- Head over to Settings > General.
- Go to the Software Update tab.
- If an update is available, download and install.
To avoid losing any important data, make a backup of your iPhone before upgrading.
6. Remove the Wi-Fi network and re-add it
When you forget a network, it deletes the password and all other network data from your iPhone. This can assist in resolving issues with unique network connections. Remember that if you lose the password to a network, you’ll need it to reconnect.
On iOS, to forget a network:
- Go to Wi-Fi in the Settings menu.
- Tap the I icon next to the network you want to forget, and then select Forget This Network from the menu.
Try restarting your iPhone before reconnecting to the network for the best performance.
7. Modify DNS settings
The Domain Name System, or DNS, is a protocol that converts website IP addresses into readable text that humans can understand. When your iPhone is connected to the internet, DNS setup runs in the background. The default choice is determined by your service provider, but you can change it to Google or Cloudflare if you prefer.
Changing your DNS will boost website loading times, prevent your ISP from tracking you, and potentially increase your online protection.
To update the DNS server on your iPhone, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings and look for Wi-Fi.
- Next to your network, tap the encircled i.
- Scroll down and choose DNS Configuration.
- Choose Manual and then Add Server.
- Enter the DNS server address(es) that you want to use. Check out the best free DNS providers if you don’t already have one in mind.
- When you’re done, tap Save.
Return to this menu using the steps above to revert to the default DNS settings. Then, instead of Manual, choose Automatic and confirm with Save.
8. Reset All Network Configurations
If all of the above fails, try resetting your iPhone’s network settings. All saved Wi-Fi networks will be deleted, and you will need to re-enable VPNs and cellular options.
To reset your iOS network settings, go to Settings > General > Reset Network Settings.
This will prompt you for your iPhone passcode to confirm, after which the device will reboot.
Improve Your iPhone’s Wi-Fi Speed
The output of Wi-Fi on your iPhone can be influenced by a number of factors. Fortunately, the majority of them are simple to correct.
If the suggestions above don’t work, you’re probably dealing with a larger issue with your phone or Wi-Fi network in general.