10 iOS9 New Features That Already Exist in Android!

Recently Apple announced iOS 9 at WWDC 2015 and many of us were amazed by the features displayed by Apple. But do you know that those features have been around on Android devices for quite some time? Here is the list of 10 iOS 9 features which already exist in many android mobiles:

News App:

There are many news apps which are already available in the Google Play but there are few that come pre-installed on your devices. iOS 9 will be having a ‘News App’ on its home screen which will give you loads of contents from different sources around the world. But if you have already used Samsung and HTC smartphones, you might have seen the pre-installed apps such as Flipboard and Blinkfeed which have been doing the same as iOS 9 News App since 2013. So the concept of Apple’s News App is similar to those apps which have been already released on Android platforms in the last couple of years.

iOS Notes:

When you just have a glimpse at the iOS 9 Note features of making a note with voice using Siri, taking a snapshot of note and saving it notes app itself, you will remember that you have already used this on your android devices. Yes, these features are already available in Google Keep, Evernote and several other note-taking apps in Google Play.

Keyboard Shortcuts:

You often find it hard when you don’t have shortcuts on your mobile’s keyboard and want to add images take a snapshot and many more. But with iOS 9 everything is possible. Although these features are already available in the third-party apps on Android, this is something which Apple offers within the OS. But again, the feature is one and the same as compared to the Android applications.

Apple Maps:

Apple users believe that they have finally got something new to experience on Apple Maps. But if they have already used an Android phone, Nokia HERE or Google Maps, there is nothing to wonder what’s so special in Apple Maps. The nearby restaurants, shops, directions for public transportation, is what Apple’s iOS 9 offers on Apple Maps. Is anything new in the list? Well, these features were shown by Google Maps in 2012 itself.

Battery: Low-Power Mode

Now this is what Android released long back and Apple has finally managed to provide low-power mode option to iOS users after the release of iOS 9. Apple promises that by using the low-power mode, the users can extend their battery life up to 3-4 hours. Whereas, Android devices can save 10-20% for the battery life in low-power mode. Now this is what Android users have been using for a couple of years. So, there is nothing to surprise about this feature of iOS 9.

Spotlight:

Although not all the features of Spotlight are present in a single Android application, the concept is still the same as compared to Google Now and some third-party applications like Textra. Spotlight in iOS 9 shows you frequently used contacts, apps, most visited places, nearby places and news. It’s always a good thing that you get all these things in a single application but again, it’s the concept which is already been used by the android users on their smartphones.

Multitasking:

Although the multitasking feature will work only with iPads, there is nothing that surprised me personally. Android already has multi-tasking and is only limited by the specifications of the phone.

Picture-in-Picture:

Samsung was the first giant to release Pop-Up Play for Android where you can watch a picture or video besides reading the news or using the Facebook. Following the foot steps of Samsung (if I am not wrong), Apple has copied the same concept and has given a name as Picture-in-Picture in the list of iOS 9 features.

Reminders from Siri:

Leaving for an event? Want to leave for a meeting on time? Don’t worry Siri will remind you when to leave for the event or meeting. The invitations which you get from your emails will be directly synchronized to iPhone’s calendar and, therefore, you get a reminder on time. Taking traffic into consideration is what Siri does. But all these things are no newer to Android users as all these features are already available in Google Now.

Voice Search in Siri:

We have already reported the 5 new features of iOS 9 in which we described some awesome features of it and that included the voice search too. If you just speak, “Show me photos of so and so album or so and so date” and it will directly open the related images. Well, that’s something new for the iOS users but again, Google Now has been performing this feature for many years.

In short, most of the new iOS 9 features have been around on Android or the 3rd party apps for a long – Think iOS is still better than Android ? (Though, I have to admit that it is definitely better when it comes to user experience, but when it comes to features, Android beats it hands down)

[This post has been contributed by Harshil Patel]