Apple’s iOS 9, a Double-Edged Sword: Known Bugs and Improvements

Apple started shipping iOS 9 to supported devices on September 16, and after a small issue that prevented users from downloading the new bits OTA in the first hour of availability, everything went back to normal and everyone could get the eagerly anticipated update on their iPhones and iPads.

After 48 hours, 20 percent of the supported devices were already running iOS 9, and these figures are probably bigger now, after another 2 full days.

Just like any other OS update, this release is supposed to bring a plethora of improvements, and you can read everything about them in our iOS 9 review, but it’s no surprise that some users are also experiencing issues with it for various reasons.

Basically, iOS 9 is a double-edged sword that either improves your iPhone significantly or causes unexpected problems, and in the next paragraphs, we’re presenting both based on a thorough indexing of user postings online in the last 4 days.

It’s worth noting that performance of iOS 9 seems to vary from iPhone to iPhone, and while everything’s just milk and honey for some, others experience reduced battery life and errors that aren’t supposed to be there in the first place. So it all depends on a number of factors that Apple is yet to confirm, but it most likely has something to do with installed apps (which may or may not be fully compatible with iOS 9) and the way we’re using our iPhones (heavy users claim important battery autonomy is offered).

So without further ado, let’s see what the new iOS 9 improves on our iPhones:

Reported improvements

Reported common bugs

Possible workarounds

Right now, there are only two different workarounds for all these reported problems, at least until Apple comes up with a fix and manages to resolve them with a new OS update (iOS 9.1 beta is already being reported to be faster and even more stable).

#1 - Reset all settings #2 - Install iOS 9 from scratch without restoring

Basically, it appears that all these problems are being experienced because of the direct upgrade to iOS 9, so one possible fix is to go for a clean install that would remove bugs caused by deploying the new OS over its predecessor.

First and foremost, you should try resetting all settings. There are plenty of reports claiming that users managed to fix them by simply doing this, but obviously, it’s worth knowing that this removes all your settings and you have to configure your iPhone from scratch once again. To do this, go to:

Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings

If that doesn’t work, clean-installing iOS 9 could help too and you can do that via iTunes. But note that we’re hearing from some readers that, in some cases, this doesn’t make any difference. And yet, if nothing else works, it’s pretty much your only option.

The bottom line

As you can see, iOS 9 works great for some but causes several problems for others, so it’s pretty much a matter of luck until now.

The problems that some people are experiencing do not exist on other devices, and for the moment, there is no fix, but it’s believed that clean-installing iOS 9 is the only way to prevent this from happening or to repair it if it’s already there.

But in the end, it’s very clear that iOS 9 should be a significant step further in terms of battery life, performance, stability, and reliability on absolutely all devices, so in case something goes wrong, it’s only because the update is only in the first days of availability and Apple needs some time to collect feedback and address the issues. iOS 9.1 is expected to fix many if not all bugs, so let’s just hope that Apple brings it out as soon as possible.

Overall, iOS 9 should improve as more time passes by, so it’s only a matter of time until patches arrive. Usually, it doesn’t take more than a few weeks for Apple to fix bugs, so prepare for a busy bug hunting season this fall.