Facebook is still one of the most popular apps in the world. However, it still faces technical glitches from time to time.
In fact, millions of users from all corners of the globe complain daily about the speed of Facebook, both on web browsers and on the Facebook app.
In this article, we are going to look at the main reasons why Facebook might be running slowly for you and the potential fixes for each cause. Let’s get started.
Why is Facebook so slow to load? – Common reasons
There are various reasons why you may find Facebook loading slowly. You need a good internet connection to use Facebook, and this is the most common reason why it may be slow loading.
You’ll also want to update your Facebook app to the latest version. This will make sure that there’s no errors within the Facebook app itself.
It could also be that the Facebook servers are down. In this instance, there’s not much you can do aside from wait for them to come back up again.
Internet connection issues
The most likely reason why Facebook might be going slow is down to your home internet connection.
To use Facebook in the first place, you will need to be connected to the internet – and if you’re trying to access the Wi-Fi with a weak connection then it is going to be running slowly.
For example, if you are using Facebook via a Wi-Fi connection that isn’t strong or secure then it Facebook is going to be performing slowly.
This is also the case if you are using Facebook while connected to mobile data is an area that has a weak signal.
To test the connection of your Wi-Fi while using Facebook via the mobile app, please follow these instructions:
- Ensure that you are connected to a Wi-Fi router by selecting settings and then ‘Wi-Fi’ from the list of options. If there is a tick next to one of the available networks then you are connected.
- Head to a web browser on your phone and visit broadband speed checker.
- Select ‘start speed test’ and wait for the test to automatically complete. This should take no longer than a minute in total.
- If your results show that your internet speed is less than 40 Mbps then your connection is poor, explaining why Facebook is running slowly for you. Contact your internet provider to establish why this is happening.
If you are using Facebook via mobile data then you will be able identify whether your connection is poor/slow in a much swifter fashion.
Simply look at the header bar on your phone’s home screen and look at how many bars signal you have and then look at which mobile data symbol is showing.
If you are seeing 4G or 5G with three bars or more then you should have relatively quick internet speeds.
However if you are seeing 3G or E with two bars or less then you are likely going to deal with a slow Facebook experience.
The only way to overcome this is to put your phone down until you’re in an area with better signal or just put up with the slow speeds temporarily.
Here are some other reasons besides connectivity as to why Facebook might be running slowly for you.
You’re using an old version of the app
As mentioned right at the top of the piece, Facebook regularly runs updates to increase performance levels and to add new features to its service.
If you are running an old, outdated version of Facebook then it may well be running slowly.
To check to see if Facebook needs updating, please follow these instructions:
- Head to the App Store on your iOS device.
- Select your profile icon on the top right hand side of the homepage.
- Scroll down your profile and you should come across a subheading that lists all of your apps that need updating.
- If you see Facebook listed here, then select ‘update’ and wait for the process to complete.
- If you don’t see Facebook listed here then the app is up to date and something else is causing the slowness.
To ensure that all of your apps, including Facebook, are always up to date, you should enable automatic updates for all of your downloaded apps. To do this, head to the settings app and select ‘app store’.
From here, you will be able to tick the the ‘apps’ box underneath the ‘automatic downloads’ subheading.
Bugs on the app and/or your phone
Another reason why Facebook might be running slowly is to do with bugs on your phone and/or the Facebook app itself. The only way to ensure this isn’t a problem is to reboot both your phone and the app.
To reboot your phone, simply press the button on the upper right hand side of your device at the same as the upper volume button.
Swipe to turn off and then press the same two buttons again to reboot your phone. If Facebook is still running slowly after this then it’s time to reboot the app.
To best way to reboot the Facebook app is to simply delete it from your device and then re-download it from the app store. You may also want to uninstall unnecessary browser extensions too.
Then, you can find your Facebook account by name and go through the slightly annoying task of penning in all your login details again, but it may well be worth it if it gets the app running at full speed again.
Conclusion
To conclude, there are a variety of reasons why Facebook might be running slowly, ranging from connectivity to bugs. Fortunately, it is usually possible to fix Facebook loading slow pretty easily.
We are very confident that by going through our suggestions above that you will find the cause to the issue and subsequently, the solution.
