iOS 8 is in the bag. Ditto for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Now we look forward to 2016's iOS 10 and iPhone 7
While anyone purchasing a new iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus or one of the new iPads will get iOS 9 straight out the box, for everyone else the new software build is rolling out to existing devices as of September 16 2015. If you own a compatible Apple device you should be getting a push notification very shortly to let you know the update is ready to be downloaded. As is often the case with such things, the rollout will likely hit in stages region-by-region, so if it doesn't come up straight away don't fret, just keep an eye on things for the next day or so.
At WWDC 2015 Apple unveiled a ton of new software features and enhancements for its Macs, Apple Watch, and the brand new Apple Music service. Of course for many the biggest star of the show was iOS 9. As it has been every year since the original iPhone’s debut, a large part of this year’s keynote involved showing off the major new features of iOS 9. However, this year instead of deciding to pack the next version of iOS with new feature after new feature, the company took the step of focusing on making iOS 9 more stable. That's quite understandable given all the drama that occured from iOS 8's instability issues.
Apple has now released iOS 9.2, the second biggish update to its 2015 platform overhaul, iOS 9. At launch Apple said iOS 9 was all about stability, focussing on what features Apple has previously established, adding in a few more for the iPhone 6s, and really drilling down on performance, efficiency and power management. The result was decent, but as always there was room for improvement and this is where iOS 9.1 and iOS 9.2 came in.
In order to experience the full potential of iOS 9, you kind of have to pick up one of Apple’s new products: the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6s Plus or the iPad Pro. All three feature a raft of new features such as 3D Touch, split screen multitasking and a bunch more besides. For the rest of us, the update is more about refining what’s already in place and tightening up loose ends.
Don’t worry, though. It’s not quite as dull as it sounds, as there are plenty of new features to get excited about. Apple has revamped Siri yet again, made some pretty significant improvements to Apple Maps, added in split screen multitasking to the iPad and released a new keyboard, again, only for the iPad.
“iOS 9 is packed with more intelligence throughout, and delivers big updates to the apps customers use most — Maps supports public transit, a redesigned Notes app provides great new ways to capture ideas, and a beautiful News app delivers content that’s personalised to your interests,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “With our new iPad features, users can take advantage of the power of iPad, working in two apps at the same time with Split View, Slide Over or Picture-in-Picture.”
Apple has announced it has sold more than 13 million new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models, a new record, just three days after launch. iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available in more than 40 additional countries beginning October 9 including Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Taiwan. The new iPhones will be available in over 130 countries by the end of the year.
“Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customers’ feedback is incredible and they are loving 3D Touch and Live Photos, and we can’t wait to bring iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to customers in even more countries on October 9.”
Apple has announced that iOS 9 will be released to the general public on Wednesday, September 16 as a free update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users. It will require the iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch 5th generation and later, iPad 2 and later and iPad mini and later.
iOS 9 on the iPhone 6s
The killer new feature of the iPhone 6s is its 3DTouch display. This is a new type of touchscreen that senses depth and pressure in addition to touch. That means your iPhone 6s will be able to tell how hard you're pressing it and respond with new actions based on the strength of your touch. Apple calls these actions “Peek” and “Pop” and they work both in-app and on the home screen.
For example, in Messages you can force touch on a message to “peek” into it without needing to navigate into the thread. You can then press a bit harder if you like what you see and “pop” into that thread automatically. Peek and pop also works for calendar events, web URLs, and more.
The 3DTouch display also allows you to jump to sections of a specific app right from the home screen. For example, you can force touch the Phone app to get a popup menu that shows you favorite contacts. Simply touch their name and the call will be made without needing to open the Phone app at all.
The 3DTouch display changes the way we interact with iOS 9, which is why it will feel like a totally different operating system on the iPhone 6s. iPhone models below the 6s won't have access to all the cool new Peek and Pop features.
iPhone 6s aside, there are a ton of new features for all iPhones, but for now these listed below are, in our opinion, the most significant:
INSANE Improvements To Battery Life
One of the biggest things we’re excited about, however, are the developments Apple is making in its war against poor battery life. The iPhone 6 Plus has an exceptional battery life, so good in fact it is difficult to switch to another phone for very long –– you just miss it too much. However, Apple isn’t done yet –– and the latest development will bring even BIGGER improvements to battery life across the board. It’s called “Low Power” mode and it is likely to be a very big deal.
“Across the entire operating system, apps and key technologies have been made more efficient to trim battery usage wherever possible — so you get more battery life for the things you do every day. Thanks to ambient light and proximity sensors, your iPhone knows if it’s facedown on the table and prevents the screen from turning on, even when you receive a notification. And the new Low Power mode lets you extend your battery life even further,” noted Apple at WWDC 2015.
Transit Maps
Yeah, Apple’s Maps app got off to a horrible start because of a piss poor POI (point of interest) database when the service was unveiled a few years ago. But also another feature Maps lacked was transit directions. Well, no more! In iOS 9 Apple Maps offer a new feature called transit that will show bus, metro, and train directions in the app. Transit will be available in a limited number of cities at first, including Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, New York City, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Toronto and Washington D.C., as well as over 300 cities in China, including Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai. Nearby information is available in the US and China.
Proactive and Siri
A major new feature of iOS 9 is called Proactive. This is a system-wide feature that allows your iOS device to learn your habits and provide recommendations to you based on place, time of day, and activity. How does Proactive work? Well, it’s a lot like Google Now. For example, if Proactive sees you’ve got a meeting at 2pm, it will alert you beforehand and notify you when you have to leave and the best way to get to the meeting based on current traffic conditions. If you like to listen to music at 7am when you work out, Proactive will automatically have your music cued up for you at that time when you plug your headphones in. If you like reading Flipboard at night before you go to bed, Proactive will pull of the Clipboard app automatically at your bedtime.
Apple says Siri features an all-new design, contextual reminders based on time and location, and new ways to search photos and videos. Search queries deliver more relevant results from more categories, including sports scores and schedules, simple math calculations, weather conditions and stock prices.
iPad Split screen Multitasking
A huge new feature of iOS 9 is limited to the iPad–split screen multitasking. In iOS 9 the iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro will support multitasking. The way this works is while using an app on the iPad you can swipe left from the side of your screen to pull up a SlideOver window. This window features any app of your choice. For example, if your main app is the Mail app, you can SlideOver the Messages app, which will appear as a column on the side of the screen. When using a SlideOver app only that app is usable. However as soon as your tap the divider, the iPad goes into multitasking mode and allows you to have two usable apps side by side. You can then position two apps on the single screen at the same time and use them both. It’s quite a cool feature and one that is going to make the iPad a much more desktop-like productivity machine.
The best keyboard EVER (iPad only)
My favorite new feature of iOS 9 is also one that is limited to the iPad. There’s a new QuickType keyboard that allows you to use the keyboard as a trackpad by placing two fingers on it and moving them around. Doing so will allow you to move the text entry cursor in any app around the screen. For example, in the Notes app you can place two fingers on the keyboard, slide them around, and watch the cursor on the note move around on the screen. This makes adjusting the cursor position on screen infinitely less frustrating than needing to tap its position on the screen to move it as you need to do now.
Picture in Picture (iPad only)
Another big iOS 9 feature (and one related to multitasking) is, again, iPad-only. Now the iPad supports picture-in-picture (PIP). So, if you have a video app you can encapsulate the playing video in its own window and then open up another app (such as Mail) to get some work done. The video will play on the screen floating above the other app. You can move the PIP around the screen to place it wherever you want and you can even adjust the size of the PIP window.
News app
A surprise announcement was the new News app. That’s right, the loathed Newsstand app has been shutter in favor of News. The new News app is kinda like Flipboard, but pretty looking. With it you'll be able to create a custom magazine tailored to your interest with content from major providers like The New York Times, Conde Nast, and more–in addition to smaller websites.
Apple Pay and Wallet
Apple Pay finally came to the UK this July, But beyond that, Apple Pay in iOS 9 is set to get even better with loyalty card support, more retailers, and the Passbook app is renamed Wallet to reflect the fact that Apple wants to kill the traditional physical wallet and replace it with an all-digital one.
Notes, Android Migration, and More
But iOS 9 doesn’t stop there. As usual it’s got a ton of smaller features too. There’s the new Notes app, which allows you to make rich text notes complete with images and smart links. There’s also a new Android Migration assistant to make it easy for Android switchers to migrate over to iPhone. Another really nice feature will be the iCloud Drive app which allows you to access any file you save to iCloud from just one place — right on your Home screen. You'll be able to browse all your files by date, name, or any tags you added on your Mac. You can also preview and organize your files without leaving the app.
Dedicated iCloud Drive app
This is one of the coolest hidden features of iOS 9–and it is quite literally “hidden”. If you go into iOS 9’s Settings app and enter the iCloud settings you’ll see a new toggle that enables you to show an iCloud Drive app on your home screen. This app acts just the same as the iCloud Drive folder in Yosemite: it contains all you documents in iCloud. Here you can browse the documents without needing to open up their corresponding apps, and of course you can choose to open them in apps or share the documents.
Best of all about this app is that Apple gives you the option to hide or show it. It would be great if Apple added this option to other pre-install apps like Podcast or iBooks.
Spotlight searches in apps
Spotlight gets a big overhaul in iOS 9, but one of the coolest features about it is its ability to search in apps. For example, Spotlight a recipe for “candied yams” and if you have a recipe app like Epicurious installed, Spotlight will show you the result from that app. Tap on it to be taken to that exact result in the app.
Reproductive health tracking
The Health app in iOS 9 gets improvements in the form of the ability to track reproductive health. Reproductive health tracking in iOS 9’s Health app includes menstruation, spotting, ovulation, sexual activity, cervical mucus, and basal body temperature.
Shift Key fixes
The shift key in iOS has long been the bane of many users. Everyone complained that it was hard to tell when the shift key was enabled and when it wasn’t just by looking at the key. In iOS 9 Apple has solved this issue by now showing capital letters on the keyboard when the shift key in enabled and lowercase letters when it is not. It’s a decisive way to to make sure what mode you’re in. But also if you don’t like seeing lowercase keys on your keyboard, know that you can disable this feature in Settings.
Cellular Continuity
Another hidden feature of iOS 9 is the ability to use Continuity over cellular. Continuity is the feature first introduced in iOS 8 that allows your iPhone to push text messages and phone calls to your Mac over a Wi-Fi network. Now Apple has expanded that feature to cellular connections. How can this even be possible–as your Mac doesn’t have cellular reception? It’s thanks to Wi-Fi calling, which is a calling feature several carriers are rolling out across the world. As The Verge notes:
"Wi-Fi calling for other devices allows other devices signed into your iCloud account to make and receive calls using your carrier account even when your iPhone is not nearby," reads the description of the feature.
On phones from other carriers, this setting reads differently: "Use your iPhone cellular connection to make and receive calls on devices signed into your iCloud account when they are nearby and on Wi-Fi."
So if your carrier supports Wi-Fi calling you’ll be able to make and receive texts and calls on your Mac even if your iPhone is in a completely different location.
6-digit passcodes
Another nice feature of iOS 9 is that Apple will now let you set a 6-digit passcode. This greatly strengthens your passcode security as a thief would need to guess it out of 999,999 combinations. And if you use Touch ID you won’t even notice the difference.
Bluetooth Keyboard enhancements
If you use Bluetooth keyboards with you iPad you’ll be glad to know they are gaining a tong of key combo enhancements including Command-Tab switching of apps (like on OS X) and now dev will be able to build in support for shortcut keys like Command, Option, and Control.
