Every iOS user will be familiar with the rigmarole of deleting apps on their iPhone/iPad to make space for an operating system upgrade. Now, it seems Apple's going to take that hassle out of users' hands.
iOS 9 beta testers have noticed a new feature that automatically clears sufficient space ahead of an iOS installation, as reported by MacRumours. A warning message appears stating:
Insufficent Space For Download
In order to make room for the software update, some apps will need to be temporarily deleted. All deleted apps will be replaced after the update is complete. Would you like to continue?
What's not clear is whether the system also restores app data (such as saved games or documents) alongside the apps that have been automatically removed and re-installed. That could potentially lead to a situation where users unexpectedly lose data.
Automatic app removal isn't the only way in which Apple is attempting to smooth out the iOS upgrade process. The company is massively reducing the amount of free disk space required to install a new version of iOS, down from 4.6GB to 1.3GB, meaning it should be much less arduous to manually delete apps to clear space for an upgrade, anyway.
iOS 9 is due to be released in the autumn. It's regarded as something of a tidy-up release, after two major overhauls with iOS 7 and iOS 8. The most significant new feature is split-screen multitasking for iPads, allowing two apps to run on the screen simultaneously for the first time.
