Apple is slated to release new iDevices this year along with a new version of its mobile operating system, iOS 9. But how does the new OS stack up to iOS 8?

iOS 8 delivered new features, such as a predictive keyboard, new camera features, a Health app and other improvements in its existing apps. Though the new features were needed, iOS 8 adoption was met with trepidation. For starters, many Apple device users wanted to quickly update to the new iOS were prevented from doing so because they didn’t have enough space for the upgrade. And those who were able to upgrade were greeted with bugs, such as a quickly draining battery.

Some of the bugs have been addressed, and now Apple is gearing up for the release of iOS 9. It is expected that the new OS will be revealed at this year’s WWDC 2015 and be released by September before the new iPhone goes on sale. So what can we expect from iOS 9?

Stability and optimization

According to reports, iOS 9 will not be big on new features but come with under-the-hood improvements, such as the elimination of iOS 8 bugs, improving stability and boosting performance. Another thing the iOS team is focusing on: keeping the size of the OS and the updates manageable, which means users won’t have to resort to deleting content just to get the update.

Supported devices

It is likely that iPhone 4S, 5 and 5C; iPad mini first generation; iPad 2; iPad with Retina Display; and iPod 5th generation will not get the iOS 9 upgrade. This means that iOS 9 will be running on devices that use 64-bit architecture, such as the A7, A8 and A9 processors. This could simplify the development of iOS, which may mean a more stable iOS.

Publicly tested

Though rumored features about iOS 9 are pretty scarce at the moment, there are reports that the next iOS is now being publicly tested on a small scale. According to Macworld, it was contacted by writer Roman Zavrel who discovered that versions of iOS 9 have shown up on his site’s web analytics. The site’s traffic showed three visits using iOS 9 in January. Macworld looked into its own analytics and discovered 10 page views from devices running variants of iOS 9.x in the past few months.

photo credit: Back of the iPad 2 via photopin (license)