iOS 9 Features: Hidden New Features

Apple unveiled iOS 9 this morning at the WWDC keynote with a bunch of new features for end-users and developers. Amongst these big announcements, there are some small, but useful features that Apple did not have time to talke about.

Here’s a list of new iOS 9 features and changes that we’ve discovered so far:

Battery Saving mode

When you place your iPhone face down on a table, it will automatically turn off the screen to conserve power. It makes use of ambient light and the proximity sensors.

This and other improvements has helped in improving battery life by one more hour in iOS 9. The Low Power mode, which was showcased during the Keynote, increases battery life by three hours. Low Power mode conserves power by limiting network activity and performance; manually fetching emails, disabling Background App Refresh and downloads, reducing Motion and brightness, and reducing network speed. It can be enabled via a new Battery menu in the Settings app.

iCloud Drive app

As reported earlier, iOS 9 includes a new iCloud Drive app, that as the name suggests gives you access to the files stored in your iCloud Drive. It is hidden by default, but you can enabled via the Settings app (Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Show on Home Screen).

Search in Settings app

Apple has finally added search capabilities in the Settings app, so you can quickly search for the settings rather than navigating through different screens to get to the setting you want to change.

Shift Key

Apple has finally made it easier to figure out if you’re going to type in caps or lower-case. In iOS 9, lower case characters are displayed on the keys when Shift key is turned off, and capital letters are displayed when it is turned on. Prior to iOS 9, capital letters were displayed even though Shift key was turned off. It will take some time getting used to it though.

Update: You can disable the display of lowecase keys via the Settings app (Settings > General > Accessibility > Show Lowercase Keys).

Scrubber in Photos app

The Photos app gets a scrubber which can be accessed at the bottom between the photo and the toolbar. It allows you to quickly flip through the photos in your camera roll.

Back to Search/Back to App

When you use Spotlight to launch an app, you now have a “Back to Search” shortcut at the top leftcorner in the status bar, which allows you to go back to Spotlight. This is quite nifty, as it saves you the hassle of pressing the Home button, and swiping down again on the Home screen to access Spotlight.

Similarly, when you get a Notification, you have a shortcut called “Back to App” that lets you switch back to the previous app.

Add Mail Attachment

You can finally add attachments from iCloud Drive. When you tap and hold in the body section of the new compose window, you should get Attachment option with Insert Photos and Videos.

Redesigned App Switcher

Apple has redesigned the app switcher again in iOS 9. It has a coverflow effect. Apple has also got rid of the Recent and Favorite Contacts from the app switcher, which wasn’t popular with most users.

Apple had given us a glimpse of the redesigned app switcher on the iPad. Here’s a look at the app switcher on the iPhone.

Redesigned Siri

Siri has been revamped. It looks a lot like Siri on the Apple Watch.

Side Switch

iOS 9 gives you the option to use the side switch for Lock screen or Mute. This option has been available on the iPad.

Passcodes are now 6 digits instead of 4

When you try to set a new passcode, iOS 9 You will need to use a 6-digit passcode in iOS 9 instead of 4, to make your passcode a lot tougher to crack. It doesn’t force you to change the passcode to a 6-digit passcode, but if you try to change it, you will have to use a 6-digit passcode.

Update: You also have the option to continue using a 4-digit numeric code. You get the option when you tap on Password Options.

Update 1:

Select multiple photos

There is now a much easier way to select multiple photos in the Photos app. After tapping on Select in the camera roll, you can simply slide your finger over the photos to select multiple photos. In iOS 8, to select multiple photos, you have to tap on them one-by-one or use this trick, which may not be applicable in all situations.

New Font

As expected, Apple has replaced the Helvetica Nue font with the Apple Watch ‘San Francisco’ font in iOS 9. I think the San Francisco font is better than Helvetica Nue. It is sharper and offers improved visibility.

Update 2 (June 9th, 2015):

Group Notifications by App

You can group Notifications by app in Notification Center. There is a new toggle in the Settings app that allows you to group Notifications by App (Settings > Notifications > Group by App).

These are just some of the new hidden features and improvements we’ve discovered in iOS 9 so far. We will continue to update the post as soon we find any new features or improvements. Thanks Alan for the tip!

Update 3 (June 9th, 2015):

Hide Multiple Photos

It is a lot easier to hide multiple photos in iOS 9. In iOS 8, you could hide a photo by tapping and holding on it, and then tapping on the Hide option. If you wanted to hide multiple photos, you had to hide them one by one, which is quite cumbersome. In iOS 9, the option to hide photos is now available in the Share menu. So you can hide multiple photos at once. Thanks Connor for the tip!

Maps app

When you tap on the search bar, you can quickly see what’s nearby, so you can decide on places to shop, eat and more. It’s quite a killer feature, and makes finding places nearby a breeze. Thanks Conor!

New Auto-Lock Option

You have a new 30-second option to Auto-Lock your iPhone or iPad (Settings > General > Auto-Lock). Conor, thanks again for the tip!

Update 4 (June 9th, 2015):

Disable All Vibrations

You can now disable all vibrations on your iPhone or iPad, thanks to a new settings under Accessibility. But it will also disable vibrations for earthquake, tsunami and other emergency alerts.