It seems that for 2015, save for Windows 10, the major updates companies are making to their operating systems appear to be more under the hood than aesthetics, and with iOS 9 it looks like it is no different. With iOS 9, Apple is promising that the platform will be more intelligent than ever. It will also see improvements made to battery life, performance, and security.
Siri
Apple’s voice assistant feature was very hyped up when it first launched but it did not quite live up to the hype then. However Siri has come a long way and it looks like with iOS 9, Siri has become even smarter.
For starters one of the more obvious changes Apple has made to Siri is its user interface which is more colorful than before. However in terms of performance, Apple is boasting that Siri has become 40% more accurate at recognizing your voice and it is also 40% faster, a feature which we’re sure many users can appreciate.
Siri has also become smarter in the sense that it can help you search for phone for certain photos and is also better at making reminders, like when you launch it within an app such as Safari, it will know you are trying to make a reminder with the webpage in mind.
Proactivity
With iOS 9, Apple is promising that the platform will be more proactive. This means that iOS will learn your habits and will be able to perform actions without having to wait for you to make the input yourself. For example it can detect when you’ve received an email invitation, after which it will automatically add that event to your calendar.
It knows what you like to do in the morning and can pull up specific apps, so if the first thing you do when you wake up is check Facebook, iOS 9 will learn that habit and will offer to launch the app for you. Another great example is how when you plug your headphones in, iOS 9 will automatically launch the music app for you.
New Search/Spotlight
As per an earlier rumor, it looks like Apple has updated the Spotlight feature with iOS 9. Users can now swipe left to access it and in some ways it reminds us of Google Now’s cards. It will be able to display apps you recently downloaded, apps you use often, contacts that you are in contact with the most, and will also be able to display news.
Users will be able to search for things like sports scores with the information displaying instantly. Users can search for information within apps so if you have a recipe app, it will search within it for you so you can launch into that app right away. Searching for videos will also be easy with a button that users can press to play the video straightaway.
Changes to the iPad
So for the most part we’ve seen the changes that iOS 9 will be making to the iOS platform, and it has largely been demonstrated on the iPhone, but what about the iPad? Thankfully iPad users have not been forgotten and has gotten some new and exclusive features.
This includes the ability to multitask and switch between apps. This will work with physical keyboards that have been designed for the iPad in mind, so fret not as your keyboard accessory has not been rendered moot. There is also a feature called Slide Over that lets you open a second app without leaving the one you’re in at the moment.
There is also the much awaited Split View feature that lets apps run side-by-side, handy when you’re looking up data and want to make notes at the same time. There is also a picture-in-picture feature which you can watch a show while replying to an email or surfing the web. While these are new features, Apple will be opening up the API to developers right off the bat.
Release & Device Compatibility
iOS 9 is expected to be released first to registered developers followed by a public beta in July. The final release is expected for this coming fall where presumably it will launch alongside the new iPhones. In terms of compatibility, it will play nicely with devices as old as the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 and is also supposed to take up less installation space compared to previous iOS builds.