Apple's AirTag four-pack falls to $89
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Apple iOS 9
90
Engadget Review
Apple's latest major software release isn't a revolution, but a thoughtful refinement that makes iOS faster and easier to use. Make no mistake, most of the big new features here work great, but it's the little design changes that help mold iOS' core elements into something smarter. iOS 9 isn'tperfect,but it's nonetheless a must-have download.
Chris VelazcoSeptember 22, 2015
Pros
- Lots of small, thoughtful design changes
- Siri is more proactive;Spotlight search is deeper
- That Back button. Seriously.
- New multitasking features for theiPad
Cons
- Transit directions in Mapsdon't work everywhere
- Apple News feels like a work in progress
- No low-powermode for iPods,iPads
View All Critic & User Reviews
Apple iOS 9
- Critic Reviews (10)
- User Reviews (20)
- 88AVERAGE CRITIC SCORE10 ReviewsEngadget90iOS 9 review: making the basics work even betterApple's latest major software release isn't a revolution, but a thoughtful refinement that makes iOS faster and easier to use. ... it's the little design changes that help mold iOS' core elements into something smarter. iOS 9 isn't perfect, but it's nonetheless a must-have download.Macworld80iOS 9 review: iOS 9's new features & design changeiOS 9 has lots of appealing new features (new to iOS, that is - Android wise guys will point out how many have been seen in that OS before now), together with much-appreciated tweaks to the interface and, in particular, the system keyboard.Mashable90iOS 9 review: A need for speed, and Maps that actuThe best part of iOS 9 is that it works the same as iOS 8, but it works better and it works more like you want your phone to work. Apple is focused less on giving us tons of features and more about taking the existing stuff and making it work as promised.TechRadar90iOS 9 reviewiOS 9 is much better than its predecessor, with fewer bugs now than last year's iOS 8 launch. It's smarter and leaner, except for Apple Maps, which keeps it from being the perfect update.The Verge80Apple iOS 9 reviewWhile iOS 9 doesn’t tower over any other platform yet, it is the ground floor of that skyscraper. I can’t wait to see where the elevator takes us next.iMore90iOS 9 reviewiOS 9 has the performance and polish that makes everything that came before better, and sets the iPhone and iPad up for everything that comes next.Expert Reviews90Apple iOS 9 review - all the new featuresSlicker, easier to use and with a ton of new features, iOS 9 is an excellent upgrade to an already powerful operating system.TrustedReviews80iOS 9 reviewA very good update for iPad owners with a enough useful additions to make it worthwhile.Stuff100Apple iOS 9 reviewApple's latest mobile OS is its smartest and slickest ever - so long as you're using the right phone.The Next Web90iOS 9 review: Apple finally focuses on stability aThis is a great upgrade and you should do it today — it’s worth it. iOS 9 fixed all my major issues with the software from both iOS 7 and 8, while adding thoughtful enhancements that make it much easier to use.
- 77AVERAGE USER SCORE20 ReviewsEngadget Reader20October 7, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!This update has so many problems! Do not update if you can avoid it! It added all these unnecessary apps to my phone that took up space and I can't get rid of. Now I have to delete some of the apps I really want. My maps app, no longer talks to me at all. My other apps that need updated will not update because now I have no space. My texting is all messed up. It sends some people texts 3 times and others none at all. I randomly receive 3 texts from people too. Half the time it won't even show me if I received a text. I am very unhappy with this new update and wish I could go back.winterjoey90October 3, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!The best in its category. We highly recommend it. - EngadgetEngadget Reader70October 2, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!At this point I feel locked into the Apple ecosystem. But yesterday I felt a wave of annoyance at how ugly the interface is and how hard it is to navigate through app on my phone. There has to be a better way.Engadget Reader80October 2, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!There's a lot to like about this in spite of a few flaws. - EngadgetEngadget Reader80September 30, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!The only thing I'm really upset about is that when you double click the home button your favorites don't pop up at the top of the screen anymore for easily accessible calling....Engadget Reader50September 29, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!The subject of Engadgets review is "doing the basics better". Unfortunately I must disagree with this. iOS9 is better in some ways (e.g. the "insert attachment from dropbox" built into the email client is a brilliant addition), but in terms of the fundamentals, it is definitely a step backwards.On both an iPad 4 and an iPhone 5S, iOS9 is noticeably slower than iOS8 at every single interaction with the device.From the extra lag when you open all OS (or third party) applications, to the horrendous frame drops while switching between apps, or even just opening a folder of apps. The OS feels really badly optimized for the hardware. "Polish" is meant to be one of apples key strengths!On the iPad 4, apple decided it wouldn't get any of the new multitasking features, not even the simplest "picture in picture" mode which even the iPad minis got. I don't buy that this is a hardware limitation as both the youtube & facebook apps have managed to implement this successfully within their own apps! I can already watch a youtube video then minimise it and search for something else. Why have google been able to achieve what apple can't on the iPad4 hardware?!I'm normally defensive of the benefits of the apple "walled garden" ecosystem, it's usually not much of trade off, I still feel I can do 95% of what I can do with an Android device with the added bonus that things "just always work" and you don't have to deal with Malware or other bullshit. But recently I have to question apples competence on this, Apple have recently banned various app developers (e.g the makers of various "speed camera notification" apps that I use) from releasing updates to their apps in the App Store! Plus there was the recent fake xcode malware issue where 300+ apps were found to be affected.In my view if iOS starts losing feature parity with Android because Apple are overzealously banning legitimate apps, while simultaneously approving 300+ apps that contain malware, it makes me feel at some point their competence started slipping away.Engadget Reader90September 28, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!The best in its category. We highly recommend it. - EngadgetEngadget Reader90September 28, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ascendio/id982548160?l=ru&ls=1&mt=8this app work with iOS 9 , and u can use itEngadget Reader100September 27, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!A gadget unicorn - EngadgetEngadget Reader70September 26, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!A dependable product that doesn't really stand out from the competition. - EngadgetEngadget Reader80September 26, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!iOS 9 is snappy, but the 9.1 Beta prevents me from charging my iPad Air 2Engadget Reader100September 26, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I have to wonder if this reviewer was using it on an iPhone 4!!! Never read such a piss poor review in my life.Engadget Reader30September 26, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!BUGSApps keep closing on both my iPhone 6 and ipad mini 3, I wrote this about 6 times before giving up and successfully using my windows laptop.No multitasking, if 2 apps are open the one in the background resets and you loose your place.Keyboard on messaging app randomly disappears for text and iMessage so I am unable to reply to messages.Overall this has just been a really frustrating experience!!Engadget Reader90September 26, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!There is some great new stuff in this update but there's fluff as well...but maybe others will get more from the parts of the update that I get nothing from....It seems pretty unforgivable that there should be any apparent slow down in performance after an OS upgrade when using last years most powerful phone....a 6+. This is something Apple need to pay attention to. I actually can't tell now if that was just glitches right after the upgrade or whether I just got used the slightly laggier response already...so I am not super unhappy with the speed now but it causes a negative impression when you first install.I really do not like the new app switcher model...wish I had a way to go back to the old version...you just can't fly through the apps the way you used to be able to. This is, for me, the biggest mis-step of iOS 9. Don't know why they did it...I really like the way the Music app comes up when you plug in your ear-buds is excellent...just one less thing for me to have to worry about...clever idea. And the low power mode is definitely going to help me out on those days when I have used the phone more than usual and the battery is threatening to die. FINALLY they have given me a way to browse what's on my iCloud Drive easily too...this is the one thing that has stopped me from using iCloud in the past. Can't believe it took them this long to add but FINALLY they did it.Best new thing iOS 9 added for me though is the little button at the top that says Back to Twitter or whatever app you were using before you followed a link from that app or a notification. This makes it soooo easy to get back to what you were doing before.But why we need our selfies organized differently, Siri suggestions, transit info in Maps (Google is still years ahead in maps), a new font (again) and an improved Notes app (you missed the boat here Apple) is beyond me....maybe someone else will like these but I am not seeing why they bothered.But the app that works the least for me is the News app. I guess it's a mixed blessing because they have finally backed away from the stupid NewsStand app that some news providers adopted but most didn't. I use an Reeder to scan my RSS feeds all day and it gives me the control I need to read the news on my own terms...I can't see why anyone would want the News experience but then I think the same thing about Flipboard too, and they seem t be doing pretty well. I'll just put this one down to personal preferences.Overall, I am glad of the upgrade. It's better than before and that is what matters.Engadget Reader100September 26, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!Have been using iOS 9 since July, as a public beta tester. Best iOS yet.13xforever70September 26, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!With iOS 9 Apple was focusing on the overall improvements throughout the OS, from the very low levels, and up to the UI/UX tweaks. Hundereds of fixes, speed improvements, UI latency optimizations, battery life improvements, etc, etc.In reality though, we have almost-as-good performance as iOS 8, much lower battery life (as bad as 1/2 of the iOS 8 with the same scenarios), and a lock screen privacy loophole day-0 (known throughout the whole beta-test period, mind you). Apple Music/Match/iCloud Library is still sporting the same bugs and syncing issues. You no longer able to backup apps from iPhone to iTunes (no errors, no nothing, it just doesn't do anything now). Also, Siri may have learned a few tricks, but overall, she's not much more intelligent than she was in iOS 8.All-in-all, you'll spot a few changes here and there, but iOS 9 might've been easily called iOS 8.5, and be done with it.Engadget Reader90September 25, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!The new iOS 9.1 update is much better and a great improvement to iOS as a whole. After installing this version of iOS, it's so much more stable. Lots of glitches have been ironed out. So it's much more usable, so much more customizable that I was able to take a look at some of the new features it currently brings to the table.The feature I like the most is actually the added ability in safari to choose from a sort of file system and iCloud Drive. It solves a lot of concerns I had about getting files uploaded. Second, 9.1 is pretty fast I must say.I just love how slick it is, how it responds. This is the kind of iOS I'm used to. Lag, and crashes have been reduced.Engadget Reader60September 25, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!The most incredible lack of detail Info to understand what was coming I'm still working on resetting everything back. Today Saturday and still I'm having problems with the upgrade. Privacy settings reset individually to all the apps in addition the phone and iPad continues to act up passwords are not responding correctly and I got tons of ads coming out on all over the place! My IT Director having similar issues and Google now has taken over to block some of my apps and they were deleted removed including the files were there I'm having both products reset thats what my IT recommended to avoid losing any classified data from my job! And yes I bought the 128 gigabyte on both and have a terabyte of storage in the cloud for my private data not the work and I cannot tell you how frustrated and let down this has been. Even the battery on both products are draining and have the time. Waiting for Monday to reset it back.Engadget Reader90September 25, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!Installed it on a Iphone 5s and iPad mini. I never install via wifi, always through iTunes. It seems to be "cleaner" that way. No issues on install. Speed is a little less than iOS8. Stability is Ok, though Mail still locks up every once in a while and I have to force close and reopen to update the mail list. Overall it is living up to (whatever) expectations I had.But there is ONE issue that is killing it for me. I was really counting on being able to sketch in Notes on my mini. But IT. DOES. NOT. WORK. Now they say its only for newer models but it was never pre-stated that older iPads would be out. I don't believe there is any technical restriction that a mini can't draw on screen (contrasted with necessary power to have multitasking, which was clear to me).If Apple fixes this, then iOS 9 will be perfect for me. Are you listening?!?!?!?!?!Engadget Reader90September 25, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!The refinements and small added touches to this iOS make this update more than worthy. I am a few devices behind with an iPhone 5S, and the software runs like a dream. Swipe-over on iPad Air... where have you been all my life. I can't wait to get my hands on an iPad Pro. (Apple: Let's have the opportunity to pick some default apps, and remove the ones we aren't going to use.)
Key Specs
TYPE
Mobile / embedded OS
SOURCE MODEL
Closed
ARCHITECTURE
64, 32
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