If you have an iPad you're probably familiar with the random 'crash' every now and then. If you have an iPad 1, updated to the latest iOS 5, you may see these crashes more and more often. This unreliability gets annoying and frustrating QUICK. We'll look at some tips you can use to cut down on the crashing and save you some frustration.
Mind the RAM
Most iPad crashes come down to one simple thing - lack of memory (not to be confused with storage). You wouldn't know it, because Apple doesn't advertise internal specs, but the iPad 1 has only half the memory (256MB) of the iPad 2 (512MB). This makes the original iPad more prone to crashing as that resource is more quickly consumed. This is especially true when running memory intensive processes from iOS 5 software.
What I'd argue is one of Apple's greatest asset - control of both hardware and software - is also what causes a lot of headache for owners of older hardware. Every year Apple comes out with major updates to iOS. And every year those changes are accompanied with a hardware refresh — that usually includes a faster processor and more memory to run those features efficiently. Most of us download these new updates partly because Apple does a great job marketing them, but also because they practically makes us when syncing. This is when owner's of older hardware take a hit — as they soon find out their device doesn't 'just work' like it used to.
Limit iOS5 Features
If you're experiencing frequent crashes on your iPad, the first thing you should try to do is cut down on the latest features (ridiculous, I know).
- Bye Cloud The first part to trim is iCloud - either disable it entirely or disable what you don't depend on. If you're having crash issues with Safari definitely disable Safari Bookmarks sync.
In the iPad disable notifications for apps that you also have on your iPhone (especially if you have a newer 4 or 4S model). Start using your iPhone as your sole beacon for notifications and alerts. This also helps from having to see redundant reminders and alerts.
(Settings -> Notifications -> Pick each app individually and turn off all sliders)
Unless you're making a lot of use out of it, best to disable for memory's sake. Cool feature, but one we rarely use, so off it goes.
(Settings -> Messages -> iMessage Off)
These are a new iOS 5 feature too. Turn them off, they're not that useful or intuitive anyway.
(Settings -> General -> Multitasking Gestures -> OFF)
Again, this is likely a little-used feature. Disable and clear up some cache.
(Settings -> General -> Spotlight Search -> Uncheck)
Sleeping Habits
It also might help to adopt a regular habit of turning off your iPad when you head to bed and charge it. This will close up all apps — some of which are likely lingering around taking up precious resource.
You can also go to the app tray (double-tap home button) and disable apps individually that you're not using (tap and hold app icon until they wiggle, then click the minus badge on each app you want to close). This process is a bit laborious and there's a chance the app doesn't close completely, so just putting your baby to sleep is a better solution.
The Sad Truth
Making these changes should help solve any crashing issues you may be experiencing. It's unfortunate that performance improvements have to come at the cost of feature reduction, but that's the caveat of the fast-paced hardware and software cycle Apple maintains. Hopefully, these suggestions just trim unused bulk and you get back on track with limited inconvenience.
Find Your Style: 20 Classic to Contemporary Kitchens to Add to Your Inspiration Board
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How to Make Easy 3-Ingredient Energy Bars at Home
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Two words: THANK YOU!
I agree. I just got an Ipad and may need this info in the future.
Mail and facebook, by far, are the worst culprits. There is nothing more frustrating than being 500 words into a work email only to lose the whole thing. For this reason, I no longer write emails on my iPad. Jerks, you could at least auto-save drafts!
Unfortunately all those wonderful feature updates for iPad 2 users made the iPad 1 a nearly unusable device except for the most basic and short of tasks (browse, crash, reopen, browse, crash, repopen). Chris' tips above are an excellent way to get back about 80% of the stability lost after the iOS 5 update.
It's also why I'm really, really looking forward to 1GB of onboard RAM with the new iPad.
my iPad 1 has all the updates and the only thing that crashes on a daily basis is The Daily (newspaper crap app). Otherwise it's just as it was fresh from the box.
"You can also go to the app tray (double-tap home button) and disable apps individually that you're not using (tap and hold app icon until they wiggle, then click the minus badge on each app you want to close)."
This has been proven to be a myth and has no effect on how effective an iPad runs. It is at best a placebo that makes the user feel like he is doing something.
Quick correction: turning off the device won't quit apps.
Also, manually closing apps might not be needed to free up resources (iOS should take care of that automatically), but sometimes apps can stop working correctly and need to be force-closed. It is definitely something every iOS user should know how to do...
I was having problems and finally did a restore. It really helped. BTW, I do force quit apps at the end of the day.
I second what Etoiles said, shutdown and restart does not close the apps. Forcequit is required more with some apps than others. Facebook is the worst offender for me.
I found that turning the iPad all the way off (holding down the power key for several seconds) eliminated 99% of my crashes and I've only done it once, not over and over. If the crashing starts up again, I'll turn it all the way off again.
Ho that's so usefull ..thaank you!!
OMG this is terrible advice. It's no surprise that the article wasn't even signed by the author. Terrible advice!
As a app developer I can tell you that these comments about memory and control over hardware/software are all made by somebody who has no understanding of how things work. The fact is if you're having problems, there is a reason. Take your iPad to a apple store and have them help you fix it. It's FREE to do this. The iPad was not designed to crash, and for most of the people most of the time works just great.
If you follow the advice here there's really no reason to even purchase a iPad. They have you turning off virtually every feature. Hell, they should have just said "turn it off and you will no longer have problems with apps crashing".
I've never seen such a poorly written article. Wow. Stay away from this site. They obviously have no understanding of what they write about.
Thomas Tomchak, you might be a developer, but what you are saying makes no sense. Many of us are stuck with iPads that suffer frequent (very frequent, I would say) crashes. The solution given in the article is only a partial remedy, but remedy nontheless.
Meanwhile, Apple does absolutely nothing about this, which shows incredible lack of respect for their users. We all know that the iPad 1 is not characterized by its generous amount of RAM. But properly written software does not crash by lack of memory; it tells,the user that it cannot perform such and such task because of not enough memory. And fact is that these crashes do not just happen on the iPad 1, but on the other versions too.
Thanks for your post and advice - made a huge difference to my iPad (so far anyway) and my understanding of the iPad and it's memory. I've seen so much unclear/potentially conflicting stuff on other sites/forums. It was great to have some well written steps to take which did not involve re-installing or updating which not only doesn't often seem to solve the problem but creates problems of it's own.
So it's definitely improved - now I can get past the 1 second of Safari before it crashes and get enough time in iThoughts to email my mindmaps (and it hasn't crashed yet).
From reading the various forums, most issues appear to be caused or exacerbated by iOS5xx and relate to its memory hungryness. So I've avoided upgrading (still using iOS 4.2.1) and looking for advice around whether to stick with my non-upgrading policy or is there a safe/good iOS5 and beyond version for iPad 1. Until I read this post and used the suggested remedies I thought I was going to have to go down the route of a completely new install etc. and risk making the problem worse. That now seems un-necessary. Just wondering still about the upgrade in the event that the remedies I've used still don't give me the functionality I need.
Would appreciate any advice or shared experience.