Troubleshooting Slow Performance
A slow performing app is certainly a frustrating experience. And Equipd is not immune to this problem. The challenge is to recognise what is causing the slow performance, and to verify if it is a generic issue with the app, or more of an issue on your specific device.
The first thing I want to acknowledge is that there is always room for improvement in any app, and I am constantly trying to hunt down issues and improve things where possible. Of course over time apps are improved, and adopt newer features of an OS, and in order to not grow "stale" it is expected over time that support for older devices will no longer be offered. This happened between the upgrade of Equipd 2.7.1 to 3.0 where Equipd no longer supports devices running iOS 4.3, but now requires devices using iOS 7.
So what devices should Equipd run on? And is it expected to be "slow"? It depends on what your definition of "slow" is of course - but I can clarify that I have several members of my family using an iPad 2 and Equipd 3.0 is perfectly usable. Moving up to an iPad 3 it should be much quicker, and on an iPad Air Equipd 3.0 should fly.
Interestingly I have had a number of users report frustratingly slow performance of Equipd 3.0 on their iPad 2. Initially they just assumed the problem was Equipd and stopped there. But it was not quite that simple. After looking over the shoulder of other users of Equipd 3.0 also using an iPad 2 - and seeing it working much quicker - they realised that it could be something related to their specific device. And so they contacted me.
And thus I decided to type up this page. Hopefully it gives some tips and tricks that will make Equipd 3.0 more usable for you. Even if it performs well for you, you might be able to tweak things to get a little extra speed here and there!
Things that may help improve performance
Give the following suggestions a try:
1) Don't have too many Apps open
Some users have experienced problems because they have too many apps open at once. This reduces the memory (RAM) available on the device, and causes Equipd to run slower. It can also cause iOS to close Equipd in the background when switching between apps, so that when you switch away and then switch back, Equipd has to open again from scratch. Which is obviously a slow process.
I recommend you look into clearing up the available memory by closing apps that are open in the background but not being used. Note that this is not about storage memory on your device. It is about RAM memory, which on an iPad 2 for example is 512MB.
This article here is recommended reading, and will further clarify some of the points above:
http://ipad.about.com/od/iPad_Troubleshooting/ss/How-To-Fix-A-Slow-iPad.htm
2) Don't have too many Bible's open
If you have lots of Bible’s loading in the Bible window it will slow things down. If that is possible in your case, maybe turn several of the Bible’s off and see if that makes a difference.
3) Make sure you're not suffering from iOS Upgrade woes
Research on Google has also shown a number of users experiencing slower devices after upgrading from iOS 6 to iOS 7. They tried a number of tips, and in the end they completely reset their device (Settings > General > Reset) and set up their device as a new iPad (i.e. not a restore) and it dramatically improved the performance of their device.
I do not recommend this option as a first step, but it could be something to keep in mind and/or research further.
4) Make sure your device is not running out of storage space
If you are running low on storage space, clearing up a little extra elbow room can apparently improve performance. This can be accomplished by deleting apps that you no longer use.
5) Disable Scripture Clipboard Lookups
This will not make much difference on newer devices, but if you are trying to get as much performance out of older devices as possible I recommend you go into Admin > Bible > "Detect Scriptures in Clipboard" and turn this off. It will especially make a difference when switching back and forth between apps on an older device. As mentioned this won't make a huge difference, but it is one less thing for Equipd to think about.
6) Use the "Bible Only" startup option (coming soon)
Equipd 3.1 will introduce "Startup Modes" - and one of these modes is especially targeted at users who are experiencing slow performance and want to get to the Bible quickly. This is the "Bible Only" startup mode.
The Bible Only startup mode will disable all other screens in Equipd and launch directly into the full-screen Bible. This cuts down on launch time, and also keeps memory (RAM) usage at a minimum.
This should make a huge difference at assemblies or meetings if you are trying to take notes, and as you switch back and forth between Equipd and your note-taking app, iOS keeps force closing Equipd due to low memory (RAM) on the device. Hopefully in the Bible Only mode, Equipd will stay open, and if worse case Equipd does close, it will be much quicker to launch again.
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Anyway I hope some of these points prove useful, especially if you are stuck with an iPad 2 which is now the oldest device that Equipd supports.
I will add more suggestions to this page as I discover them. And of course I will keep trying to improve Equipd where possible.