iOS 9 is full of enhancements you’ll appreciate every day. Your apps become more essential. New multitasking features on iPad make you even more productive. Siri can do more than ever, and new proactive suggestions help you get things done before you ask. And improvements at the foundation of the operating system deliver outstanding performance, better battery life and enhanced security. The more you do with iOS 9, the more you’ll wonder how you ever did without it.
You’ll find significant improvements to Notes, News, Health, and CarPlay. And a new feature called Night Shift may even help you get a good night’s sleep.
Learn more about the iOS 9.3 updateThe powerful built-in apps on your iPhone and iPad are designed for the essential things you use them for every day — mail, messages, web browsing, maps, making notes, and so much more. iOS 9 brings key enhancements to your apps, and introduces a brand-new one that will change how you experience news.
iOS 9 adds a new app to your Home screen. News puts all the stories you’re interested in, all in one place — so you don’t have to hunt through different apps and websites to make sure you’re not missing the next big story. Articles are pulled from a wide range of sources, from top news organizations to indie publications. Stories are chosen for you based on what you like to read, and the more you use News, the better it gets at picking out just what you’ll want to see. News is also optimized for a beautiful reading experience no matter which device you’re using.
With the Apple News Format, News enables publishers to create unique and immersive editorial layouts with custom typography and rich multimedia, and to place that content in front of millions of readers.
The Notes app has always been great for jotting down your thoughts. And now it’s great for so much more. Want an easy way to make a checklist of to-dos? Consider it done. Or add a photo, map, or web link to a note. You can even draw a sketch with your finger. And thanks to iCloud, changes to your notes will be updated across all your devices and on iCloud.com. So you’ll always have your latest notes in hand.
Tap the Share button in Safari, Maps, and lots of other apps to save attachments — maps, links, Pages documents, and more — to a new or existing note. Can’t remember which note you added something to? The Attachments Browser organizes all the items attached to your notes in one simple view, so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.
Add bullets with a tap to create checklists. Make a grocery list, a wish list, or a to-do list — and check off items as you go.
Use the tip of your finger to draw right in your note. A selection of drawing tools lets you choose different brush styles and colors. And a handy ruler helps you keep things straight.
Now you can take a photo from within the Notes app. Or tap to access your photo library and add an existing photo or video to a note.
Notes works with iCloud so you can access your notes no matter which device you’re using. Create a shopping list on your Mac and then check off items at the store on your iPhone. All your changes are updated in real time.
Now you can use public transportation with Maps as your guide. In select cities around the world, a new Transit view shows you lines and stations for subways, buses, trains, and ferries right on the map. When you plan a route, every step of your trip is laid out from point A to point B. And with the Nearby feature, it’s easier to see what’s around you and decide on places to shop, eat, and more.
Maps now features Transit view, bringing you public transit information with routes and directions. Transit is customized for each city, where available — so you’ll easily recognize signs and be able to pinpoint the nearest subway station entrance or bus stop. You can even ask Siri for transit directions. And since Maps is also an OS X app, you can plan a trip on your Mac and follow the route on your iPhone or Apple Watch when you’re on the go.1
When you search in Maps, you’ll see a list of categories including Food, Drinks, Shopping, Fun, and more. And you can explore within each category to see what’s around you. For example, under Food you’ll see Popular, Restaurants, Groceries, Fast Food, Cafés, Bakeries, and Desserts. So you can find just what you’re looking for.
Use Apple Pay to securely and easily make purchases with your credit cards, now including Discover. It’s easy to access Wallet by double-clicking the Home button when your iPhone is locked. You can also use your Kohl’s Charge card to pay with Apple Pay, and soon you’ll be able to use more store credit cards, like the JCPenney Credit Card. You can even add your Walgreens Balance Rewards card to your Wallet app to receive and redeem rewards using Apple Pay — and soon you’ll be able to use other rewards cards, such as Dunkin’ Donuts DD Perks and MyPanera.
The new iCloud Drive app built into iOS 9 allows you to access any file you save to iCloud from just one place — right on your Home screen. Easily search within the app and find the file you’re looking for. 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. Goodbye to moving between apps to find the file you need. Hello to better organization.
Slide Over, Split View, and Picture in Picture give you new ways to multitask on iPad. New QuickType features make formatting and text selection even easier — and put shortcuts right at your fingertips.
Your iPad is great for work. And for play. For creating incredible designs or powerful presentations. For building fun slideshows or video chatting with loved ones. And for tons of other stuff. Now you can make even better use of its large screen to do two of those things — at the same time.
Now you can open a second app without leaving the one you’re in. So you can quickly browse the web, respond to a text message, or jot something down in a note, then slide that app away and get back to the one you were using before.2
With Split View, you can go a step further and have two apps open and active at the same time. Work on a sketch with the reference photo beside it. Or write a paper while copying citations from a book in iBooks. When everything you need is right in front of you, it’s easier to focus.2
While using FaceTime or watching a video, press the Home button and your video screen scales down to a corner of your display. Tap to open a second app, and your video continues to play — even while you use the other app. So keep watching your favorite TV show while you reply to the email that just came in.2
Shape up your text in no time with an all-new Shortcut Bar, convenient editing tools, and a handy new way to select text with Multi-Touch gestures. And now when you use a wireless keyboard with your iPad, you can enjoy even more keyboard shortcuts.
Control the cursor on your iPad by simply moving two fingers anywhere on the screen, including over the keyboard, to select, edit, and move text.
Bold, italicize, or underline — even copy and paste — with just a couple of taps from your keyboard. The Shortcut Bar can also be customized for third-party apps, so the tools you need are always right where you need them.
Use keyboard shortcuts to perform even more commands on your iPad — like switching between apps or bringing up search with a wireless keyboard. And interact with your apps using their own built-in, custom shortcuts. Just press and hold a key like Command, Option, or Control to see shortcuts in any app.
Now Siri can search a wider range of topics for a wider range of answers. It understands what you say more accurately and delivers your results faster. iOS 9 is smarter in lots of other ways, too — giving you helpful suggestions even before you ask.3
Ask Siri to search through your photos and videos based on dates, locations, and album titles. For example, say “Show me videos I took at Iva’s birthday party” and you’ll get exactly what you’re looking for.
Siri can remind you about things you’re looking at in your apps — like Safari, Mail, and Notes — and want to follow up on later. If you’re halfway through an email, you can say “Remind me about this tonight.” Or if you’re looking at a place in Maps you want to stop at later, you can ask for a reminder when you get to your car.
You know Siri as a helpful assistant you can talk to, but Siri is also the technology that powers search on your iPhone and iPad. And now you can get even more answers when you type in the search field.
Your search screen is now prepopulated with contacts, apps, places nearby, and more. And it’s proactive in other places, too — making lots of little things just a little easier.
See the contacts you talk with most, those you talked to last, or even those you’re next scheduled to meet.
See categories of places nearby, like Food, Drink, Shopping, Fun, and more.
Suggested apps are triggered by your routines and what you’re most likely to use. For example, if you always read the news in the morning, your News app shows up in the search screen at the time you normally wake up.
Based on your location, see local news that’s trending where you are.
Based on the apps you commonly use and the time of day you use them, you’ll get intelligent suggestions for what you might want to do next — even before you ask.
Under-the-hood refinements bring you more responsive performance, easier updates, better battery life, and tighter security. So your device works that much better — for everything you do with it.
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.4 And the new Low Power mode lets you extend your battery life even further.
iOS 9 does even more to efficiently stream new updates to your device without having to first download and unpack them — which means you don’t need as much free space to update.5 And when it’s time for an update, you’ll get new notification options that let your device update while you sleep or when you use it least.
The apps in iOS 9 now take advantage of Metal, making more efficient use of the CPU and GPU to deliver faster scrolling, smoother animation, and better overall performance. Email, messages, web pages, and PDFs render faster. And multitasking features on iPad feel fluid and natural.6
Keeping your devices and Apple ID secure is essential to protecting your personal information — like photos, documents, messages, email, and so much more. iOS 9 advances security by strengthening the passcode that protects your devices, and by making it harder for others to get unauthorized access to your Apple ID account. These new security features are easy for you to use. But they make it much harder for anyone else to access your personal information.
The default for passcodes on your Touch ID–enabled iPhone and iPad is now six digits instead of four. If you use Touch ID, it’s a change you’ll hardly notice. But with one million possible combinations — instead of 10,000 — your passcode will be a lot tougher to crack.
A password alone is not always enough to keep your account secure. That’s why iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan have built-in support for two-factor authentication. Once enrolled, any time you sign in from a new device or browser, you’ll be prompted for a verification code.7 This code is automatically displayed on your other Apple devices or sent to your phone. Enter the code and you’re quickly signed in — and any unauthorized users are kept out.
Just download the Move to iOS app to wirelessly switch from your Android device to your new iOS device. It securely transfers your contacts, message history, camera photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail accounts, and calendars. And soon it will help you rebuild your app library, too. So any apps you used — like Facebook and Twitter — will be added to your iTunes Wish List.
The Apple Beta Software Program gives you a sneak peek at iOS releases before they launch. By participating in the program, you’ll be able to try out prerelease versions of iOS and let us know what you think.
iOS 9 gives developers APIs and services that enable new categories of apps and features. Multitasking and gaming APIs help enhance app functionality and create immersive games. Expanded search capabilities and new support for HomeKit and HealthKit extend iOS to more places than ever before. And Swift 2 is an open source platform that brings improvements to compile speed and execution performance, which means smoother animation and faster response times.