The 5 most important features of iOS 9

By Matthew Humphries geek.com

As the dust settles following Apple’s 2015 WWDC keynote, it’s clear where the company is directing its efforts. It wants to counter Google and the dominance of Android. A large chunk of time was devoted to iOS, Siri, and the inclusion of more “intelligence” in the platform with iOS 9. The iOS 9 update will bring a few big features, but it’s also about refining the experience. Here are the five most important features in iOS 9

A more intelligent Siri

Apple kicked off the voice assistant craze when it purchased and subsequently reintroduced Siri as the hallmark feature of the iPhone 4s. Since then the competition has gotten intense, but Apple says Siri on iOS 9 will be vastly improved with a 40% increase in both speed and accuracy.

Siri on iOS 9 is also more personal and understands your personal context. Apple says it does this by tying into the content on your device like photos and email. Unlike Google’s intelligent search services, Apple doesn’t do any of this processing in the cloud — it’s all on-device. That’s good for privacy-minded folks, but it also seems like it would be slower and less efficient.

The upshot of all this is that you can ask Siri to do things like show you photos from a certain time and place, or to remind you to deal with that email you were just reading.

Proactive assistant

Apple’s new proactive assistant functionality is closely associated with Siri, but it appears to be a distinct feature, so we’re breaking it out. This is basically Apple’s answer to Google Now. The search interface on an iOS 9-powered phone or tablet will suggest actions based on your location or the time. It can also use personal data to improve the overall experience of using the phone.

So, imagine you have a meeting on your calendar. The proactive assistant might know that traffic is getting bad along your route, and will let you know that you should leave early to make it on time. That’s straight out of the Google Now playbook. This feature can also respond to context like plugging in your headphones to automatically bring up a music player. Proactive assistant can even suggest apps you might want to launch based on your location and the time of day.

As with Siri’s new intelligent context features, proactive assistant has access to your on-device emails. It can use this data to suggest recipients in a new message and add items to your calendar based on reservation emails. Again, that’s something Google Now can do, but now so can the iPhone.

Multitasking and Split View mode

Probably the most significant update to iOS this time around is the updated multitasking feature for iPads. All devices will have a new, more visual app switcher interface when you double-tap the home button. When you have an app up in full-screen mode, you’ll be able to pull a second app up in what’s called SlideOver. You drag in from the side of the screen and the app, uh, slides over. This is a great way to glance at your messages or Twitter feed without jumping between apps.

There will be a picture-in-picture mode that lets you place a floating video player on top of whatever you’re doing. The demo showed this working with an ESPN video, but it should work with many apps eventually.

The last new multitasking mode is more of a traditional take on multitasking. iOS 9 will allow devices to have two apps up in split screen. It’s sort of like SlideOver with some additional functionality. With the Split View, you can interact with both apps at the same time and change the location of the split to give one or the other more room. Users will also be able to drag and drop between active apps and use found-finger swipes to switch apps in each zone.

The SlideOver and picture-in-picture will be available on the iPad Air and newer iPad Minis. The Split View mode will only be available on the iPad Air 2.

QuickType

Cursor control on a touchscreen is generally crappy, but iOS 9 will go a long way to fix that. The new keyboard will have multi-touch gestures that make it easier to move around and select text without squinting or wishing your fingers were transparent.

You can move the cursor around in iOS 9 simply by swiping with two fingers on the keyboard. It basically acts like a virtual trackpad. This gesture can be used to select text as well.

The updated QuickType keyboard also comes with handy shortcuts for common functions like cut, copy paste, and formatting. Third-party apps will also be able to customize this shortcut bar.

Low-power mode

This is a small but important change. iOS 9 will include a new low-power mode that can be turned on in the settings. Doing so will add as much as three hours of use before the device runs out of juice. It does this by “pulling levers you didn’t know existed.” That basically means Apple doesn’t want to tell us how it works.

I’d wager that the low-power mode does basic stuff like lower screen brightness and timeout, but also slows the CPU and possibly even makes apps wait longer before performing background tasks.

iOS 9 will be available as a beta for the public next month, but developers already have it running on test devices. You can expect a final release this fall, which is about when Android M will start hitting Nexus devices.