Update your iPhone and get FOUR HOURS more battery life, and other reasons to get iOS 9

Add FOUR HOURS of extra battery life to your iPhone by upgrading to iOS 9

APPLE will roll out iOS 9 across the globe next week ahead of the in-store release of its new smartphone, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

 

Apple's free iOS 9 software update adds a number of key features to the iPhone and iPad.

iOS 9 will be available as a Free Update for iPhone, iPad & iPod touch Users September 16.

The iPhone manufacturer has improved performance across the software – which means users will get an extra hour of battery life, simply by installing the update.

Apple has added a number of clever tricks to iOS 9 to find the additional hour of battery.

 

Updating to iOS 9 should also speed up older hardware, thanks to a number of under-the-hood tweaks

Amongst them, if the iPhone thinks you're unable to see its display – by using its in-built proximity and ambient light sensors to determine whether it is facedown on a table, etc – the phone won't bother powering up its screen when it gets a notification.

Battery information will also appear in a new widget, housed within the Notification Centre, which will include the latest percentages from your iOS devices and Apple Watch.

Apple will also continue to battery shame third-party developers in the iPhone settings to try and promote battery-friendly code. 

iOS 9 includes a more detailed list of which apps are draining the most – or least – amount of power from your smartphone.

The Cupertino firm has also included a new Low Power Mode which promises to eke out an additional three hours of battery life when your iPhone starts to run out of juice.

Background activity, motion effects and animated wallpapers are all disabled in the name of battery.

 

Brightness and networking speed are also dimmed or reduced. Background downloads are completely suspended and Mail is only fetched manually.

All of this means that in total, you should be able to squeeze an extra four hours of battery from your existing iPhone hardware.

If you still need a reason to update your iPhone or iPad to iOS 9 – here are some of the other key features.

Apple has given Siri a visual makeover and increased her ability to intelligently make suggestions throughout the mobile operating system.

The voice assistant now appears like a Knight Rider multi-coloured soundwave at the bottom of the screen, similar the interface used on the Apple Watch.

 

Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi announces iOS 9 at WWDC

Siri also appears within Spotlight – which was been renamed to Search – and makes suggestions for apps, restaurants and even news articles based on your interests, current location, the time of day and the weather.

Plug in your headphones and iOS 9 recognises that you might want to finish the podcast you started earlier. Or connect via Bluetooth in your car, and your favourite playlist is suggested for the ride home.

The virtual assistant Siri can also now be used to voice search for photos on you device. 

 

Apple has also added some clever machine learning to its photos app, which means you can ask Siri to find photos "of me in San Francisco last year".

Unlike Google Now and similar functionality on Android devices, Apple claims all of Siri's smarts will be located on your hardware, not in their servers.

"It stays on your device, under your control," Senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi has previously reassured.

iPad owners will also be introduced to brand-new functionality with the update to iOS 9 – the ability to split-screen two apps at the same time.

Dubbed Slide Over, the new feature allows iPad owners to pull in a second app to the side of the screen.

The secondary application, which takes up about a third of the total display real estate, appears as it would on an iPhone.

 

The latest iPhone and iPad OS will be free to upgrade, and available ahead of the iPhone 6S

Users can then expand the smaller app sop that both iPad applications take up half of the display and run simultaneously.

Apple has dubbed this Split-Screen and it will only be available on the iPad Air 2 at launch.

Slide Over is supported by a much larger range of devices, including the iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 2 and iPad Mini 3.

iOS 9 will also preview lowercase characters on the Apple keyboard when shift or Caps Lock has not been activated, six-digit PIN numbers for devices with a Touch ID fingerprint sensor (up from four digits in the current version), a new Apple-designed News app, an updated Notes app with support for images and handwriting, as well as a new Selfies folder in the Photos app for any snaps taken with the front-facing camera.

Another nice addition, if you tap on a banner notification you will be redirected to act upon the alert – like in the current version of iOS. 

However a Back button has now been added to the top-left of the banner, which will send the user back to where they were when the notification initially popped-up.

Wifi Assist has also been included in iOS 9, which intelligently disconnects from a sluggish wifi connected and switches to your mobile data automatically, if iOS thinks it will get better internet speeds.