iOS 9 is the newest OS from Apple. It is not a major overhaul, but it is always the subtle tweaks that have the biggest impact. It is a redesign that brings the company’s news application, a revamped Siri and new multi-tasking components to iPhones and iPads. However, unlike iOS 8, which was released with a portion of the key and greatest changes to the stage till date, the advancements and changes in iOS 9 are for the most part subtle — however significant.  Some of the new features in iOS 9 are Notes app, News app, Proactive Assistant, under-the-hood optimizations, transit directions in maps and battery life improvements.

Here are some of the best features of iOS 9:

1. All-new App Switcher

There is a back to mail shortcut in the status bar, thanks to the new back to app feature. This allows you to switch back say, from mail app to Safari. Apps are launched with Search, we have an option called “back to search” option, located in the left-hand corner of the status bar, that allows you to go back to Search. This feature also works when jumping to an app from banner notification. You can simply switch back to the previous app.

2. Proactive Assistant

Proactive is the underlying intelligence that powers the OS. Android has Google Now as personal assistant, with the ability to predict what you need, before even knowing that there is a need. The operating system thrives on its predictive features and is embedded with intelligence. The result is smart search results. Predictive features are for adding to the core iOS based apps like Safari, Maps, Mail and Notes. The best part about Proactive is that the intelligence resides on the phone, rather than Cloud, thereby making it more secure than the competitors.

Proactive and Siri

Your interactions with your device changes with Proactive. Say, for example when you are viewing a location in Apple Map, Siri can very well be instructed about displaying the same place, sometimes later. When contacts are added to calendar for a particular event, Proactive, iOS will suggest with a list of contacts.

Proactive and Search

Contextual Information is used to refine information as it is displayed with the search feature of Siri. The search bar contains recommended contacts, interesting places and frequently used apps. The nature of the pre-populated information is dynamic in nature. The search mechanism gets improved with information gathered from other sources. 

3. Redesigned Notes App

The Notes app is completely redesigned in iOS 9, with capacity to include photographs, maps and doodles to individual notes. There are features like formatting, folder support and more.

4. Maps: Public Transit Directions

iOS comes with this great feature on detailed mass transit information, so far applicable in Google Maps and not present with Apple Maps. The transit based information are accurate and concise, as it is placed in par with Google Maps. You can not only see transit schedules for bigger cities, but also have access to flyover modes, for zooming into transit centres, also showing where to go quickly and easily.

5. All-new News App

News is a service based on Cloud. Now, user can easily choose the publications and types of news they’re most interested. The app curates stories based on user’s preferences. News also aims to surface recommendations based on the previous behavior; the suggestions user sees improve over time. The beauty of the product is that the app delivers beautiful and compelling content to the iOS device.

6. Searchable Settings Menu

A small but significant update, it allows the main Settings app completely searchable. That means now no longer user need to waste time digging through layers of menus just to make small changes in the apps.

7. Notifications Menu

Rather than organizing the notifications by app, iOS 9 orders notifications chronologically so that the most recent ones are always on the top. And, this change makes it much easier to catch up on notifications you may have otherwise missed.

8. Selection of Multiple Photos

Photos app is what you use for selecting multiple photos. Simply slide your finger over the photos and select multiple photos, only after tapping on Select in the camera roll.

9. Faster and More Responsive

Metal is a low-overhead hardware accelerated graphics and API. Apps in iOS 9 uses Metal, accounting for more efficient use of GPU and CPU, resulting in faster scrolling, smoother animations and better performance, ensuring that the PDFs, emails and messages are rendered faster.

10. Battery Widget

The Today tab of the Notifications Centre comes with a new battery widget in iOS 9. The battery level for the paired Bluetooth devices, of the likes of wireless headphones, Apple Watches etc are displayed.

Despite the fact that, the product is still all that much a beta that demonstrates that there are bugs. Unless you have an optional gadget with a late reinforcement, it might be best to hold off downloading this adaptation.

These key features are extremely useful and are some of my favourites.

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