At Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on Monday, the company unveiled major new mobile and desktop operating system features that will change how you use your devices. Among those features were things like Proactive, which will surface information and perform actions for you before you even need it, and built-in transit directions to let you know which train to grab, and when.
But littered throughout the headline features are a number of little changes that could turn out to be very important to your work flow. These are all the little nuggets of gold you'll grow to love in iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan.
iOS 9
iCloud Drive app
iOS 9 has a secret iCloud Drive app that users must enable in the settings to use, according to9to5Mac. It's essentially a browser for all the files you keep in iCloud Drive, which could make it easier to organize or share those files. Apple has long tried to get rid of the traditional file structure system. But with an iCloud Drive app buried in the next version of iOS, Apple is acknowledging that making those files accessible is the right solution for some users.
Smaller apps
If you have a 16 or even an 8 gigabyte iPhone, you're going to love this. Apple is changing the way its devices download apps. Previously, an iPhone would download all the properties associated with a given app, according to Ars Technica. App Slicing will now let developers tag the properties associated with each device, so your phone downloads only what it needs, thus saving you a little more hard drive space.
Document picker in Mail
If you're all-in on Apple's ecosystem, a native document picker that lets you attach files to email is huge. Previously, you'd have to go to the file you want to attach, say, a Pages document, and use the share sheet to send it via email. That meant you couldn't attach documents to a reply email, or attach more than one document. This new feature wasn't announced at the keynote, but Apple's iOS 9 preview on its website shows an iPad with the mail app open and a clip icon on the right-hand side.
Seeing subway entrances and exits in Maps
If you zoom in enough on a train station, you'll now see symbols designating where to enter and exit. So all you recent New York City transplants can commute like the pros and leave at the exit closest to your destination. This is something even Google Maps on iOS doesn't have, and should make city living more efficient.
Photo scrubber in Photos
People love browsing through photos. But it's annoying to have to toggle between a full-screen view, and a grid view with all your images. A tiny row of images beneath full-screen views of photos will now let you scrub back and forth through the album, thus making photo reviewing much easier.
Shift key fix in the keyboard
Pull out your iPhone and bring up the keyboard. Press the shift key. Is it on or off? Don't know? Yeah. Me neither. Apple's shift key has been a mystery since iOS 7 debuted in 2013. But now, with iOS 9, the keys appear as lower-case when the shift key is off, and all-caps when the shift key is on, says 9to5Mac. Mystery solved.
Low Power Mode
Let's say you're getting out of work, your phone is at 25% battery life, and you and your buddies have a long night ahead. Your phone might not make it past happy hour. But a new low power mode will help you squeeze out that last bit of battery life. It does this by turning down the brightness, and disabling background updates. It also slows down your cellular connection. Apple says you'll get about three more hours of battery life than normal. Your phone might just make the cab ride home.
OS X El Capitan
Split View
This feature is straight out of Windows, and it's a welcome addition. Working with apps side-by-side on a Mac right now means you have to manually resize each window. But in the updated OS, holding down the green button in the top-right corner of a window will give you the option of automatically fitting the window into the left or right side of the screen. You can fit another app on the other side, and work on both at once.
Big Cursor
This only got a few seconds of screen time, but it's going to be very handy. Computers can get messy, and the UI can get confusing. Losing the mouse can happen more times than people like to admit. But with just a few wiggles, the mouse gets comically large, making it easy to spot.
Extensions for the Photos app
These days, a lot of casual photo editing happens on the iPhone. Apple's recently released Photos app isn't for pros, but it's a slick, simple app for most people to manage their photos on a desktop. New extensions could take it even further. They allow you to use third-party photo editing tools — like applying a VSCOcam filter — within the Photos app.
There are plenty more features coming in both operating systems, but these are the nips and tucks coming to your Apple gadgets that will enhance your experience and make your life a little easier.
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