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Top 10 iOS 9 Features (Video)

IOS9

Apple’s WWDC 2015 keynote was full of software announcements. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much on the hardware side of things, but we have some important updates for Macs, Apple Watch, and iOS devices. Today we’re checking out the Top 10 features in iOS 9. There’s not much of a redesign happening here, but there are a handful of noteworthy features you should know about…

To see these features in action, be sure to check out our features video embedded below. First up, Apple has added a new Low Power Mode, which can be enabled in the Settings app and will add up to 3 additional hours of usage to your device. Resources will be limited and the display brightness is lowered, but worth the sacrifice if you need the extra juice.

Next up, up Apple has refreshed the Notes app across iOS device to feature a few new helpful features. You can easily create ‘checkable’ lists within the app using the shortcut keys, change the formatting of the text to make your lists pretty, adds photos from your library or take a picture, and even draw silly doodles that you can directly embed within the note.

Coming up next, we have expanded Siri functionality. The best way to find out all of the commands is by asking Siri yourself. Siri now has ability to set reminders based on text in an email or a message. A simple command like, “remind me about this” will pull the text from the page and create a reminder. You can also set reminders based on location and specify that you’d like to be reminded about something when you get in the car which is pretty helpful. And you can even tell Siri to show you photos from a specific time frame and it’ll automatically launch the photos app and pull them up.

For a full walk-through, check out our Top 10 iOS 9 features video below:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROReRfbfFtg]

If you’d like to find out about the new Apple Watch features that come with watchOS 2.0, check out our overview video here.

There’s also a redesigned app switcher, which I think looks a lot better than what we’ve seen in iOS 8, but you won’t find much new here. Either way, it’s nice to see small parts of iOS evolving even though we weren’t expecting a major update this time around.

One of the cooler features is the relocated Spotlight Search. It now lives to the left of your home screen, but can also be accessed from its old location. In the new Spotlight search on the left you’ll find new widgets and Siri Suggestions that will recommend different apps, contacts, and other information based on your usage. iOS 9 will begin auto-populating these sections with helpful apps and information over time.

There’s also a new iOS 9 feature called Proactive Assistant which will sift through the information, email, messages, and more on your device and use those details to make your life easy. For example if I get an email from someone with a date and time listed, iOS may create a calendar event based on that information and automatically remind me closer to the date.

Moving along to the iPad side of things, there’s a few awesome feature to look forward to in iOS 9. Slide-Over will provide an easy way to access different apps on your device without leave behind what you’re currently doing. Just swipe over from the right side of the screen to reveal the app or app list and you can easily change between apps by swiping down from the top of that section. To expand on Slide-Over’s functionality, you can even go into full-on Split-View and run two apps side-by-side. This is nothing new in the mobile world, but it’s nice to see this type of functionality coming to iOS. The split-view is completely resizable and compatible apps will work in portrait or landscape view.

There also a new picture-in-picture mode that will allow you to continue watching videos even after you’ve left the app. The video will popup in a small window which can be moved around the screen and you can play, pause, maximize, or exit the video from the available controls.

Apple’s new Quick Type keyboard features also bring a lot to the table for typing. There’s a built-in shortcut bar available on iPad that will allow you to cut, copy, paste, and format text. Along with that, QuickType makes it easier to select text within an app on iPad and iPhone. All you need to do is tap and drag with two fingers to move the cursor or tap, hold, and drag with to fingers to select text.

While iOS 9 and El Capitan don’t offer a radical redesign, I think the added features and stability in the future will prove to be a good update overall. Which of the mentioned features is your favorite? Anything you were hoping to see in iOS 9?

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Comments

  1. ChristianGeek - 9 years ago

    Split-View is not supported on the original iPad Air (Slide-Over is though).

    • pseudolink - 9 years ago

      If you’re serious, this is BS. I am not getting another iPad anytime soon. It’s not even that old! Next you’re going to tell me PIP isn’t supported either.

      • richratters - 9 years ago

        He’s right. It was announced at the keynote. Air 2 is the only iPad that supports it currently

      • DamoTheBrave - 9 years ago

        Air 2 has 2gb ram vs 1gb for the original Air. Also the A8X processor vs A7. I too have the original Air and don’t feel the need to upgrade but I do think this is more likely to be about resources required than planned obsolescence.

      • Félix Giffard - 9 years ago

        Well that’s BS.

      • Jack Wong (@Jackzzz99) - 9 years ago

        It should be like Microsoft. We could even install Windows 7 on Pentium 4.

  2. Thnift (@Thnift) - 9 years ago

    Forgetting about finally adding the ability to queue songs in the music app. Something I’ve needed for about 5 years.

    • caydjj - 9 years ago

      This isn’t a iOS 9 feature, it’s currently on 8.4, available for anyone signed up for the public betas

      • tanim - 9 years ago

        not all of us sign up for the betas so yea it is a ios9 feature since that is what comes after ios 8.3

      • caydjj - 9 years ago

        It is definitely not an iOS 9 feature at all. The 8.4 GM is coming out June 30 with Apple Music, so no, it’s still an 8.4 feature

  3. jamdungyute - 9 years ago

    Is the ‘swipeselection’ type feature available on the iPhone 6+ too or just on iPad?

  4. Alu (@alu0420) - 9 years ago

    FINALLY QUICKTYPE AKA SWIPESELECTION!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

  5. I hope it has soft key feature to reject call when phone is locked…instead of double press on power button or reminder…:)

  6. herewegoagain7 - 9 years ago

    Just…get rid of the transparency behind the dock. It serves NO purpose…come on, Jony. Please.

  7. The Mobile Millions - 9 years ago

    Thanks for the in-depth tour, Dom! It will certainly be exciting to see how Siri’s Proactive feature functions in real world situations. Split screen on the iPad is also a long time coming. Although lacking a major groundbreaking feature, iOS 9 seems like a delightfully natural progression for the platform. We can’t wait to watch this version matures over the beta process.

  8. Winski - 9 years ago

    Can the ‘new and improved’ SIRI play a video from my local iTunes library ?? If not, NOTHING has changed, SIRI still sux.

    • dominicrn - 9 years ago

      You can play a music from your music library within your iOS. Not computer.

      • dominicrn - 9 years ago

        I don’t think it can play video just yet…

  9. Manoj Verma - 9 years ago

    So iOS 9 update will be 1.3GB in size, does this mean we gain some storage space on an 8 GB iPhone 5C ?

    • TfT_02 - 9 years ago

      Obviously, yes.

    • D0GG - 9 years ago

      Not necessarily, They were talking about the space required to complete an update. That doesn’t mean the space remaining after the install will change.

  10. ellzworth - 9 years ago

    Great review DOM.
    Question. Why does everyone always ask to “Thumbs Up” a video aside from the obvious? Just curious.

    • frikova - 9 years ago

      Exposure. Also, people is more prone to watch a video if it has many likes.

  11. AppleLion - 9 years ago

    Is it safe to install it on my iPhone 6 Plus? Like is it laggy & slow? Or is it smooth and fast? :D

    • dominicrn - 9 years ago

      Apple says they’re mainly focused on performance improvement, Not many features like the iOS 8.

    • Monica Lexine - 9 years ago

      I installed it on my iPad Air 2 last night. It’s kind of buggy, so I’m going to hold off for now on my iPhone 6 Plus. Public beta starts in July so not too long to wait for something a little more stable. I wish I would have waited on the iPad install. I jump the gun every year. You’d think I’d learn… but I get too excited.

      • D0GG - 9 years ago

        Just restore the iPad to 8.3.

  12. Does Enable Airplane mode on lock screen (via swipe up Control Centre) still work, or does it require a password now so theives cannot Airplane Mode my iPhone if it’s stolen?

    This is the reason I don’t enable Control Centre on my iPhone on 8.3 as it can stop Find My iPhone from functioning.g

  13. Centre Itech - 9 years ago

    Reblogged this on lecentreitech.

  14. Mia Ramos - 9 years ago

    what about Read Recipients on iMessage?