New Features in Apple iOS9.3

Apple announced a new iPhone and a new iPad on Monday. Both will ship next week. Expect a full write-up in the near future.

The mobile operating system iOS was also given an upgrade: iOS9.3 is now available to download for free.

Amongst the new settings are three of interest:

Night Shift

The proliferation of devices like tablets and smartphones means that some sort of screen is never far away. For many, looking at a screen is the first and last thing they do in the morning and evening.
The problem with that is screens emit blue light, which reduces the amount of melatonin produced in the body. Melatonin is a chemical that helps people fall asleep. The light emitted from smartphones can also cause eyestrain, which carries symptoms like headaches and blurred vision.

With this latest version of iOS 9, Apple introduced Night Shift, a feature that automatically adjusts the colours of your display at night. You can schedule times for it to go into effect, manually turn it on and off, and adjust colours on a scale of less warm to more warm.
You can access Night Shift through Settings | Display & Brightness, or through the menu that swipes up from the bottom of the device’s screen.

Password-protected Notes

Notes is iOS’ app for taking, well, notes. iOS 9.3 updates it by allowing users a layer of security. Now, users can lock their notes using either a password or the Touch ID, which makes the app that much more useful.
In order to lock a note, tap the button in the top right corner (the one you might use if you were going to email the note) and then tap Lock Note. When prompted, enter a password, confirm it, and decide if you want to enable the Touch ID. A lock button will appear at the top of the note and in the future if you want to open it, enter the password or use the Touch ID.

More personalised News

The News app now offers more personalisation for users, and on a range of topics and publications. So for example, you can select BBC news, or a topic like Electric Cars or Apple. You can access news by opening the News app, or by swiping right from your main screen.