iOS 9 Beta Release Date ! What is New ?

Apple recently announced its next iOS 9 and for the first time ever, it has released a public beta of the software. Anyone who has a compatible iOS device can now download the iOS 9 beta. The exact date hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s bound to land with a new iPhone, which itself is expected to launch in September, so you shouldn’t have too long to wait.


Before you begin downloading the iOS 9 beta on your iPhone or iPad, it is important to backup all of the device’s data onto iTunes or iCloud. Although you can download it on your primary iPhone or iPad; Apple suggests that you consider using a secondary device to test the software. This would help cut down on any important data loss, in case something goes awry during the testing program.


What’s new in iOS 9? Well in terms of design it looks pretty similar to iOS 8, other than the big font change. As The Verge notes, iOS 9 ditches Helevtica Neue for San Francisco font by Apple. Additionally 9to5Mac reports that the iOS 9 beta 3 which was released to developers has a separate album for Selfies and that Siri does not make the usual ‘Ding’ sound when activated.

The other new features of iOS 9 are:

Siri with Proactive Assistance: Siri comes armed with Proactive assistance. It will take the place of spotlight search in iOS 9 and will give users the most relevant information based on the context they put in. In addition to this, Proactive will also automatically add invites, reminders to a calendar without a user having to tap and do it themselves.

News App: There is also Apple’s News app which looks a lot like Flipboard and will have access to news content and articles. Sadly News app is not coming to India yet, so really nothing of interest here.

Transit in Apple Maps: This new feature on Apple Maps will give train, bus schedules etc and step-by-step direction along with walking time to subways, bus-stations etc. Again it won’t work in India yet.

SlideOver on iPad: The new feature allows users to work with two apps simultaneously, side-by-side on the iPad. A long awaited feature for iPads indeed. There’s also a new Picture-in-Picture which will let users continue watching a video while using any other app.