Apple released iOS 9 earlier this week, and despite the stuttering start, reports claim that nearly 12.5 percent of Apple devices are already running on the latest operating system. We already highlighted 10 of the best new features on iOS 9, but there are plenty of hidden features strewn throughout the OS. Here’s a look at 15 hidden features that you should try out.
Photos folders: Apple has made some nifty improvements to its Photos app, and one of the most visible changes is the addition of new folders. In iOS 9, Apple automatically creates separate folders for selfies, and screenshots, which makes it really easy to look for specific images.
Selecting multiple photos: Tapping on each photo to select is outdated, and with iOS 9 Apple has introduced a new and much cooler way of selecting multiple photos. Now you can simply tap on the first photo, and drag your finger to select multiple photos.
Hiding photos: It’s not only easier to select multiple photos, but now it is quite easy to hide multiple photos as well. Select the photos you want to hide from prying eyes, then tap the Share button on the bottom-left corner, and click on Hide.
Zooming videos: One of the most interesting features is the ability to zoom videos that you are currently watching. The familiar pinch to zoom gesture is all that you need to do for zooming a part of the video being played on your device.
Quick contacts: Spotlight search on iOS 9 is more usable than ever before. Searching for a contact on Spotlight gives you shortcuts to call or message them. This is way faster than looking up a contact in the Phonebook and then calling or messaging them.
Spotlight calculator: Spotlight has also made the calculator app redundant to an extent. It also ensures that you do not need a separate app for quick currency conversions. Simply typing something like $500 will show you the equivalent of the rupee in the results. You can also perform basic calculations using the Spotlight search.
Notification groups: The Notification Center has seen quite a few tweaks as well, including the ability to group notifications based on the apps. You can head over to Settings -> Notifications -> Group by App to enable the grouping. While iOS still doesn’t allow one to dismiss all notifications at once, this at least makes it easier and faster to clear a huge list of notifications.
Search Settings: While different kinds of Settings are separated under subsections on iOS, sometimes it can get a tad frustrating while looking for a particular option. To help with that, Apple has introduced Search in Settings, which as the name suggests, lets you search for any particular option and quickly access it.
Search Messages: It can similarly get frustrating if you are in search for a particular message. Now however when you search for a particular message, Apple will highlight the correct message, as well as the searched keyword.
Shake to Undo: Shake to Undo may not be a new feature, but there are times when you would have accidentally undone something without meaning to. To avoid such a scenario, Apple now let’s you disable this feature. You can head over to Settings -> General -> Accessibility and click on the toggle switch.
Mute Switch: On an iPad you can configure what the Mute switch on the side does — mute the device or enable/disable screen rotation. Apple has now brought this feature to the iPhones as well, and is particularly handy if you are using an iPhone 6 Plus or plan on buying the iPhone 6s Plus.
Back to App: This is a particularly handy feature. When using apps like Facebook or Twitter, clicking on a link takes one to another app. Rather than going to the multi-tasking window and again switching back to the older app, Apple has made the process simpler with iOS 9. Now whenever you switch apps, there will be a button at the top-left corner, which will take you back to the app you were using.
Markup: The Mail app on iOS 9 gets a handy feature that lets you doodle on an attached image. Long press on an attached image, and select Markup.
Hindi transliteration: In addition to improving the keyboard, Apple has also added a handy transliteration feature that makes it really easy to type in Hindi. Head over to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Keyboards and select ‘Hindi – Transliteration. This will let you type on an English keyboard, and the OS will automatically transliterate it to Hindi.
PDF option on Safari: Not everyone might find this feature useful, but it is a decent feature nonetheless. Safari browser now lets you save a webpage in the PDF format. In Safari, click on the Share button and opt for ‘Save PDF to iBooks’.