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What's new in iOS 9 (pictures)

Here are the new features you need to know about Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 9.

Dan Graziano
Dan Graziano is an associate editor for CNET. His work has appeared on BGR, Fox News, Fox Business, and Yahoo News, among other publications. When he isn't tinkering with the latest gadgets and gizmos, he can be found enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City.
Sarah Mitroff Managing Editor
Sarah Mitroff is a Managing Editor for CNET, overseeing our health, fitness and wellness section. Throughout her career, she's written about mobile tech, consumer tech, business and startups for Wired, MacWorld, PCWorld, and VentureBeat.
Expertise Tech, Health, Lifestyle
Dan Graziano
Sarah Mitroff
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Low-power mode

Battery life is still a major problem in today's gadgets. Apple hopes to address the issue in iOS 9 with a new low-power mode. When enabled, the feature extends battery life by up to three hours. It will, however, disable some visual effects and reduce performance when turned on.

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2 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Better note-taking

iOS 9 improves the built-in Notes app on iPhones and iPads. A formatting toolbar lets you easily insert checklists, photos, videos and more into notes. You can also sketch out notes using your finger, and organize them into folders.

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3 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Transit information in Apple Maps

Apple Maps finally gives you directions for trains and buses in major cities. For example, you can see the schedules for both New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road after you click on New York Penn Station.

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4 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple News arrives

The News app on the home screen provides stories throughout the day from topics and publications that interest you. Sound familiar? It’s similar to the Flipboard app available on Android and iOS.

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5 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

A smarter Siri

Along with a slight visual overhaul, Siri is smarter than before. The virtual assistant can remind you of things based on the time of day or even your location. For example, you can say "Remind me to take the trash out when I get home." Siri also responds to specific commands, such as "Show me the photo I took yesterday."

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6 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

A new look for the app switcher

A double-tap on the home button brings you to the redesigned app switcher. Instead of a fanned-out view, the menu now shows apps stacked like a deck of cards. Like before, you can still close recent apps with a upward swipe on the screen.

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7 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

A small change to the Apple Keyboard

Before iOS9, the default Apple keyboard would always show capitalized letters, even if you were typing in lowercase. Thankfully, this has changed. Now the keys will show as lowercase letters unless you hit the shift key (or double tap for caps lock). In other words, a quick glance at the keyboard will help you see if you're typing in lower- or upper-case.

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8 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Better searching with Spotlight

The Spotlight search features results from the Web, your contacts, apps and nearby locations. Spotlight can now be accessed with either a pull-down on the center of the screen (the same way it was in iOS 8), or by swiping to the far left home screen.

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9 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Selfie folder in Photos app

All of your selfies are automatically organized into a single 'Selfie' folder inside of the Photos app.

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10 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

More apps you can't get rid of

In addition to the Apple News app, the Find My Friends and Find My iPhone apps are now pre-installed on iPhones and iPads and can no longer be deleted.

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11 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

iOS 9 for the iPad

With the update, iOS 9 is an even bigger for iPad users, with features like split-screen multitasking, picture-in-picture video and more.

Click here for more information about iOS 9 for the iPad.

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