Apple officially launches
iOS 9.3 following its March 2016 event. Plus,
iOS 9.3's best features revealed including 'Night Shift' mode and the ability to password protect Notes. We also discuss the killer features in
iOS 9, its updates and its bugs.
iOS 9 became available to download and install on iPhones and iPads around the world in September, and since then Apple has released several incremental updates to fix bugs and add improvements and features. The latest was iOS 9.2, which brought the new News app to the UK and added new emoji. Read on to find out how to get iOS 9.2 on your device, whether your iPhone or iPad will be able to run iOS 9, and everything you need to know about iOS 9 including features of the upcoming
iOS 9.3.
Updated 18 May: Apple has released iOS 9.3.2, addressing iPhone SE Bluetooth issues while bricking a small number of 9.7in iPad Pros in the process - read on for more information.
Main sections in this article:
iOS 9.3
iOS 9.2
iOS 9.1
New apps
iOS 9 bugs
iOS 9 release date
iOS 9 design and interface changes
iOS 9 new features
iOS 9 small additions
Which iPads and iPhones can run iOS 9?
iOS 9 pre-event rumours and leaked screenshots
Read next:
iOS 9 review |
iOS 9 vs iOS 8 |
iOS 9 tips & tricks |
Can my iPad/iPhone get iOS 9? |
How to update to iOS 9
iOS 9 updates: What’s new in iOS 9.3 and when is iOS 9.3 coming out?
iOS 9.3.2
Apple has released a small update for iOS users addressing a number of bugs affecting iPhone SE users, along with a handful of other changes. Since its launch, early adopters of the iPhone SE have been plagued by Bluetooth issues, with audio issues occurring whenever the smartphone was connected to a Bluetooth speaker, headset, etc. This update fixes that, along with a number of other sound-related activities including streaming music and GPS voice navigation.
iOS 9.3.2 also introduces the ability to run Apple’s colour changing NightShift feature while in Low Power mode, a feature that was originally available in the iOS 9.3 beta but was removed by the company with its final release.
The new version of iOS prompted an iTunes update too, with the most current version, iTunes 12.4, now available to download. While it isn’t a huge update, Apple has gone to some lengths to make the notoriously confusing-to-use iTunes a little easier to navigate. How? The company has reintroduced the sidebar menu for navigating the My Music section, allowing constant access to playlists while browsing your iTunes library.
However, it’s not great news for everybody – there are reports of the iOS 9.3.2 update bricking some 9.7in iPad Pros. Affected users are presented with an “Error 56” message that prompts them to plug their device into iTunes, and according to Apple’s error code support document, the error is a hardware issue. Apple has since acknowledged the issue, and issued a statement to Rene Ritchie at iMore:
“We're looking into a small number of reports that some iPad units are receiving an error when updating the software. Those unable to restore their device through iTunes should contact Apple support.”
iOS 9.3.1
On 6 April 2016, users uncovered a flaw (video linked) in the latest iOS 9.3.1 which allows you to directly unlock an iPhone without having to neither enter a passcode nor even use TouchID. The flaw was exploitable through Siri, but within 24hrs was successfully patched by Apple - the update takes place automatically and won't require you to update your operating system. Keep on reading to find out just what's new in iOS 9.3.
iOS 9.3
Apple hosted an event on 21 March 2016 where it announced the 4in iPhone SE alongside the 9.7in iPad Pro and a flurry of new Apple Watch straps. Along with the new hardware announcements, the company also announced that iOS 9.3, which has been in beta testing since February (and Apple's biggest 'dot' update) was to be made available to the public on the same day (21/03/2016). To get the latest software, simply open the Settings app, tap General > Software update, install the iOS 9.3 update and the same principle applies to any new revisions to the software.
Apple announced the latest iteration of its iOS operating system via its own website, iOS 9.3, back in February and promises a handful of features that users have been longing for, for quite some time. It includes a ‘Night Shift’ mode that’ll adjust colours based on the time of day (and location of the device), producing colours warmer in the evening to combat the issue of blue light affecting your circadian rhythms, making it more difficult to sleep at night. The warmer colours should make it easier on your eyes in the evening, and make it easier to sleep when using an iOS device just before bed (as many of us do!).
The update also brings password protection, along with Touch ID support, to the Notes app, allowing you to keep private notes exactly that – private. Many users use the Notes app to store important snippets of information and sometimes even passwords, which is extremely insecure and could lead to your personal information being accessed if your phone (or iPad, or Mac) is stolen. Apple says that with the inclusion of password and Touch ID protection, users should be free to store personal data including financial details and website logins, without worry. Although we’re happy that Apple has decided to do this, we think it’d be better suited to other native iOS apps like the Messages app, for example.
Also in the
iOS 9.3 update are a host of new 3D-touch enabled shortcuts for stock iOS apps, including the Settings and Weather apps. Force-pressing the Settings icon in iOS 9.3 will bring up shortcuts to the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wallpaper and Battery settings menus, a feature requested by iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users since they were released in September 2015.
Alongside this, iOS 9.3 includes a number of smaller improvements to the iOS experience, including the following:
- The ability to switch to corresponding apps via the Wallet app
- Landscape support for more iPhones
- Siri support for new languages, including Hebrew, Finish and Malay
- The ability to duplicate a Live Photo as a standard photo when exporting images from the Photos app
- ‘Duplicate’ option in Photos app
- Taptic feedback when accessing the multi-tasking menu via 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus
- Option to display Activity app data in the Health app
- New Workout data section in the Activity app
- iOS Education upgrades
- Enhanced Apple Music support in CarPlay
- iCloud for iBooks will sync PDFs and more
iOS 9 updates: What's new in iOS 9.2
iOS 9.2 is now available for the iPhone. It offers improvements to Apple Music, making it easier to create playlists and save songs to listen to offline, as well as better browsing of Classical music.
There’s also a new Top Stories section in the News app.
And Mail has been improved, with Mail Drop now allowing users to send large attachments.
To download
iOS 9.2 you need to visit Settings > General > Software Update. Alternatively you may see an alert on your phone that the update is available.
iOS 9.2 is also said to solve an issue with the iPad Pro suddenly going black and failing to respond, according to Apple. The company has updated it’s initial release notes with this claim. Apple had previously offered a fix that involved holding down the home and sleep/wake buttons – essentially restarting your iPad.
Update: iOS 9.2.1 - On 20 January, Apple released iOS 9.2.1, a small update that can really help speed things up if you're running an older iPhone, so we'd recommend updating. Specifically, though, Apple has noted that the update fixes an issue that could prevent the completion of app installation when using an MDM server.
iOS 9 bugs: Battery Freeze
iOS 9.2.1 did not, however, fix an issue that has been plaguing the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus and has hit headlines over the past few days.
Essentially, owners of the newest iPhones are finding that their battery life indicators are not updating, even when their battery has been charged.
Apple says that the problem occurs when you change the time on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus or change timezones when travelling. It suggests restarting your phone and turning on 'Set Automatically' after navigating to Settings > General > Date & Time.
But that's far from an ideal solution to the problem so for now we're still waiting for a fix.
iOS 9 updates: What's new in iOS 9.1
The latest iOS 9 update is iOS 9.1, which includes several changes and improvements and is the first major update to the operating system just one month after it was released. It introduces new emoji including the long-awaited middle finger, plus others such as a champagne bottle and a unicorn.
In addition to the new emoji, iOS 9.1 also brings the News app to the UK. You can find out more about News here.
There's also a new Live Photos feature that helps prevent the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus from capturing movements like raising or lowering the phone, a problem that we'd been encountering many times prior to the update.
There's also support for the Apple TV, which just became available to pre-order, and the iPad Pro
Read:
Advanced iOS 9 tips
iOS 9 updates: What's new in iOS 9.0.2
Before iOS 9, iOS 9.0.2 was launched on 30 September. It fixed bugs including one that prevented the mobile data usage from being turned on or off for individual apps, an iMessage activation issue and iCloud backup problems. There was also a strange bug that could cause the screen to rotate when notifications were received.
iOS 9 updates: What's new in iOS 9.0.1
The first update to iOS 9 came not long after iOS 9 launched, on 23 September. It included lots of bug fixes, including one that prevented people from upgrading to iOS 9 at all because there was a glitch with the Slide to Upgrade screen.
iOS 9 updates: Music Memo & GarageBand Live Loops
In an unusual move, Apple has released a new app well in advance of WWDC 2016, which we expect to take place in June complete with our first look at iOS 10.
The new app, released on 20 January and available for free for iPhone and iPad, is called
Music Memos, and is designed to let musicians and songwriters quickly capture, organise and develop their musical ideas.
"Musicians around the world, from the biggest artists to aspiring students, use Apple devices to create amazing music; the innovative new Music Memos app will help them quickly capture their ideas on iPhone and iPad whenever inspiration strikes," said Apple's head of marketing Phil Schiller.
Prior to Music Memo, musicians were using Voice Memos to capture their ideas, so Apple has created a new, dedicated app to make things easier. "Sometimes ideas come faster than I can get them into my notebook so I've used Voice Memos and Notes to quickly capture songs before they're lost," said singer and producer Ryan Adams in Apple's press release. "Music Memos is like if those two apps came together to form some kind of superpower for songs."
Apple has taken the idea of using Voice Memos on iPhones and iPads to capture ideas to a new level, meaning you can record any instrument (although acoustic guitar and paino work best) in high quality, uncompressed format. Music Memos can analyse the rhythm and chords of recordings, and it can even add virtual drums and a bassline. Better yet, Music Memos offers basic notation, too.
You can add names and star ratings to your recordings and ideas to help find your favaourites, and there's a tag system to allow you to find intros or verses, for example.
Ideas can be stored in iCloud, opened in GarageBand or Logic Pro X and if you're already part of Apple Music Connect you can share ideas with your fans there.
Talking of GarageBand, Apple didn't stop with just Music Memo. It also released a big update to
GarageBand for iOS. GarageBand 2.1 for iOS now offers Live Loops inspired by DJ hardware controllers and drum machines, as well as a new Drummer feature and compatibility with the iPad Pro. Plus, there's now 3D Touch compatibility for GarageBand, too.
iOS 9 bugs
iOS 9's launch hasn't been the smoothest of affairs. First came the aforementioned bug with the Slide to Upgrade screen, which left some users unable to upgrade at all. Then there were issues with WiFi, unresponsive touchscreens, cellular data for individual apps, Bluetooth, iMessage, battery life and more. Plus, users were complaining about WiFi assist, which is turned on by default, because it uses mobile data to help speed up your internet connection.
Plus, another bug spotted by users migrating from an iPhone 5, 5s or 5c to an iPhone 6S have found that an iOS 9 bug is making several apps appear zoomed in.
Find out more here.
If you've discovered an iOS 9 bug and haven't yet updated to the latest version, that's the first thing you'll need to do, because it's likely that Apple has already fixed it.
You can find out how to update by clicking here.
But be careful! Even Apple's update system has a bug in it, and that bug could make you really late for work. Macworld's own Ashleigh Allsopp discovered that the hard way when she chose the 'Later ' option after being prompted to update to iOS 9.1. Choosing that option will mean that your iPhone will automatically update overnight while you're sleeping, and will be finished when you wake up. But the problem is that you might not wake up – at least not on time. Choosing the overnight update will turn off your alarm, so make sure you do it on the weekend when you don't need to be up and out in the morning.
iOS 9 release date: iOS 9 is out now
At its September event Apple revealed that iOS 9 would be out on Wednesday 16 September and sure enough the iOS operating system was available to download just after 6pm in the UK that day. It was supposed to launch alongside the highly anticipated watchOS 2 but the latter was been delayed.
How to install iOS 9 on your iPhone & iPad today
iOS 9 launch: Design changes
After the radical visual rethink in iOS 7 (and the ensuing backlash from users), Apple's designers calmed down for iOS 8. In terms of the interface, it's practically identical to later builds of iOS 7.
And that's largely what we expected from iOS 9 too. Because as iOS updates go, rapid change is the exception not the rule - and we can only imagine that Apple had its fingers burned by the reaction to iOS 7.
Sure enough, iOS 9 looks almost identical to iOS 8. But there are some small, crucial differences in the way it looks, and the way the interface behaves.
iOS 9 design changes: New typeface
Apple has replaced the Helvetica Neue system font that was introduced in iOS 7 with a bespoke font called San Francisco.
It's a subtle difference, but you can spot it if you look closely. Take these screenshots from the Settings app in iOS 8 (left) and iOS 9 (right). Look at the capital R on Refresh and Restrictions: the older font had more of a curl.
You already know San Francisco without necessarily realising it: it's the system font from the Apple Watch, and was selected and designed specifically to be readable on a miniature screen. The general feeling is that Apple's move to a super-slim Helvetica variant for iOS 7 sacrificed readability of the sake of attractive visual minimalism, and iOS 9's San Francisco typeface should be easier to read as well as remaining easy on the eye.
iOS 9 design changes: New Shift key and other keyboard changes
This one sounds small, but you'd be amazed by the number of people who have complained about it.
The Shift key in iOS 8's default system keyboard is ambiguous. When it's on, it looks off, and when it's off, it looks on. Take a look for yourself:
In the top picture, the Shift key is off (look at the QuickType suggested words to confirm this - 'the' is not capitalised). In the bottom picture Shift is on - yet it's the same colour as the other keys on its row. Rather confusing.
We're pleased to announce that Apple has sorted this out in iOS 9. We thought it might involve a splash of colour when Shift was enabled, as you'll see in some rival platforms, but Apple remains committed to its minimalist principles. Instead, the entire set of keys change to lower- or upper-case, as the situation demands:
You'll also notice some new additions to the system keyboard: shortcut keys at the top right. These are for cut-and-paste commands (the scissors) and to-do list formatting (the tick in a circle) as well as more formatting options (the upper- and lower-case A).
This is what you get in Notes, at any rate. In a lot of cases, in fact, you'll just get the cut-and-paste options, and they will therefore be listed separately:
Source:macworld (continue
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