7 tips and tricks for iOS 9

iOS 9 is the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system. It comes with a number of great new features. Some of them apply to just the iPad, while others work on the iPad, iPhone and even the iPod touch.

In this slideshow I’ll walk you through seven of the best new features in iOS 9. Here’s a list of the features covered:

1. How to use Slide Over on the iPad 2. How to use Split View on the iPad 3. How to use Picture in Picture on the iPad 4. How to use the iCloud Drive app 5. How to use the new Search screen 6. How to enable Low Power Mode on your iPhone 7. How to use a gray background in Safari Reader

Slide Over makes it easy to see two apps at the same time on your iPad. When you use Slide Over, your first app will stay in the background while your second app will appear above it in a sidebar on the right side of your screen.

Here’s how you can use Slide Over in iOS 9 on your iPad:

1. Put your finger in the middle of the right side of your screen and tap. 2. Swipe to the left on your screen. 3. A selection of apps will load in a sidebar above your currently opened app. 4. Tap on the app that you want to use while your first app stays in the background. 5. To close your second app just tap on your first app or simply slide the Side Over sidebar back to the right side of the screen.

For more about Slide Over in iOS 9, see the original tip.

Split View is a new way of multitasking on your iPad in iOS 9. You can now run two apps side by side on the iPad. This makes it very easy to copy and paste text between apps, for example.

Here’s how you can use Split View in iOS 9 on the iPad:

1. Open the first app that you want to use in Split View. 2. Put your finger on the middle of the right side of your iPad’s screen and then swipe left to open the Slide Over sidebar. 3. You’ll see a list of available apps in the sidebar. 4. Tap on the app you want to use to open it in the sidebar. 5. Your second app will open in the sidebar. 6. Put your finger on the vertical line in the middle of the sidebar and pull it to the left. 7. Your second app will now share the screen with your first app. 8. You can adjust the size by sliding your finger to the left or right to make one app window larger than the other or you can give each of them half of the screen.

For more about Split View, see the original tip.

Picture in Picture is a great new feature in iOS 9 that lets you run a movable and resizable window that plays a video on your home screen or in any open app. Picture in Picture makes it possible to enjoy a video while you do something else on your iPad.

Here’s how you can use Picture in Picture in iOS 9 on your iPad:

1. When running a video in Safari or another app, look for the Picture in Picture icon in the bottom right corner of the video player and tap it to view the video in a window. 2. After the video moves to a window, you can pinch inward or outward to make the video window larger or smaller. 3. You can also tap and hold to move the video to another place on your iPad’s screen. 4. Just tap the Picture on Picture icon in the video window to put it back in its original place. 5. You can also tap the pause/play button in the video window, or tap the “X” button to close the video window completely.

For more about Picture in Picture, see the original tip.

The iCloud Drive app lets you see all of the files and folders you have saved in iCloud. In this tip I’ll show you how to enable the iCloud Drive app in iOS 9, and I’ll show you how to rename, delete or move files and folders you have stored in iCloud.

Here’s how you can enable the iCloud Drive app in iOS 9:

1. Go to Settings. 2. Go to iCloud. 3. Toggle the iCloud Drive switch to the on (green) position.

Here’s how you can rename, move or delete individual files:

1. Tap and hold on a file. 2. You’ll see a menu with the following options: Delete | Rename| Info | More 3. If you tap on Information a screen will open with the text of the file, along with its full title, file type, size and other information. 4. If you tap on More in the menu for a file you’ll have the options of sharing the item, renaming it or moving it to a folder.

Here’s how you can rename or delete a single folder:

1. Tap and hold on the folder. 2. Tap the Delete or Rename option on the menu.

Here’s how you can move or delete multiple files or folders:

1. Tap on the Select link at the top right of the iCloud Drive app. 2. Tap the files or folders you want to move or delete. 3. Tap on the Move or Delete links at the bottom of the iCloud Drive app. 4. You also have the option of creating a new folder.

For more about the iCloud Drive app, see the original tip.

iOS 9 brings a big change to search. You can now swipe to the right on the iOS 9 home screen to bring up the new Search screen. Apple has returned to its roots and made the new Search screen appear to the left of the home screen.

The new Search screen also comes with Siri Suggestions for Contacts, Apps, Locations and News.

Here’s how you can access the iOS 9 Search screen:

1. Just swipe to the right on the Home screen. 2. The Search screen will appear with a search box, and Siri Suggestions.

Not everybody will appreciate Siri Suggestions on their search screen. If you’re one of those folks, don’t worry. You can easily turn off Siri Suggestions in iOS 9.

Here’s how you can disable Siri Suggestions in iOS 9 Search:

1. Open the Settings app. 2. Go to General. 3. Go to Spotlight Search. 4. Tap the Siri Suggestions switch to the Off position.

For more about the new iOS 9 Search screen, see the original tip.

iOS 9 brings a very helpful feature called Low Power Mode to the iPhone. Low Power Mode lowers power consumption by temporarily disabling mail fetch, automatic downloads, and background app refresh. It also reduces some of the visual effects in iOS 9.

Low Power Mode can extend your iPhone’s battery life by up to three hours. But it does come at a performance cost since your iPhone may run slower. You’ll have to decide of the longer battery life is worth the performance hit. I recommend trying it to see how well your iPhone performs with Low Power Mode enabled.

Here’s how you can enable Low Power Mode in iOS 9:

1. Tap on Settings. 2. Tap on Battery. 3. Tap on the Low Power Mode switch to turn it to the green (on) position.

For more about Low Power Mode, see the original tip.

Safari Reader is a great tool that makes reading web pages much easier and more comfortable by reformatting them into a more legible format. In iOS 9 you now have the option of using a gray background with white text in Safari Reader. The new gray background offers a nice alternative to the existing color options in Safari Reader.

Here’s how you can use a gray background in Safari Reader in iOS 9:

1. Open Safari in iOS 9 and go to the Web page you want to read. 2. Tap the Reader button on the left side of the URL field at the top of Safari. 3. Tap the font button (the letter A) on the right side of the URL field at the top of Safari. 4. The font and color selection menu will appear. 5. Tap on the gray color option that now appears between Sepia and Black.

For more about the gray background in Safari Reader, see the original tip.