Neil Hughes
In another move intended to take advantage of greater screen real estate on the iPad, folders iniOS 9 are now a larger four-by-four design, accommodating 16 apps per page.
Upon installing iOS 9, users will find that all folders on their home screen are now automatically displayed in a four-by-four square. Previously, folders were shown three-by-three on the iPad and iPhone alike.
The new, larger design accommodates 16 applications per app page on the iPad, compared to just 9 on the iPhone.
The change represents yet another iPad-specific design tweak implemented by Apple, intended to utilize the larger 7.9- and 9.7-inch screens found on the iPad lineup. In previous years, annual improvements to the iOS platform were largely the same on both iPad and iPhone.
Many of the other iPad-specific changes found in iOS 9 focus on productivity, including a new slide-over feature that will allow users to quickly multitask on Apple's tablet. iPad Air 2 users will also gain full-fledged split-screen support, allowing two apps to be shown at once simultaneously.
iOS 9 also includes a new iPad-only Picture in Picture mode that allows users to continue watching video with any task. With Picture in Picture, a clip can be shrunk down to three different sizes, and placed into one of four corners on the screen, overlaid over another task. The video can also be temporarily pushed off the screen to allow the user to focus on the task at hand.
Finally, the iPad also gains a number of keyboard-specific enhancements in iOS 9, including new hardware keyboard shortcuts that will give the device more Mac-like functionality. There's also a new cursor-controlling gesture keyboard available on both iPhone and iPad in the operating system update, as well as iPad-specific quick access to cut, copy, paste and more on the iPad in certain apps.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
9 Comments
Still so much wasted space. Grrr.
To me, one of the best features of iOS 9 is automatic screenshot albums, along with selfie albums (which I care less about).
The ridiculousness of limiting it to 4x4 when there's clearly the space for so much more is only beaten by the ridiculousness of them sticking with 3x3 for so long.
I don't understand why others here can't see why they limit to (previously 3x3) 4x4. It's because they want there to be an exact analog between the tiny one-icon sized version and the blown up version. In iOS 6 the icon would show 3x3 but then when you opened the folder it would render 4 across... This was very disconcerting because the first item on the second row in the icon would drift up to be the last icon in the first row and so on. The new way, in my mind, is much better! Even if it does mean that some space is wasted around the open folder.
This new arrangement of icons seems like it might be slightly disorienting because of the differences between the iPhone and iPad icon arrangements.
Can someone using the new iOS on both an iPad and iPhone comment on whether the different folder arrangements bother them?