iOS 9
Apple's next major iOS update, coming in fall 2015
iOS 9 is the next major iteration of iOS, expected to feature optimization and performance enhancements.
What's Coming
iOS 9 is Apple's newest operating system for iOS devices like the iPhone and the iPad, introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference
on June 8. iOS 9 builds on the content introduced with iOS 7 and iOS 8,
bringing subtle design changes, refined features, improved
functionality, and performance enhancements.
iOS 9's biggest focus is on intelligence and proactivity, allowing iOS devices to learn user habits and act on that information, opening up apps before we need them, making recommendations on places we might like, and guiding us through our daily lives to make sure we're where we need to be at the right time.
Siri is at the heart of the changes, and the personal assistant is now able to create contextual reminders and search through photos and videos in new ways. Swiping left from the home screen also brings up a new screen that houses "Siri Suggestions," putting favorite contacts and apps right at your fingertips, along with nearby restaurant and location information and important news.
Deeper search capabilities can bring up results like sports scores, videos, and content from third-party apps, and you can even do simple conversions and calculations using the search tools on your iPhone or iPad.
Many of the built-in apps have been improved. Notes includes new checklists and sketching features, Maps now offers transit directions, Mail allows for file attachments, and there's a new "News" app that learns your interests and delivers relevant content you might like to read. Apple Pay is being improved with the addition of store credit cards and loyalty cards, leading "Passbook" to be renamed to "Wallet" in iOS 9.
The iPad's gotten some major feature additions in iOS 9, like split-screen multitasking that lets two apps be used at once and a picture-in-picture function that lets you watch a video while doing something else on the tablet. The keyboard on the iPad has deeper functionality with the addition of a new toolbar, and on both the iPhone and the iPad, there's a new two-finger swipe gesture that makes it easier to select content, cut, paste, and move the cursor on the screen.
Other changes include a new systemwide San Francisco font, wireless CarPlay support, an optional iCloud Drive app, built-in two factor authentication and optional longer passwords for better security.
Along with these features, iOS 9 features significant under-the-hood performance improvements. Battery optimizations provide an additional hour of battery use under typical conditions, and a new Low Power Mode further extends battery life up to three hours.
With app thinning and size improvements, many app install sizes are smaller and Apple's own iOS updates will take up much less space, so iPhone and iPad owners with only 16GB of space will be able to install iOS 9. iOS 9 will also run on all devices capable of running iOS 8, including the iPhone 4s and the iPad 2.
iOS 9 is currently available to developers and will see a public beta testing period that starts in July ahead of a fall launch.
iOS 9's biggest focus is on intelligence and proactivity, allowing iOS devices to learn user habits and act on that information, opening up apps before we need them, making recommendations on places we might like, and guiding us through our daily lives to make sure we're where we need to be at the right time.
Siri is at the heart of the changes, and the personal assistant is now able to create contextual reminders and search through photos and videos in new ways. Swiping left from the home screen also brings up a new screen that houses "Siri Suggestions," putting favorite contacts and apps right at your fingertips, along with nearby restaurant and location information and important news.
Deeper search capabilities can bring up results like sports scores, videos, and content from third-party apps, and you can even do simple conversions and calculations using the search tools on your iPhone or iPad.
Many of the built-in apps have been improved. Notes includes new checklists and sketching features, Maps now offers transit directions, Mail allows for file attachments, and there's a new "News" app that learns your interests and delivers relevant content you might like to read. Apple Pay is being improved with the addition of store credit cards and loyalty cards, leading "Passbook" to be renamed to "Wallet" in iOS 9.
The iPad's gotten some major feature additions in iOS 9, like split-screen multitasking that lets two apps be used at once and a picture-in-picture function that lets you watch a video while doing something else on the tablet. The keyboard on the iPad has deeper functionality with the addition of a new toolbar, and on both the iPhone and the iPad, there's a new two-finger swipe gesture that makes it easier to select content, cut, paste, and move the cursor on the screen.
Other changes include a new systemwide San Francisco font, wireless CarPlay support, an optional iCloud Drive app, built-in two factor authentication and optional longer passwords for better security.
Along with these features, iOS 9 features significant under-the-hood performance improvements. Battery optimizations provide an additional hour of battery use under typical conditions, and a new Low Power Mode further extends battery life up to three hours.
With app thinning and size improvements, many app install sizes are smaller and Apple's own iOS updates will take up much less space, so iPhone and iPad owners with only 16GB of space will be able to install iOS 9. iOS 9 will also run on all devices capable of running iOS 8, including the iPhone 4s and the iPad 2.
iOS 9 is currently available to developers and will see a public beta testing period that starts in July ahead of a fall launch.
A More Intelligent OS
Proactive Suggestions
Apple's described iOS 9 as being more "intelligent," thanks largely to Proactive Suggestions. Proactive Suggestions, the major feature addition in iOS 9, turn the iPhone into a lifestyle management tool and make Apple's personal assistant Siri more responsive and able to complete more tasks than ever before. Proactive suggestions are systemwide and will work in myriad ways, offering up apps and recommendations at appropriate times.For example, if you often listen to music in the morning, iOS 9 will automatically open the Music app to a favorite playlist when you plug in your headphones. If you always open up the weather app to check what's going on outside, it might open it automatically after your alarm goes off.
When you head home from work in the evening, it might automatically open a map that includes traffic patterns, or it might tell you how long it will take you to get home. If you listen to a specific music app in the car, your phone might open the app as soon as it connects to the car via Bluetooth.
When composing an iMessage, email, or calendar invitation, iOS 9 will suggest people you typically include, making it easier to get things done fast. If you receive an email with a flight reservation or a restaurant confirmation, iOS 9 can create a suggested calendar event. For a calendar event that includes a location, iOS 9 will assess traffic conditions and send a reminder when it thinks you should leave to make it on time.
If you receive a call from an unknown number, iOS 9 will search through your email to see if the person who's calling might have emailed you, thereby identifying the caller. It's also possible to add contact information received in an email directly to the Contacts app.
Siri
Siri can do a lot more in iOS 9 with contextual awareness. If you ask Siri to "Remind me to do this" when looking at a request you've received in the Messages app, Siri will understand what you mean by "this" and will add the event. Later, when you look at the event in the Reminders app, you'll see that it also links back to the original conversation so you can see the source. Siri is also more aware of location, so a very specific reminder like "Call mom when I get in the car" will work.
Similar contextually aware commands work with different apps, and in iOS 9, third-party apps can also build in tools that will let them work with Siri in similar ways.
Siri can also perform time-based searches for photos and videos in iOS 9. For example, you can ask "Show me my photos from Utah from last August" and Siri will provide the appropriate images in the Photos app. Searches can be conducted based on dates, locations, and album titles.
Smarter Search and Siri Suggestions
There's a new search window accessible by swiping left on the home screen. This is available in addition to the Spotlight search accessible by swiping downwards, and offers the same search window. The interface here is different though, incorporating "Siri Suggestions."
Siri Suggestions includes a list of people you speak with often, apps you might want to use depending on the time of day, nearby venues like restaurants and gas stations, and relevant news. This section is also contextually aware and will offer different content based on the time of day.
If you often open Yelp at lunchtime, it might display the Yelp app at noon. If you watch Netflix at night, it might display the Netflix app when you get home from work. At breakfast time, it might display nearby coffee places or places where breakfast is served, and if you're in the car, it might display gas stations that are close by.
Over time, iOS 9 learns more about your usage habits and will create an experience that is tailored towards your needs.
Searching in iOS includes more sources in iOS 9, accessing the same resources that power Siri. You can search for sports scores and schedules, weather forecasts, and stock prices. You can even do simple calculations and conversions. A search for "15% of $25," for example, will give the correct result.
Searching for a contact will now bring up a list with a phone/message button to make contact right from the search results, and it's also possible to search within apps. When looking for a recipe, for example, you might search for "apple pie" to find apple pie recipes in a number of different cooking apps.
Apps and Services
News
Many existing apps and services have received updates, ranging from significant to minor, and Apple's also introduced a brand new app: News. News works a lot like Flipboard or Zite, aggregating stories from a variety of sources and displaying them in a mobile optimized format.News will ask you to choose topics and sources you're interested in when you first open it and from there, it will learn more about your preferences to suggest new reading material for you. Apple is partnering with several content providers like The New York Times to offer content for news, and all content providers have free tools to optimize their sites for the platform. More than a million topics will be available.
News includes media-optimized editorial layouts for stories accompanied by photo galleries, videos, and animations, and content can be shared to read offline.
Notes
Notes has been updated with a robust set of tools that allow users to insert Reminders-style checklists and make sketches using a set of pens and paints. There's a new Notes option in the Share Sheet, which makes it possible to save content from other apps to Notes.For example, if you open the share sheet in Safari, you can add a URL to Notes. If you open it in Pages, you can add a full Pages documents to Notes. This works with several different apps, ranging from Maps to iTunes. For managing these attachments, there's a new attachments browser.
You've always been able to add photos to notes, but now you can take a photo directly within the notes app. All-in-all, the updates to Notes make it better able to compete with more robust third-party note-taking platforms like Evernote. Notes also supports folders in iOS 9, for better organization.
Maps
In iOS 9, Maps includes a new Transit view and it's able to give directions that include public transportation options. For the first time since Apple Maps was introduced in 2012, it's possible to get a multi-modal route that might include walking to a train station and hopping on a train to reach your desired destination. Before transit maps were available, getting transit directions required a third-party app.The included Transit view displays transit lines and stations on a map, letting users map out the best possible route. Siri can also deliver transit directions.
Transit directions will only be available in a select number of cities at launch, including Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington D.C., and several cities in China.
Maps has also gained a "Nearby" feature, displaying restaurants and stores that are close by. Whenever you search in Maps, you'll see a list of categories like Food, Drinks, Shopping, and Fun, which display venues that are located around you.
iCloud Drive
In iOS 9, there's an optional iCloud Drive app that can be installed through the iCloud section of the Settings app. The iCloud Drive app lets you see, access, and manage all of the files that you have stored within iCloud Drive, and will be a welcome feature for customers who have asked for such an app.