Apple is focusing more on quality and less on new features for iOS 9

The launch of iOS 8 wasn’t smooth by any company’s standards, but especially not Apple’s. Thanks to the abundance of new features and services that were added with the update, users were running into numerous glitches and other issues, not to mention poor performance on older devices. It was rumored a few months ago that Apple would be avoiding these issues with the release of iOS 9 by focusing mainly on performance and quality, and now it looks like those rumors have been confirmed. According to 9to5Mac, Apple will be limiting new features on both iOS 9 and the new OS X update in favor of a “big focus on quality.”

For the first time in several years, Apple is changing up its annual iOS and OS X upgrade cycle by limiting new feature additions in favor of a “big focus on quality,” according to multiple sources familiar with the company’s operating system development plans. We first reported in February that iOS 9, codenamed “Monarch,” would heavily feature under-the-hood optimizations, and we’ve now learned that Apple is taking the same approach with OS X 10.11, codenamed “Gala.” Sources have revealed additional new details on how Apple will optimize the new operating systems for improved stability and performance, add several new security features, and make important changes to its Swift programming tools for developers. According to sources within Apple’s software development departments, Apple engineers have been pushing executives for a Snow Leopard-style stability focus in 2015, following numerous bugs that clouded the launches of both iOS and OS X. Apple directors reportedly opposed a complete pause on new features, but agreed to focus on quality assurance by holding back some features that were initially planned for the latest operating system launches. One source explained, “I wouldn’t say there’s nothing new for consumers, but the feature lists are more stripped down than the initial plans called for.”