Like every year at this time, Apple released a major upgrade to its flagship mobile OS – the iOS9. iOS9 is now available in India and launched along with several others across the world. The official time was 10am PST and the social media immediately started buzzing with first impressions on the iOS 9 launch. In this post you can find details on some of the new features of iOS9 and how you can install it on your iOS device.
iOS 9 comes with some good features but overall will not make a lot of difference for existing iOS devices. Features like 3D Touch will obviously be working with only the latest iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. But there are definitely some other tweaks which you might appreciate.
iOS9 Features
Firstly, the most important in my aspect – the OS is getting lighter. Being a mobile device with every iOS device this was a growing concern as every upgrade was costing you more memory. Well not any more. Thew new OS is 1/3rd the original size at 1.8gb giving you more space for those weird selfies!
The other feature which is the common with every iOS update – better battery life! Not sure how much does that really happen but the claims are definitely there. Apparently the new OS will have a extreme battery saver mode which will ensure that all downloads are put on hold, fewer notifications, less frequency of mail updates, turn off lights when keep screen down, etc.
Some new major features include replacement for the newstand app, additional security with 6 digit passcode (only for devices with finger-print sensor), your fav music app starting immediately on plugging in earphones, detection of events in mail body and adding to calendar directly, etc. Some of these features are nifty and will be helpful while a few will absolutely go unnoticed.
You will notice the growing friendship between Siri and Spotlight search along with better notification screen. Now you will get all the latest notifications rather than them bundled according to applications. Simple but required. Some specific features like Splitscreen for only iPAD as well.
The complete release notes are attached below and the OS is available for installation now.
How to Install iOS 9?
Its pretty straightforward. There were some hiccups that users faced initially when the launch happened earlier today but based on the recent comments, everything seems to be working smoothly. My installation is in progress as I type this post! 🙂
There are mainly two ways you can install the new OS – Directly from the device or using iTunes on your laptop. I prefer the latter but whichever way you use, ensure that you have backed up your data first. Also when using iTunes, you might have to download the lastest iTunes if you haven’t already.
Share your experience with the upgrade and your device below. Apple mentioned support for devices post 2011 which includes iPhone 4s. The lighter OS should make more space in your 16GB device if you haven’t upgraded to a newer device yet.
Some helpful links across the web:
Full Release Notes for iOS 9
Intelligence
- Proactive assistance
- Presents relevant information even before you start typing
- Notifies you when you need to leave for appointments using traffic conditions
- Learns what you listen to in a certain location or at a particular time of day and can automatically display playback controls for your preferred music and audio apps
- Suggested events and contact details are added to apps based on information found in Mail
- Siri improvements
- Search your personal photos and videos based on dates, locations and album names
- Ask Siri to remind you about things you’re looking at in your apps, including Safari, Mail, Notes and Messages
- Request directions via public transit
- Spotlight search improvements
- Get sports scores, weather conditions and stock prices
- Simple math calculations and conversions
- Initiate messages, phone calls and FaceTime calls from contact search results
New iPad Features
- Slide Over
- Quickly use a second app without leaving the one you’re in
- Easily switch between Slide Over apps
- Support for Apple apps and enabled third party apps
- Split View
- View and interact with two apps at once
- Ability to resize your view to give equal attention to both apps or prioritize one app over another
- Support for Apple apps and enabled third party apps
- Picture in picture
- Continue watching a video while using your favorite apps
- Support for Safari video, FaceTime, Videos and Podcasts and enabled third party apps
- QuickType improvements
- Multi-Touch gestures for easier text selection on iPad
- Quick access to text editing tools with Shortcut Bar on iPad
- Support for hardware keyboard shortcuts
- Support for all Unicode emoji flags
Built-in Apps
- Map improvements
- Support for public transit lines, station details with exits and entrances, schedules and directions in select major cities
- Browse for places around you by category, including Food, Drinks, Shopping, Fun and more
- Apple Pay support is indicated on place cards at participating retail locations
- Place cards include Wikipedia information for landmarks and cities
- Redesigned Notes app
- Add photos to your notes with the built-in camera or from your Photo Library
- Create useful checklists and check off completed items with a tap
- Sketch a quick thought using just your finger
- Save interesting items directly from other apps using the Share menu
- All-new News app
- Read your favorite newspapers, magazines, and blogs, or choose from over a million topics
- Beautiful typography and layouts, photo galleries, videos, animations, and more
- Browse articles that are chosen based on your interests in For You. Find channel and topic recommendations in Explore. News gets more personalized the more you read
- Easily share articles with friends or save them to read later — even when you’re offline
- Mail improvements
- Search improvements help you quickly find what you’re looking for by filtering results based on sender, recipient, subject or a combination of options
- Support for Markup lets you annotate an image or PDF attachment with text, shapes and even your signature, then send it back — without leaving Mail
- Easily save the attachments you receive or add files from iCloud Drive or other document providers while composing a new message
- Apple Pay and Wallet improvements
- Support for Discover cards
- Support for rewards cards and store credit and debit cards
- To check out even faster, you can prepare an upcoming payment by double-clicking the Home button from the Lock Screen and keeping your finger on Touch ID
- New iCloud Drive app
- Easily search for a file or browse in the new iCloud Drive app by date, name, or tags you added on your Mac
- Open files in any compatible app or share with those you choose
- Organize folders and files
- Get the iCloud Drive app in Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and select Show on Home Screen
- CarPlay improvementsÂ
- Plays back audio messages, letting you hear from people in their own voices
- Full support for car knob controls, so you can tilt and spin to scroll through lists or pan around in Maps
- Support for CarPlay apps from auto manufacturers
Foundation
- Longer battery life
- Up to one hour of additional time before you need to charge your battery
- Facedown detection for turning display off when not in use
- Low power mode optimizes device performance to extend battery by up to an additional three hours
- Software updates require less space to download and offer an option to install later
- iOS apps and user interface now use Metal to deliver faster scrolling, smoother animation, and better overall performance
- Improved security with two-factor authentication support and a default 6 digit passcode support for Touch ID devices
Other improvements
- New San Francisco system font
- Leave a message option if recipient isn’t available for a FaceTime call
- Share voicemails from the Phone app using the share sheet
- Flight and package tracking for data detectors
- Health app adds support for reproductive health, UV exposure, water intake and sedentary state data types
- HomeKit adds support for motorized windows and shades, motion sensors and home security system accessories
- Podcasts has an all-new design, makes it easy to find the latest episodes of your favorite shows and notifies you when new episodes become available for you
- Support for Wi-Fi calling on iPad, iPod touch and Mac, without iPhone in proximity on participating carriers
- Wi-Fi Assist to automatically use cellular data when Wi-Fi connectivity is poor
- Transfer content from an Android device with the Move to iOS app, visit http://www.apple.com/move-to-ios for more details
Expanded language support
- New PingFang Chinese system font
- Improved predictions, learning and autocorrection for Chinese in QuickType
- Redesigned punctuation input on 10-key Chinese keyboard
- Redesigned User Interface for right-to-left languages
- Added Siri support for Austria, Belgium (French and Dutch), and Norway
- Added Spotlight search support for Mexico
- New keyboards for French (Belgium), German (Austria), Gujarati, Hindi (Transliteration), Hinglish, Punjabi, Spanish (Mexico), and Telugu
- Predictive input for French (Belgium), German (Austria), Korean, Russian, Spanish (Mexico), and Turkish
- Dictation support for Dutch (Belgium), English (Ireland, Philippines, South Africa), French (Belgium), German (Austria), and Spanish (Chile, Colombia)
- Spell check for Finnish and Korean
- Definition dictionary for Hindi, Norwegian and Swedish
- Bilingual dictionary for French-English and German-English
- New Japanese autocorrection and improved predictions and learning in QuickType
- Option to switch between number systems for Arabic and Hindi
Enterprise &Â Education
- Assign apps directly to iOS devices without needing to have an iTunes Store account configured
- Improved calendar reliability for customers using Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync v16
- Expanded Per App VPN support for the built-in IPSec and IKEv2 VPN clients
- New networking controls for managed apps to help limit international data roaming costs
- New restrictions to prevent changes to passcodes, device names and wallpapers, or to disable AirDrop on managed devices
- Third party app extension support for VPN, advanced content filtering, and captive Wi-Fi networks
Accessibility
- Touch Accommodations provides additional touch control for those with physical motor limitations
- Switch Control Recipes to customize features or create your own
- Support for Siri Voices for VoiceOver users
- Additional customization of AssistiveTouch
- Hardware keyboard support for Key Repeat, Slow Keys and Sticky Keys
- Improved MFi hearing aid audio routing to choose where audio is played
