Why I’m Rescuing Old Tech
In an industry that survives by convincing you your two-year-old device belongs in a landfill, the pressure to upgrade is constant. We’re told that software “bloat” is an inevitable law of nature and the only solution is to fork over $1,200 for the latest glass-brick flagship. But I’ve always been an advocate for the Right to Repair and the common sense of squeezing every bit of life out of hardware you already own. I’d rather have a screwdriver in my hand and a functional device in my pocket than a massive credit card bill for “AI features” I’ll never use.
I recently pulled my old iPhone SE (2020) out of the drawer. In an era of increasingly heavy, bloated software, this little phone was starting to feel the strain. Instead of caving to the marketing buzz of the iPhone 16, I decided to see if I could rescue this “vintage” hardware. I turned to a few targeted ChatGPT prompts to find a speed boost rather than a sales rep. What I found was that the first line of defense against planned obsolescence isn’t new silicon – it’s stripping away the digital junk you never asked for in the first place.
Swapping a $1,000+ iPhone 16 Pro for a Used SE
There is a specific, pragmatic value in choosing “enough” tech over “too much” tech. While Apple wants us to believe we need the cutting-edge capabilities of a $1,000+ iPhone 16 Pro, the reality is that for a focused workflow, the Pro is often just “more” without being “better.” I swapped the 16 Pro for the SE (2020) because I missed the tactile reality of the Home Button and the sheer reliability of Touch ID over FaceID or the distracting “Dynamic Island.”
The SE (2020) runs on the A13 Bionic chip. It’s still a powerhouse, but it’s being taxed by modern background processes that add zero value to my day. The 16 Pro is undeniably fast, but that speed is buried under layers of “smart” features that feel like a digital backseat driver. By switching back to the SE, I’m prioritizing physical portability and a phone that doesn’t feel like a liability if I drop it. To make this choice viable, however, you have to stop expecting the phone to run modern software perfectly out of the box. You have to be willing to get under the hood and kill the fluff.
Stripping Back Siri and Spotlight
Every “smart” suggestion and background index is a hidden tax on your hardware. Every time your phone tries to predict your next move, it’s eating up CPU cycles and RAM that should be dedicated to making the screen scroll without stuttering. I realized that these features weren’t just taxing my battery; they were actually annoying. They were noise.
I decided to reclaim that performance by stripping back Siri and Spotlight. Here is exactly how I did it:
- Kill Siri Suggestions: Go to Settings > Siri & Search. Scroll down to the “Before Searching,” “After Searching,” and “Suggestions” sections. Toggle everything off – especially “Suggestions while Searching” and “Suggestions on Home Screen.”
- Narrow Spotlight’s Focus: In the same Siri & Search menu, scroll down to your list of apps. For any app you don’t frequently search for, tap it and toggle off “Show in Search.” This stops the phone from indexing every single corner of every app on your device.
Doing this felt like clearing a cluttered workbench. Suddenly, the tool you actually need is right there, and the system isn’t wasting energy looking for things you didn’t ask for.
Performance, Battery, and the “Placebo” Factor
In the world of tech reviews, people love to geek out over synthetic benchmarks, but I care about the subjective “feel” of the device. After killing those background processes, the iPhone SE (2020) became – in the words of my original testing – “buttery smooth.” The micro-stutters that used to haunt simple navigation vanished.
Now, I’m a skeptic by nature. I’ll be the first to admit there might be a bit of a “placebo effect” at play – when you spend time tweaking a device, you want to believe it worked. But the logic is sound: less CPU clutter equals less heat and less strain on a four-year-old battery. I’m confident this will improve longevity, and I’ll be posting long-term updates on my iPhone Battery Guide page to see if the data backs up the feeling. A fast phone is great, but a battery that actually lasts through a DIY project in the garage is even better.
What You Lose When You Gain Speed
I’m not here to give you a paid review or corporate cheerleading. You don’t get something for nothing. By turning off these features, your interface becomes much less “proactive.”
You lose the automated shortcuts that Apple thinks are convenient. The phone stops trying to guess that you want to text your boss at 8:55 AM, and it won’t suggest your favorite podcast as soon as you plug in your headphones. It makes the phone “dumber” in the traditional sense. However, I found those features to be more of a nuisance than a help. The user experience isn’t “much worse” because of these losses; it’s just different. It’s the difference between a car with a million lane-assist sensors beep-beeping at you and a manual transmission that does exactly what you tell it to do.
Who Should Actually Do This?
This isn’t just about speed; it’s about “intentional tech.” It’s for the person who wants their phone to be a tool, not a distraction.
Try this if:
- You value raw speed: You want the UI to respond instantly without the A13 chip choking on background tasks.
- You’re on older hardware: You’re trying to stretch an SE, an iPhone 11, or an XR for another two years.
- You’re an “Anti-AI” minimalist: You find proactive suggestions annoying rather than helpful.
- Battery is king: You need every milliamp-hour to go toward actual usage.
Avoid this if:
- You actually use Siri’s proactive suggestions to navigate your day.
- You rely heavily on Spotlight to find specific emails or files hidden deep inside apps.
- You prefer a “concierge” experience where the phone thinks for you.
At the end of the day, my iPhone SE isn’t a $1,200 flagship, and that’s exactly why I like it. By taking a DIY approach to the software, I’ve turned a “dated” phone into a high-performance tool that fits in my pocket and stays out of my way. Don’t believe the hype that says you need to upgrade – sometimes, you just need to turn off the junk.