My iPad is slow and laggy after iPadOS 26 update

Or, just give it 3-4 days to finish indexing the files from the update that are being performed in the background. There is also optimizations work going on for your photos with object detection algorithms. Those background processes do consume CPU resources, but that should be completed shortly. Best to leave it plugged in when not in use.

Hello~ I agree with *David M Brewer*. You can’t downgrade to a lower iOS as it’s not supported anyway. You may find that a restart or forced restart helps…

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

~Katana-San~

Katana-San wrote:

Hello~ I agree with *David M Brewer*. You can’t downgrade to a lower iOS as it’s not supported anyway. You may find that a restart or forced restart helps…

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

~Katana-San~

There is a misconception about doing a source restart. You should only do a force restart if the device or computer is not responsive. If you can still restart or shut down is the better way to go. If you do a force restart on on a device or computer that is still responsive you can corrupt the hard drive if something in the background is being written to the hard drive. Best to restart the normal way if you can.

Restarting did the trick! It now run’s smoothly.

Wanted to add that my M1 iPad Pro - which has enough horsepower to easily drive a 43" 4k monitor - suddenly struggles, stumbles, and stutters like it's in a mix of molasses & gravel, after updating to iPadOS26.

I'm very irritated. The device runs horrifically.

A touch of optimism broke when I saw iPadOS 26.0.1 available, but that didn't do a darned thing.

The lag & stutter is brutally apparent when switching apps.

I've restarted multiple times, it's been over a week, so all the indexing & background processes are done; iPadOS 26 is a mess.

Thanks Apple.

It’s not just you, it’s really quite bad. I’m honestly not sure how it passed QC.

The ProRes display on my new-ish (6 months) iPad Pro is slowing to a CRAWL at about 26-48 FPS (it varies slightly) while scrolling, animating, or even just swiping between Home Screen pages. This is a far cry from the 120 it should be (and was previously). Seems like a segment of code was poorly written somewhere in the UI thread because it does speed back up every few seconds before slowing again.

Some have mentioned a reset or wipe may fix it, since my iPad is for development purposes I have wiped it numerous times and the issue persists, so YMMV.

[Edited by Moderator]

People… Mac Jim ID gave you as to why this might be happening. Have any of you waited 3-4 days to see if your iPad is back to normal?

APPLE should know this ongoing delay of service is unacceptable on principle. i updated my ipad 5 days ago and am still experiencing issues. with all other applications closed there is a significant lag while using NOTES app. simply typing, there are delays between each individual letter as typed. my device is using less than half of its memory/storage, this is an APPLE issue that should not be downloaded onto users.

I have the same problem today after updating my iPad A16 from iPadOS 18 to 26. I have fixed with 4 steps below. In my case (iPad A16 & iPadOS 26), that's enough for fixing. I tested with 3D game Critical Strike, lag issue has gone. But if the problem is still not resolved, try again after a few days to let the OS finish processing background tasks. Good luck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6zwVuDJ9cw

I am facing the same issue after the update. Actually it lag at a specific point always .

I am facing the same issue while open the app drawer and exiting apps.

Same problem! iPad A16. Cod mobile 30 fos… sometimes freezing! ???

Hello~ Good work.

~Katana-San~

It’s over a month now