HomeKit, Apple's platform for the connected home that was unveiled last summer, is beginning to pick up support from some well-established names in smart home appliances.
Last week, several vendors brought out some compelling HomeKit-certified home automation devices ahead of the Worldwide Developers Conference. And now, HomeKit is going to get a lot smarter with support for new types of home automation systems and improved remote management of your home.
True multitasking is now a reality on the iPad! With iOS 9, you can view two apps at the same time and interact with them using multitouch at the same time.
You can also adjust the Split View between the two apps on the fly, and access additional apps by means of a brand new App Switcher. You'll even be able to watch videos via a brand new Picture in Picture mode.
Needless to say, iOS 9 looks like a complete game changer for the iPad. It will certainly make it more of a productivity machine thanks to the new multitasking ability.
Apple says that many iPhone users use the Notes app regularly to do things like create lists, capture ideas, and more. As a big proponent of the Notes app, I completely concur.
Notes on iOS 9 brings some significant new improvements to the Notes app to help those users, including the ability to create lists, rich text, and hand-drawn notes, and more.
Apple Pay, Apple's wireless payment system, will be coming to the United Kingdom next mont with 250,000 UK merchant locations. Commuters using London transportation system will be able to use Apple Pay, too.
Furthermore, the system will be available to Discover's 50 million card members this fall, said Apple during the WWDC keynote today.
Trader Joe's, J.C. Penneys and many other retailers will be joining Apple Pay soon. Small businesses will be supported on Apple Pay through Square via a brand new reader compatible with Apple Pay that will be available in Apple Stores soon.
Spotlight search has been completely redesigned for iOS 9, and it brings with it a new interface, a new search API, deep linking to search results, and more. With an interface that harkens back to the pre-iOS 7 days, search is now a powerful new tool in iOS.
Lots of new tidbits of information is beginning to surface regarding a potential jailbreak for iOS 8.3 and iOS 8.4, and the future of jailbreaking with iOS 9, which will presumably be released in beta form after the WWDC keynote on Monday, June 8th, 2015.
iDigitalTimes' Cammy Harbison's interview with TaiG member Ray Xie, revealed that the TaiG team is setting its sights on iOS 9 with regard to future jailbreaks. Not long after that interview went live, news began to leak out that Pangu, the other Chinese team responsible for some of the more recent jailbreaks, was preparing a jailbreak release for iOS 8.3 right after the release of iOS 8.4.
So what's to make of all of this? Will we actually see an iOS 8.3 jailbreak released publicly? Will we have to wait until iOS 9 officially launches before another jailbreak surfaces? There's no way to be 100% sure about any of this, especially with the rumored implementation of the so-called rootless security mechanism. But one thing is clear, the interest in jailbreaking—at least from a hacker perspective—is still strong.
Transit directions, along with a trip-planning feature and indoor maps, is rumored to be a cornerstone feature of Apple Maps in iOS 9. According to 9to5Mac on Tuesday, transit directions in Apple Maps are set to launch in approximately a half-dozen cities across the United States, Canada and Europe, with more to be added at a later stage.
In fact, as AppleInsider first reported three days ago, Apple's mapping service in China is better than Apple Maps in Europe or the United States.
iOS 9, the next major iteration of Apple's mobile operating system powering the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, reportedly has built-in support for Force Touch technology which debuted on the Apple Watch, suggesting the possibility of pressure-sensitive screens on the next iPhone and iPad.
According to a new report by 9to5Mac, the operating system also features support for Apple Pay in Canada, has improved software keyboard with new designs and enhances iMessage by enabling read receipts for group chat threads and on a per-contact basis.
Recent reports are claiming that Apple's upcoming iOS update—iOS 9—will make it more difficult to jailbreak iPhones and iPads going forward. Some are even stating that it will be nearly impossible to jailbreak an iPhone running iOS 9.
The reason? Rootless—the kernel-level security feature that was discussed earlier today. This new feature is said to prevent malware, increase the safety of extensions and preserve the security of sensitive data.
When it's all said and done, Apple's security efforts in iOS 9 appear to be its most prolific since iOS 5. It could make it more of a challenge for jailbreakers and hackers.
But impossible? There's nothing that's impossible when it comes to security. More difficult? Perhaps. More challenging? Maybe. But impossible?
It's been said before that the next major version of Apple's mobile operating system will be a Snow Leopard style upgrade in that it won't focus as much on new features as it would on optimizing code base for stability, performance and quality.
In a new report, 9to5Mac details what lies ahead for both iOS 9 and OS X 10.11, not just in terms of speed and stability, but also regarding both operating systems' stronger security and a few new end-user facing features.
Apple is developing not one, but two new twelve-inch iPad models, codenamed “J98” and “J99”. Also, the firm's doubled down on advancing productivity aspects of iOS with a much-needed dual-app multitasking mode and support for multiple users in iOS 9, a report Thursday by 9to5Mac alleged.
The same publication originally claimed side-by-side multitasking would debut in iOS 8 with the iPad Air back in 2014 so take today's story with a grain of salt.
“Sources now say that Apple plans to show off the side-by-side feature for iOS 9 using currently available iPad models,” the article states.
Split-screen multitasking should be formally announced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference next month, with multi-user support reportedly slated to arrive later this year alongside new iPads.
One important piece of the Apple Maps puzzle is about to fall in place at next month's WWDC as Apple readies to announce the Transit feature within Apple Maps in iOS 9, 9to5Mac reported this morning.
The same publication ran a scoop last year reporting that the Transit feature would launch as part of the iOS 8 software update, but the rumor didn't pan out.
“Having originally planned to add a new transit directions feature to Maps last year, only to pull the feature before WWDC 2014, Apple now hopes to launch its Transit service with iOS 9,” the report, based on “sources,” reads.