 It's once again September, which means that a new version of iOS is headed to millions of iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches around the world. This time it's iOS 9, and it brings a familiar look with a handful of new features. iOS 9 is not radically different from iOS 8, or even iOS 7, but it includes some forward-looking things that can really change the platform in the future. Let's start with how iOS 9 looks. Frankly, there's not much different here. There's a new font, it's Apple's home-grown San Francisco, which debuted on the Apple Watch and is also coming to the Mac, and a new recent app switcher when you double-click the home button. I don't really love the font, though it has grown on me, but the app switcher is slower and more annoying to use than the one it replaced. Other visual changes include notifications sorted by date instead of app, which makes it much easier to clear in bulk, and a back button that lets you quickly bounce back to the app you were just using. It's great, but I wish Apple spent some more time actually designing the button. As it is now, it covers up your signal bars and is just a tiny line of text, as opposed to an icon or something more noticeable. Apple says there are battery life and performance improvements in iOS 9, but recent iPhones haven't really ever felt slow, and I haven't noticed much of a difference on my iPhone 6. Same with battery life, I haven't noticed a significant increase in my usage, whether I utilize the new Power Saver mode or not. But it's a new addition to Siri where we can really see the future of the platform. In iOS 9, Siri is bestowed with a bunch of new capabilities, including better voice recognition and smarter voice searches. It also, for the first time, attempts to be a dynamic assistant that predicts the information you'll need next before you ask for it. That might be providing an alert for traffic information at your next meeting, or showing you your most contacted friends or most used apps when you swipe left from the home screen. That new Siri screen also provides quick shortcuts to searches in maps and headlines from the new News app. To get the most of any of these new features, you really have to use Apple's native apps, such as Mail or Calendar. And you also have to rethink how you're using your iPhone. Instead of swiping through pages of apps, tapping to open a folder or opening an app, and then finding what you're looking for within that app, it can be easier to rely on Siri and Apple's predictions to find what you're looking for much quicker. Siri's advances are nice, but they don't feel quite like the future yet. In the weeks I've been using the new platform, I haven't really changed how I use apps or navigate the device. I still mostly use Siri to set my alarm for the next morning, and since I prefer third party apps such as Microsoft's Outlook to Apple's Mail or Calendar, I don't see the smart predictions all that often. But I can see where the next iteration on this idea, perhaps integration of Siri's new intelligence with third party apps, could change how I use my iPhone. Over on the iPad, there are more significant changes, if you happen to have a fairly new iPad at least. The iPad is finally getting true multitasking features in iOS 9, including running two apps side by side in a split screen. There's also a picture in picture option for watching video while doing something else, and a feature that lets you temporarily slide one app over another to quickly check something before getting back to the task at hand. Only the iPad Air 2 and newer can take advantage of the split screen features, while older iPads can use the slide over, picture in picture, and new keyboard controls to make it easier to input and edit text. Right now, only Apple's own apps work with the new multitasking features, but I expect the third party apps will quickly be updated to support them. Apple has also updated and added a bunch of apps in iOS 9. Notes is more powerful, and Maps finally has transit directions, for example. Both are actually good, but not as full featured as competitors like Evernote or Google Maps. Passbook got renamed to Wallet, for whatever that's worth, and the biggest new app is News. It's customizable, fast, and stable, but it feels a little like it's reinventing the RSS wheel. We'll have to see how much support both Apple and publishers put behind it before we can really judge how good it is. But let's face it, you're going to update to iOS 9. It's a fine operating system that's fast, reliable, and stable. It's iterative, like most of Apple's software updates, but when you look closely in the corners of it, you can see the groundwork for Apple's vision of the future of personal computing, where our computers know what we want before we do. It's not quite there yet, but eventually that groundwork will become a skyscraper, and iOS 9 is that first brick.
 It's once again September, which means that a new version of iOS is headed to millions
 of iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches around the world.
 This time it's iOS 9, and it brings a familiar look with a handful of new features.
 iOS 9 is not radically different from iOS 8, or even iOS 7, but it includes some forward-looking
 things that can really change the platform in the future.
 Let's start with how iOS 9 looks.
 Frankly, there's not much different here.
 There's a new font, it's Apple's home-grown San Francisco, which debuted on the Apple
 Watch and is also coming to the Mac, and a new recent app switcher when you double-click
 the home button.
 I don't really love the font, though it has grown on me, but the app switcher is slower
 and more annoying to use than the one it replaced.
 Other visual changes include notifications sorted by date instead of app, which makes
 it much easier to clear in bulk, and a back button that lets you quickly bounce back to
 the app you were just using.
 It's great, but I wish Apple spent some more time actually designing the button.
 As it is now, it covers up your signal bars and is just a tiny line of text, as opposed
 to an icon or something more noticeable.
 Apple says there are battery life and performance improvements in iOS 9, but recent iPhones
 haven't really ever felt slow, and I haven't noticed much of a difference on my iPhone
 6.
 Same with battery life, I haven't noticed a significant increase in my usage, whether
 I utilize the new Power Saver mode or not.
 But it's a new addition to Siri where we can really see the future of the platform.
 In iOS 9, Siri is bestowed with a bunch of new capabilities, including better voice recognition
 and smarter voice searches.
 It also, for the first time, attempts to be a dynamic assistant that predicts the information
 you'll need next before you ask for it.
 That might be providing an alert for traffic information at your next meeting, or showing
 you your most contacted friends or most used apps when you swipe left from the home screen.
 That new Siri screen also provides quick shortcuts to searches in maps and headlines from the
 new News app.
 To get the most of any of these new features, you really have to use Apple's native apps,
 such as Mail or Calendar.
 And you also have to rethink how you're using your iPhone.
 Instead of swiping through pages of apps, tapping to open a folder or opening an app,
 and then finding what you're looking for within that app, it can be easier to rely
 on Siri and Apple's predictions to find what you're looking for much quicker.
 Siri's advances are nice, but they don't feel quite like the future yet.
 In the weeks I've been using the new platform, I haven't really changed how I use apps
 or navigate the device.
 I still mostly use Siri to set my alarm for the next morning, and since I prefer third
 party apps such as Microsoft's Outlook to Apple's Mail or Calendar, I don't see
 the smart predictions all that often.
 But I can see where the next iteration on this idea, perhaps integration of Siri's
 new intelligence with third party apps, could change how I use my iPhone.
 Over on the iPad, there are more significant changes, if you happen to have a fairly new
 iPad at least.
 The iPad is finally getting true multitasking features in iOS 9, including running two
 apps side by side in a split screen.
 There's also a picture in picture option for watching video while doing something else,
 and a feature that lets you temporarily slide one app over another to quickly check something
 before getting back to the task at hand.
 Only the iPad Air 2 and newer can take advantage of the split screen features, while older
 iPads can use the slide over, picture in picture, and new keyboard controls to make it easier
 to input and edit text.
 Right now, only Apple's own apps work with the new multitasking features, but I expect
 the third party apps will quickly be updated to support them.
 Apple has also updated and added a bunch of apps in iOS 9.
 Notes is more powerful, and Maps finally has transit directions, for example.
 Both are actually good, but not as full featured as competitors like Evernote or Google Maps.
 Passbook got renamed to Wallet, for whatever that's worth, and the biggest new app is
 News.
 It's customizable, fast, and stable, but it feels a little like it's reinventing the
 RSS wheel.
 We'll have to see how much support both Apple and publishers put behind it before we can
 really judge how good it is.
 But let's face it, you're going to update to iOS 9.
 It's a fine operating system that's fast, reliable, and stable.
 It's iterative, like most of Apple's software updates, but when you look closely in the
 corners of it, you can see the groundwork for Apple's vision of the future of personal
 computing, where our computers know what we want before we do.
 It's not quite there yet, but eventually that groundwork will become a skyscraper,
 and iOS 9 is that first brick.