Inside iOS 9: Siri Suggestions, news, apps & more on Apple's revamped search screen
Apple has introduced an entirely new home screen in iOS 9 that presents users with intelligent, contextually aware information, including frequently opened apps based on time of day and location, or potential destinations in Maps that a user might seek out.
Search in iOS 9 is no longer branded as "Spotlight," with the company's Siri artificial intelligence taking over in the branding department. That includes the new Siri Suggestions feature on the search screen, which presents users with apps, contacts and other frequently accessed data.
Users who have upgraded to iOS 9 can find the new search menu by swiping to the left of the first Home screen. iOS search can also be accessed by dragging down on the home screen, as it operates in iOS 8, but this does not present the full intelligent, personalized screen, instead limiting it to a few recommended apps.
As iOS learns a user's habits, it will evolve and present information that it thinks the person might want quick access to. This is akin to the Google Now service, but Apple has placed an emphasis on protecting personal data, and anonymizing any information that might be sent through the Internet, to differentiate its service from its rival.
With iOS 9, Maps data will intelligently evolved throughout the day: While it may offer quick access to nearby coffee and bakeries in the morning, by the afternoon they could change to parking and gas stations.
Below Maps data, users can scroll to see some of the top headlines of the day in a News list.
Users can make slight customizations to the new search page, allowing the system to show more or less Siri Suggestions, Maps points of interest, or news items.
When choosing content from the new search page, respective apps are opened, locations are accessed from Apple Maps, and News is displayed in Safari. But all of these are accompanied by a new "Back to Search" button in the upper left, which temporarily replaces the carrier name and reception information.
Atop all of this information is the standard search bar, which no longer reads "Spotlight Search," and has been changed to just "Search." There's also a new microphone button to the right of the search bar, which allows users to speak their query rather than type it.
Search itself operates largely the same as in iOS 8. Submitting a query returns data from a number of sources, including the Web, the App Store, the iTunes Store, and more. Once again, Web searches are powered by Microsoft Bing.
Search in iOS 9 is no longer branded as "Spotlight," with the company's Siri artificial intelligence taking over in the branding department. That includes the new Siri Suggestions feature on the search screen, which presents users with apps, contacts and other frequently accessed data.
Users who have upgraded to iOS 9 can find the new search menu by swiping to the left of the first Home screen. iOS search can also be accessed by dragging down on the home screen, as it operates in iOS 8, but this does not present the full intelligent, personalized screen, instead limiting it to a few recommended apps.
As iOS learns a user's habits, it will evolve and present information that it thinks the person might want quick access to. This is akin to the Google Now service, but Apple has placed an emphasis on protecting personal data, and anonymizing any information that might be sent through the Internet, to differentiate its service from its rival.
With iOS 9, Maps data will intelligently evolved throughout the day: While it may offer quick access to nearby coffee and bakeries in the morning, by the afternoon they could change to parking and gas stations.
Below Maps data, users can scroll to see some of the top headlines of the day in a News list.
Users can make slight customizations to the new search page, allowing the system to show more or less Siri Suggestions, Maps points of interest, or news items.
When choosing content from the new search page, respective apps are opened, locations are accessed from Apple Maps, and News is displayed in Safari. But all of these are accompanied by a new "Back to Search" button in the upper left, which temporarily replaces the carrier name and reception information.
Atop all of this information is the standard search bar, which no longer reads "Spotlight Search," and has been changed to just "Search." There's also a new microphone button to the right of the search bar, which allows users to speak their query rather than type it.
Search itself operates largely the same as in iOS 8. Submitting a query returns data from a number of sources, including the Web, the App Store, the iTunes Store, and more. Once again, Web searches are powered by Microsoft Bing.
Comments
It's also a ridiculous battery hog. Went to bed with 97%, woke up 7 hours later with 13%. Nothing was running in the background either. After install it went from 89% to 56% in an hour, but I attributed that to Siri searching my phone and learning. After that first hour things settled down, but a 90% drain with nothing running in 7 hours? Yeah they need to get s handle on that. I've been on the support forums all morning and it's not just me. So much for improved efficiency.
derp i don't understand beta software derp
Is that what you meant to say? Please don't tell me you put this on mission-critical hardware.
Are you familiar with the term "in Beta"?
derp i don't understand beta software derp
Actual LOL here. thank you :-D
Apple will introduce an entirely new home screen in iOS 9
You guys had me for a minute there.
So, if they're changing Newsstand to News and it contains all this aggregated content BS, where do my actual magazine and newspaper subscriptions go? Do they get their own app on the home page now? That's fine, I was just wondering.
I'm excited about the improvements to Siri. These are exactly what I have been hoping for. Siri is about to get a lot smarter and far more useful.
No, it's running on my test iPhone 5S that I use for my apps. And yes, I understand alpha and beta software. This mess runs more like alpha. Every new OS has battery issues, but when you can watch the battery life tick down every 30 seconds with nothing running is pretty bad. Beta 1 of 6 and 7 were nowhere near this bad.
good thing its a beta, dude, designed for developers to test their apps on.
ah, so youre just a troll. got it.
I'm not participating in this beta so far - but I've participated in the last 5 and there is usually an agreement you "accept" which prohibits you from speaking publicly (good or bad) about any of your experiences with the beta. They usually have a dedicated website or forum set up where you can discuss things with other beta testers and of course a bug reporting site you can use to report any bugs you encounter.
I'm not sure if the agreement is different because they've opened up this beta to the public - but I suspect your post breaches the agreement you made with Apple. Hopefully they will find your post and revoke your permission to participate in the remainder of the beta.
Ad blockers don't seem to be enabled. At least the option doesn't show up for me on safari settings.
Ad blockers don't seem to be enabled. At least the option doesn't show up for me on safari settings.
It shows up in my settings iPhone 5, it looks like you are missing the part that says General that is where Block pop-ups is.
Ad blockers don't seem to be enabled. At least the option doesn't show up for me on safari settings.
I'm assuming that option only appears when you download a blocker from the App Store.
As of 3:30 EST, Apple has not released any to the App Store yet. :-/
I don't think that's the case. At least on the pictures shown in the other article there's a content blocker menu even though there were no content blockers at the time.