- 25 Great Secrets In Apple iOS 9
iOS
9 is here (in slightly controversial fashion) and with it come many great new
features. But also inside every major Apple software release are hidden gems
that separate the power users from the masses. It’s time to spill those
secrets…
To
make all these features easier to navigate I’ve grouped them by category:
Camera And Video
1. Zoom In Videos – Yes, with iOS 9 pinch to zoom not only works
for photos but videos as well. Just perform the pinch gestures while a video is
playing.
2. Hide Photos - You probably don’t want every photo you take
to be easily viewable to anyone who picks up your phone and helpfully iOS 9
fixes this. In camera roll tap ‘Select’ and select all the photos you want to
be hidden away then tap the bottom left corner button to open a Share Sheet and
select ‘Hide’.
3. Fast Photo
Selection - with iOS 9 you no
longer need to tap individual photos for multiple selections. Just keep your
finger on the screen after selecting the first photo and drag it to select as
many as you want in a single action.
4. Fast Photo
Scanning - you’re likely to
build up a substantial photo library over time (unless you have the 16GB model)
so once you open a photo in iOS 9 look for the strip of image thumbnails below.
Drag this left or right to race through your snaps.
5. Easy Close
Photo Shortcut – as iPhones get
bigger it isn’t so easy to reach the top left ‘Back’ button, but iOS 9 eases
this frustration by allowing you to swipe down on any open photo to return to
the Camera Roll.
Battery Secrets
6. Hidden
Battery Widget – iOS 9 lets you add a
new battery widget to the bottom of the ‘Today’ view in the Notification
Center. Tap ‘edit’ at the bottom of the Today column to reveal the option to
add it. You will notice it also shows a connected Apple Watch.
7. Detailed
Battery Usage - ever wondered which
apps are killing your battery? Now you can get a detailed breakdown in iOS 9 by
going to Settings > Battery then ‘Battery Usage’. These can also be broken
down by the time using the Clock button.
8. Manually
Enable Low Power Mode –
Sometimes you may want to conserve power long before your iPhone or iPad is
about to die. Turn the new Low Power Mode on manually by going to Settings >
General > Battery > Low Power Mode and toggle it to On.
Quick
access to call or message contacts.
10. Quick Reply – this feature was partially introduced in iOS
8, but now all messaging apps in iOS 9 allow quick replies to be sent by
dragging down on a new message notification.
11. Group Notifications - prefer your notifications grouped by app
rather than time? Easy in iOS 9! Settings > Notifications > Group By App
and switch the toggle to On.
12. New Voices - iOS 9 has more voice options if you head to
Settings > General > Accessibility > Voices.
13. Messages:
Easy Close Attachments – As with photos, you can avoid using the hard-to-reach back
button by swiping down on any open attachment to return to the message.
Safari Shortcuts
14. Smart Safari
Search - paste a URL into the
Safari address bar and it triggers the button ‘Paste and Go’, saving an extra
tap. Similarly, paste any text into the Safari address bar and it gives you a
single tap ‘Paste and Search’ button.
15. Desktop Mode
Shortcut - Safari has long had
a ‘request desktop site’ mode but now you can quickly access it in iOS 9 but
tapping and holding your finger on the address bar to bring up the ‘Request
Desktop Site’ option.
16. Enhanced Reader Mode – Reader Mode in Safari existed in iOS 8, but
now you can also change the font, background and other options simply but
tapping the ‘Aa’ button.
17. Save Website
As PDF - while the likes of
Pocket and Instapaper have become the defacto offline reading tools for
millions, it can also be useful to save a website as a simple PDF. Open the
Safari Share Sheet menu and you’ll now find ‘Save PDF to iBooks’.
18. AdBlock
Shortcut - In iOS 9 if you long
press the refresh icon in Safari it gives you the option to reload the page
with ad blocking enabled.
Easier Input
19. Change
keyboard caps - with iOS 9 Apple’s
virtual keyboard keys adapt automatically to show upper and lower case fonts.
This can be disabled by going to Settings > General > Accessibility >
Keyboard and toggle ‘Show Lowercase Keys’ to off. I’d suggest this is more useful
for pranks, than anything else.
20. Quick
Calculator and Currency Conversions - like the Chrome browser, the Spotlight in
iOS 9 now gives you answers to calculations and currency questions as you type.
21. Mutating Mute
Switch – prefer to use the
mute switch on your iPhone for something else? Go to Settings > General and
you can instead set it to enable/disable screen rotation. This was an iPad only
feature before iOS 9.
Pro Productivity
22. Markup Mail - Apple’s unloved Mail app finally has a
useful new feature: after attaching a photo to an email simply tap and hold it
to get the ‘Markup’ option, which lets you draw on it.
23. Wallet
Privacy - Apple Pay
automatically appears when you need it so there’s little point to Wallet’s
annoying habit in iOS 9 of appearing on your lock screen if you double tap the
home button. Settings > Touch ID & Passcode and toggle Wallet to Off.
24. Beat Slow
WiFi – if your WiFi network
is letting you down navigate to Settings > Cellular > Wi-Fi Assist to
allow your iPhone or cellular iPad to boost performance by using carrier data
in addition to WiFi.
25. Hidden iCloud - Strangely iOS 9 hides Apple’s new iCloud app
by default. Reveal it by going to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and
toggle ‘Show on Home Screen’ to on for access to this useful service.
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