Round up: Best free Microsoft Office alternatives 2016

Introduction

With Office 2016, Microsoft has made several enhancements to security and productivity, including a much-needed overhaul of Excel. However, at £120 (US$120, AU$179) for the home edition it's a substantial investment - especially if you're unlikely to use its more advanced features regularly.

Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365 has a lower entry price of £8 (US$10, AU$12) per month or £80 (US$90, AU$119) per year for the home version, but again, it's a substantial expense for a set of tools that might be overpowered for your needs.

If you work with people who use Office and rely on its collaborative functions every day, the convenience of using those programs yourself may well justify the price. For the rest of us, there are lots of excellent free alternatives to consider. Here are our picks of the best free office apps in 2016. Have we missed your preferred suite? Let us know in the comments below.

Remember, when you install any of these office suites you'll be asked if you want to associate particular file formats with the newly installed programs. We recommend deselecting these options at first, then changing your defaults once you're satisfied that you'll be using the new suite in the long term.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a fork of the OpenOffice.org project, and it's available for Windows, OS X and Linux (it's the office suite you'll find on most popular Linux distros). The main draw is that it's OpenOffice but fast-tracked, with far more frequent updates than its parent suite.

Like OpenOffice, it's designed around the standard Open Document Format with Microsoft Office importing and exporting, and its six apps cover just about everything you could need from a productivity suite:

• Writer (word processing
• Calc (spreadsheets)
• Impress (presentations)
• Draw (diagrams and vector graphics)
• Math (mathematical formulae)
• Base (databases)

Unlike Microsoft Office there's no email client - likely because there are so many excellent open source clients already available, developing another would be redundant.

LibreOffice's apps have a clear format reminiscent of older versions of Microsoft Office. It's not as sleek as Office 2016 or 365, but features are represented by large, clear icons rather than being hidden behind menus and ribbons. See our guide to getting started with LibreOffice.

If its standard offering isn't enough, the LibreOffice community has created hundreds of templates and extensions to add new features and improve existing ones - all available to download and use completely free. There's also a portable version that can be run from a USB stick.

Read on to discover more of the best free Microsoft Office alternatives.

Apache OpenOffice

If LibreOffice does everything Apache OpenOffice does and gets updates more quickly, why would you consider its less action-packed parent? The short answer is stability: a faster update cycle can mean the potential to introduce new bugs.

OpenOffice contains the same six core apps as LibreOffice (Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math and Base) and its interface is very similar. It lacks some of the features of LibreOffice (such as live word counts in Writer), but the two suites share so much of the same code, such differences are few and far between.

Again, a portable version is available for use from a removable USB device or cloud storage service.

SoftMaker FreeOffice

SoftMaker FreeOffice is available for Windows and Linux (and there's a companion app for Android) and offers effortless editing of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. It can also export files in EPUB and PDF export.

FreeOffice contains three apps delivering the familiar combination of word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. While the feature set isn't quite as extensive as LibreOffice - it lacks mail merging, and the spreadsheets' charts aren't as spectacular - it's faster, can open password-protected Office and WordPerfect documents (provided you know the password) and covers the basics very well.

As with LibreOffice and OpenOffice, SoftMaker provides a portable version of FreeOffice for Linux and Windows.

WPS Office 2016

WPS Office 2016, also known as Kingsoft Office, is one of the best Microsoft Office-a-likes, but the free version does include some important caveats. The free version for Windows begins a 30-day trial of the Premium version (it reverts to the free version if you don't open your wallet at the end of the month) and printed documents are watermarked.

It's available for Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, and includes apps for word processing, presentations and spreadsheets (hence the name WPS).

It borrows the ribbon interface from newer versions of Office, so you'll be up and running in no time, but the drawbacks of the free edition might be enough to put you off.

Google Docs

If you're looking for a serious Office rival, Google Docs should be towards the top of your list. What started life as a free but basic cloud-based Office suite has evolved into something that's deceptively powerful, and even the weakest app, PowerPoint alternative Slides, is rather good these days.

Google Docs is particularly good for teamwork, with excellent multi-user support and change tracking, and the companion mobile apps cover iOS as well as Android. If you're in the kind of environment where documents, spreadsheets or presentations are pinged back and forth, with comments and tracked changes, Google Docs will make your life simpler.

Zoho Docs

Zoho Docs is used by the likes of the BBC, Coca-Cola and ITV, and its free service gives up to 25 users 5GB of storage each.

It includes three cloud-based apps - the usual spread of word processing, spreadsheet and presentations - as well as document versioning and desktop syncing.

There are companion apps for iOS and Android, as well as integration with other services such as Dropbox and Google Drive. That makes it particularly attractive to small businesses, although it's important to note that some of the more advanced features such as password-protected sharing aren't available in the free version.

Don't plump for Google Docs without checking out Zoho first.

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Are we entering the post-app era?

Introduction and blame the browser

What would a 'world beyond apps' be like? It's hard to imagine using a smartphone that doesn't have any apps, and yet there has been talk of the 'post-app era' for some time. Cue futuristic ways of interacting with computers and data, with virtual assistants and natural language processing at the forefront.

However, few think that apps are going to disappear completely, only that the way we interact with them will change. "In the near-term we will see a demise of individual apps at the front-end, with instant messaging and social media interfaces used as a gateway into technologies," says Claus Jepsen, Chief Architect at business software company Unit4.

So will we still be physically opening apps in a few years? Probably not, but that trend started when push notifications appeared on our phones long ago. Since then, apps have added always-on functionality, background monitoring, interactive notifications, integration with wearables, and automatic updates.

Now get ready to watch as apps are consumed within contextually-aware virtual assistants like Siri – and almost completely disappear.

Apps on the rise… and fall

Ever since the creation of the smartphone, the App Store has been a battleground between Apple and Android. So who won? Although apps in Apple's App Store make the most money, they accounted for just 15% of all apps downloaded in 2015. IDC reports that Apple's share fell 8% from the previous year – quite a tumble, and largely down to the massive volume of Android-based phones being sold around the globe.

"While IDC forecasts that mobile app installs and direct revenues will continue to grow over the coming years, it also expects that growth to slow considerably," says Michael Allen, Solutions VP at application performance management software company Dynatrace. "For businesses, this offers a wake-up call that the mobile race is starting to reach its climax – consumers are reaching app saturation, and they're now looking for quality over quantity."

That's borne out by Dynatrace's own research, which found that nearly half (47%) of people will only give an app three seconds to load before they give up and go elsewhere, while nearly a third (32%) will never try it again if it doesn't work the first time.

Blame the browser?

It's not always the apps' fault – some apps lose their shine over time. Remember that flashlight app on your phone? Now it's built into the phone itself. There are speciality camera apps, polished email apps and countless pointless brand apps, but few of them add much to what your phone can already do. Besides, the mobile web is getting more app-like every day.

"It really depends on what we mean by an app," says Jamie Turner, CEO of address verification and data quality services company PCA Predict. "Many apps are little more than website bookmarks pointing to a mini-site that looks and feels like something that's native."

Turner thinks that we only have native apps because they operate without the performance and security limitations of a browser. "This is changing fast with significant work being placed into newer browser technology that feels as fast as native apps and more sensible security models," he adds.

However, even slick mobile websites can't get round the inherent problem with apps; their scope is very limited. Spotify aside (its 30 million tracks make this service the de facto web-based music library), how many apps do anything other than give you access to a walled garden of content?

Nobody wants to use the Uber or Lyft apps specifically, they want to get a ride. It's the same with Netflix. Rather than go hunting for a particular movie and failing to find it, wouldn't it be easier if your phone just told you where to find that movie?

Goodbye apps, hello smart agents

We've fallen out of love with apps, and that's not going to change. Gartner predicts that by 2020, smart agents will facilitate 40% of mobile interactions, and that 'post-app era' will begin to dominate. For 'smart agent', read virtual private assistants like Google Now, Cortana, Siri and Alexa, each stuffed with so-called 'learning algorithms' and artificial intelligence.

These agents will be the principal way that we navigate information. "No longer will you have to load a specific application," says Gartner. "The algorithms on the systems that you touch will understand your needs and serve you the correct data in context." The future is algorithms, not apps.

App aggregation and the post-app future

App aggregation

The services that apps offer are already being consumed en masse by virtual private assistants. "Siri is already an example of aggregation‎ as it enables the user to perform multiple tasks such as checking the weather, searching online, sending an email, scheduling a meeting, and many other things," says Magnus Jern, President of mobile enterprise tech firm DMI International, who thinks we're on the cusp of sophisticated aggregation services.

"Facebook will do it with Messenger and new third-party services' APIs for chatbots etc, and WeChat and Line already do this," he says of instant messaging apps that are fast becoming 'smart agent' platforms themselves. But will aggregation services actually replace apps? "Not in the short-term, because depending on the use case, apps will still provide a better experience for a lot of our daily tasks," says Jern. "Instead the aggregation services will integrate with the standalone apps."

However, that does suggest that the most popular, wealthy and ambitious apps – such as Facebook and WeChat – are at least as well positioned as OS developers Apple and Google to create the dominant new virtual assistant platforms.

The spoken word

How we interact with the services currently offered by apps will change, too. The smart money is on voice. "Interaction models are changing," says Frank Palermo, Executive VP for Global Digital Solutions at IT services company VirtusaPolaris, who thinks that with advances in AI-powered virtual assistants, voice will soon be at the centre of the user experience. A supercharged, more conversational Siri (and other assistants) will effectively make individual apps redundant.

"You no longer need to click on your phone and open an app," adds Palermo, "it is a much more immersive experience where you are interacting with your device in a more conversational way – it literally becomes your pocket PA."

Is natural language good enough?

Not quite yet. Siri is getting cleverer, certainly, but doesn't understand everything it's told. Ditto Nuance's Dragon Dictation; every year it gets less muddled and more accurate. "We are very close to having natural language being the primary means of interacting with the software," thinks Jepsen, who predicts a 'conversational experience'.

"Rather than navigate screens, tools and clunky interfaces, employees will be able to type or say 'show me my payslip' or 'complete my expenses'," says Jepsen, whose Unit4 company has created a digital assistant for workplaces called Wanda that inserts itself into existing apps. "We don't need to build our own screens or apps to accommodate this, we can use somebody else's, like Skype for Business, Twitter, or Facebook," he adds. "Everything will become easier, it will become natural."

The post-app future

Apps are on the watch-list, and are already being phased out. That's no surprise to some, who think they're inherently unnatural. "Clicking through buttons is not natural human behaviour," says Palermo, who believes we're moving towards a more immersive and ambient world, where it's possible for people to have a natural discussion with their surroundings.

"We won't need to type, we will just speak and our device will present the information we need in a visual way – perhaps by combining with virtual reality to help us visualise our answers," adds Palermo. Either way, the era where smartphone users launched apps individually is soon going to seem archaic.

• Check out 10 technologies that could change your life in 2016

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Updated: iOS 9 features - updated for iOS 9.3

iOS 9: IOS 9.3, Siri, design and Apple Maps

• Update: Apple updated iOS 9 to iOS 9.3 and, for beta testers, iOS 9.3.3 public beta. Here's everything you need to know about the recent iPhone and iPad interface changes.

iOS 9 launched back in September of last year and it was instantly better than iOS 8, thanks to new features that make the iPhone and iPad software easier to use.

Siri is smarter, Apple Maps has transit directions and the notifications drop-down menu is now sorted logically. Best of all, every device that works with iOS 8 works with iOS 9.

It improved even further in March with the rollout of iOS 9.3. The new software rolled out alongside the smaller iPad Pro 9.7 and even tinier 4-inch iPhone SE hardware unveilings. iOS 9.3.3 is currently in beta.

iPads benefit the most from this current operating system update. New iPad multitasking functionality, especially for the iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro, finally fulfills the tablet's promise of productivity on the go.

While iOS 9 and even iOS 9.3.3 beta lack key Android N features, there's a lot to like about it on the iPad and phones like iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. It's enough to tide us over until iOS 10 beta on June 13.

• Check out our collection of guides on how to use iOS 9

iOS 9.3 update

iOS 9.3 is Apple's first major update with exciting new features to highlight, so you'll actually really want to update to the newest software version. It's now up to iOS 9.3.3 beta.

You'll want to now-pulled avoid iOS 9.3.2 firmware on the iPad Pro 9.7, since it locked up Apple's newest tablet. But overall iOS 9.3 beta has brought new functionality worth your progress bar time.

This contrasts with what we've seen before: iOS 9.1 added new emojis, iOS 9.2 tweaked Apple Music and Apple News and iOS 9.2.1 just fixed bugs. Nothing exciting. iOS 9.3 is different.

Specifically, the new software debuts Night Shift, which automatically tints your iPhone and iPad with warmer colors. Bright blue light can keep you up at night, studies have shown.

Night Shift uses the time and geolocation to determine the sunset and the display returns to normal in the morning. It's a feature we've seen from third-party apps like f.lux on Mac, but a first directly from Apple.

• Interested? Here's how to download iOS 9.3 right now

Educators wielding iPads can dive into a new classroom app and multi-student login. Passing an iPad around the class can let students save their work to individual profiles and pick up where they left off.

Beyond that, Notes can be locked behind Touch ID for additional security, and the Apple News and Apple Health apps have been tweaked with minor design and content changes.

Specifically for the US, Verizon customers without a strong signal can now switch on Wi-Fi calling, just in case the usually reliable carrier doesn't have a good signal while you're in the range of a router.

Both iOS 9.3.1 and iOS 9.3.2 took care of behind-the-scenes issues with iOS 9.3. One front-facing feature change to the latest software is the ability to run Night Shift and Low-Power mode at the same time.

iOS 9.1

The first small update Apple brought to its mobile operating system was iOS 9.1. Its headline feature? 150 new emoji, brought about through its support of Unicode 8, so you can more easily express the fact that you're painting your nails or playing at detective.

The update also added a trio of new wallpapers, but the most significant additions are the least visible ones, as iOS 9.1 fixes a number of bugs, improves general stability and boosts the performance of multitasking, the Calendar, Game Center and Mail.

iOS 9 1970 glitch

Don't reset your iPhone date back to January 1, 1970. Doing so can brick your iPhone upon resetting it, requiring a visit to the Apple Store for some major surgery.

It's an iOS glitch affects all newer iPhones running iOS 9, and it's thought to happen because the phone recognizes this date as a negative time value. Plus, Apple didn't even exist back then, so you've sent it back in time before it even existed.

The ripple in the space-time continuum affects phones and tablets running a 64-bit chip such as the Apple's A7, A8, A8X, A9 and A9X processors.

Everything from the new iPad Pro, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus to the older iPad Air, iPad mini 2 and iPhone 5S. For once, iPhone 5 users are smiling.

iOS 9 compatibility and download size

iOS 9 isn't about a fresh coat of paint like iOS 7 was, it's about rust-proofing glitchy software that launched alongside iOS 8 in 2014. Everything is designed to run smoother, especially with the update to iOS 9.3, and it does.

There are fewer app crashes and hard restarts required compared to when iOS 8 first came out. I've experienced no white screen of death problems so far, just occasional design flaws.

Even better, iOS 9 works with devices as old as iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Apple didn't axe any old phones or tablets from its compatibility list in the transition to the new operating system.

It was also a relief to see that this free update is a 1.4GB file and doesn't require the 4.7GB of free space to install on your tiny, 16GB devices.

Siri and search

The most obvious iOS 9 change involves Siri and spotlight search. Sliding to the left-most menu reveals a robust list of "Siri Suggestions," filled with your most recent contacts and apps.

It provides quick access to your four most recent contacts and four most recent apps. There's a "show more" and "show less" toggle to increase that to the eight most recent. Sadly, you can't unpin and disallow certain apps from showing up before your parents see you're on Tinder.

Apple Maps gets some attention here, too. "Nearby" shortcuts are a fast way of finding Parking, Restaurants, Gas Stations and even Desserts, which all link to a Yelp review-filled Maps menu. In true Apple fashion, there's no customization or option to re-sort which shortcuts come first.

iOS 9 concludes this Siri-run search menu with news snippets from sources like the New York Times and CNN. Strangely, there are four headlines, but if you hit the rather stingy "Show More" text, it reveals a total of five. A glitch to be solved in the future, perhaps?

The news presentation here isn't as flashy as Samsung's Flipboard-based menu, which is also the leftmost Android menu on the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. Apple saves the magazine-style stories for its new iOS 9 News app.

Holding down the iPhone or iPad home button to issue normal Siri commands leads to smarter answers. I randomly asked "Bring up photos from May 28, 2015" and Siri immediately opened the pictures I took at Google IO on that date.

I still find Google Now to be more advanced overall, but this same phrase on an Android just leads to my Samsung Galaxy S6 Active opening up random web results. That... doesn't really help, Google. Apple is catching up and boasts that Siri is 40% faster and 40% more accurate. It shows.

Notifications, recent and photo scrubbing

Smaller iOS 9 menu changes (which are also present in iOS 9.3) have solved big pet peeves I've had with iOS 8, one of which I felt Apple should just steal from Android.

Notifications are now sorted chronologically instead of illogically grouped by app. This was always a problem when I accidentally put my finger on the Touch ID home button, forever sending all time-sorted lockscreen notifications into the app-sorted notifications menu. Now they all reside in the swipe-down-from-the-top menu once the phone is open.

Apple re-stylized its Recent menu, which is the one you see when double pressing in the Home button. It now sports a larger Cover Flow format, rather than its former zoomed out look.

The more important change to the Recent menu is that there's a shortcut icon tucked away at the bottom for Continuity (an app open your nearby Mac, iPad, etc) and location-based apps (if you're at a store like Starbucks and have the app installed).

Previously, these icons were stuck on bottom left corner of the lockscreen, which meant locking your phone just to press the wake button again to access the lock screen shortcut. Now it's available in two spots, whether or not your phone is in a locked state.

Finally, flipping through the default Photos app is less of a hazard, because there's a mini slideshow at the the bottom of the app. It's the fastest way to scrub through photos and reduces the chance you'll bring up that embarrassing picture while showing someone other photos.

Apple Maps

iOS 9 is the company's big push to improve Apple Maps, and it does just that... to some extent. Namely, this comes through with long-overdue public transit directions.

Routes for buses, trains, subways and even ferries are here, and I put it to the test on the New York City subway while navigating Manhattan. I survived this Apple Maps expedition without booting up Google Maps.

Besides New York City, transit directions are available in Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Toronto and Washington D.C. About 300 cities in China, including Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai, are also getting the transit treatment.

Does it fix everything? No. The problem with Apple Maps wasn't just its lack of transit directions or too-often wrong routes, it was the fact that the app's design just couldn't compete with Google Maps. That's still the case.

Google is busy adding ridiculously minute details, like chalking out your vacation dates to the map overtop of your hotel. Apple's cumbersome app won't let you finger ahead to see the next directions. It just springs you back into place. I can go from Los Angeles to London on Google Maps while in the middle of turn-by-turn directions if I wanted to. With Apple Maps, I can't look ahead one block.

While I appreciate its new Nearby feature that lets you discover stops along the way, Apple Maps' foundation is a little too flawed for me to give up on Google Maps just yet. It doesn't matter if Siri insists on opening up Maps whenever I ask for direction by voice.

iOS 9: Multitasking, keyboard and Notes

iOS 9 is very much an iPad-focused update, with several of the most exciting new features only available on Apple's 7.9-inch, 9.7-inch and 12.9 tablets.

Multitasking

True multitasking finally has come to the newer Retina-class slates: the iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3 and iPad mini 2. The newer iPad Pro 12.9 and iPad Pro 9.7 make even better use of this feature out of the gate. Multitasking may help Apple's sluggish tablet sales among enterprise users.

Slide Out opens a second app from the left, working a lot like the drag-from-the-bottom Command Center gesture, and gives it about a third of the screen. That's been enough space to check my email while already surfing the web, or to respond to iMessages while in the middle of writing a certain iOS 9 review in a Google Doc.

While the main portion of the iPad screen can consist of any app, the one-third panel is limited to Apple's app suite of 19 apps. I get it. It's clearly because the apps here are tweaked ever so slightly to fit the abnormal layout, but it's still disappointing.

I should also note that while Mail, Reminders, Notes and Photos are useful in this Slide Out view, it's hard to understand why Apple's 19 multitasking apps includes Tips and Feedback. (Actually, scratch that, I may use that last one right now.)

Picture-in-Picture is another multitasking mode, one that's focused on continuing to allow you to play videos and stream FaceTime calls while still using the tablet.

It puts the video in the corner of the home screen as soon as you hit the home button, and the small window can be resized and dragged around while you work in other apps. This works fine for all videos playing in Safari, just don't expect it to work in the native YouTube app.

Split View is the closest thing there is to computer-grade multitasking on a tablet running iOS 9 or iOS 9.3, and it's only available on the iPad Air 2, iPad Pro 9.7 and iPad Pro 12.9. It converts the small Slide Out panel into two apps running side by side with equal space. Both are active, with full multitouch support.

All three multitasking modes give the iPad a much-needed productivity boost and they right the wrongs of Apple's "multitasking" iOS 4 announcement, which ended up being apps kind-of, sort-of running in the background.

All of this is limited to the iPad. As much as you may want it on a phone in exchange for lugging around that 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus or iPhone 6S Plus, there's no such multitasking in the iOS 9 update for Apple's phablets.

New keyboard

The iPad takes the lead here, too, but there are still important changes that makes the iPhone's QuickType keyboard even better in iOS 9 and iOS 9.3.

First, it's easier to tell the difference between capital letters and non-capital letters, thanks to the new San Francisco font type. I no longer have to look at the shift key to try to determine whether it's on or off.

Second, Apple turned off the pop up animation for every key press. You can still turn it on in the settings menu by following Settings> General > Keyboards and checking off "Character Preview." However, I found it much less of a distraction without it on.

The iPad gets the most out of the keyboard changes with new shortcuts that flank the suggestion word bar at the top. They depend on the app, but I found cut, copy and paste almost always appear on the left, and sometimes undo and redo, too. Bold, italics, underline and attachment shortcuts hog the right side of the bar and are sometimes joined by up and down arrows.

Previously, this was unused space, and now it's put to good use. I really wanted iOS 9 to add right and left arrow keys in this space, but Apple went in another direction. It made the entire keyboard a trackpad whenever two fingers touch down on the display.

It turns off the keyboard and lets you move the cursor all around without your finger having to be over the top of it (read: in the way of it). This works especially well when trying to highlight text right before hitting that copy and paste shortcut.

Notes

Notes has never been the most compelling app, but Apple's iOS 9 update makes it less of an Evernote-afterthought with a few new tricks.

I was able to add checklist icons for a quick and simple to-do list and include photos thanks to a new attachment icon in the shortcut bar. Maps and URLs can be included, too, but the need for these two tools isn't as pressing in such a "jot something down" app.

Right next to the little camera attachment icon is a squiggly line, which of course means I could draw a sketch by using my finger. It's complete with different pen sizes and colors.

iOS 9's enhanced Notes app isn't enough to drop my subscription to the more feature-packed and easily searchable Evernote, but it's an important step forward for Apple's ecosystem loyalists.

Apple News, Wallet and Verdict

Apple is giving two of its existing pre-installed apps a complete overhaul and a name change in iOS 9, and both are improvements over the old way of doing things.

Newsstand has been revamped as Apple News, or just News, and it gives us a free, magazine-styled layout. Passbook has become Wallet, and expands instead of changes the idea behind it.

Apple News

Really, you should get all of your news straight from TechRadar, but if you need to learn about other events happening in the world, Apple has a News app within iOS 9 and iOS 9.3, available in the US, UK and Australia.

It's a slick-looking news aggregator, but, truthfully, it's not the most ground-breaking app design because it does exactly what Flipboard does: lays out RSS content in a magazine-style format.

It collects stories from publications and topics I favorite, then does its best to deliver a rich newsfeed I actually care about. It has two things going for it over traditional Safari browsing: it's fast and it keeps my personalized data separate from my Apple ID.

Wallet

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users have been waving their phones in front of NFC stations to pay for stuff in the US since October 2014, and as of 2015, they've been doing it throughout the UK, Canada and Australia. In 2016, China, Singapore and Spain received Apple Pay.

iOS 9 further expands Apple Pay by adding gift and loyalty cards, therefore the app that contains it, Passbook, is being renamed Wallet. Goodbye, cumbersome QR codes that few retailers even used.

Only, these loyalty cards haven't been widely implemented at stores. The first retailer, Kohl's, just turned on its rewards system through Apple Pay in May, eight months after iOS 9 launched.

Other retailers like Whole Foods, Walgreens and JCPenney are promising to launch Wallet-integrated app updates "soon." Our loyalty is running out for this overdue feature.

The Wallet new app comes with a handy trick: double pressing in the home button on a locked iPhone (but not an iPad) and it brings up the Apple Pay menu.

It's so tempting to hide the Wallet app in a folder. There's no reason to keep it on the home screen until you really need it. But it's nice to have quick access to it the few, precise times you actually do need to pull something out of your "Wallet."

With loyalty cards launching, shortcuts like this are going to become even more important. I just wish Apple devised a way to access a flight boarding pass when my iPhone screen isn't locked.

I have to lock my always-in-use device in an airport line, then press the lock button again to wake it in order to access the lockscreen notification. Apple Watch does it correctly with a shortcut that always rests in the notification dropdown right before a flight. I'm hopeful I don't have to wait for iOS 10 for something similar.

Verdict

iOS 9 is well worth downloading. The keyboard is easier to use, Siri suggestions make menu navigation faster, notifications are rightly sorted by time and, on the iPad, there's actual multitasking.

Not everything that's new is perfect or worthwhile. Apple Maps still needs a lot of design work, Apple News is a clone and the same old Apple ecosystem problems persist. You still can't delete useless pre-installed apps (and now we know why) and Siri still loves opening Safari and Maps, even if you're loyal to Chrome and Gmail.

Even with all of the iPad advancements, you won't find multiple accounts like you would on Android, and good luck switching to Google's operating system. Apple makes it tough to leave iMessages, as group conversations fall apart when you switch to those ugly green bubbles your Apple-loving friends hate.

• Here's how to download iOS 9.3 on your iPhone or iPad right now

That said, iOS 9 is an incremental advancement over iOS 8, which is exactly what Google has done in the transition from Android 5.0 Lollipop to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Much of it is behind the scenes.

But we're already seeing the positive effects of the update, and it's got even smoother and more robust with the launch of iOS 9.3. With mid-cycle features like Nift Shift tiding us over to iOS 10, it should be enough to rival Android N and its big demo at Google IO 2016.

• Here's our in-depth Apple Watch review

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Updated: iOS 10 release date, news and features

iOS 10 release date, news, features and beta

Update: The iOS 10 release date is expected to be June 13 at the company's WWDC keynote and is rumored to include new features for Siri, HomeKit, Apple Pay and Apple Music. Here's the latest news.

Apple's iOS 10 update is the milestone software version for the iPhone and iPad, and its release date is currently next month, according to the company's routine schedule.

Downloading the iOS 10 beta in June and the final release three months later is now so routine, it's no longer a big scheduling surprise. But where Apple takes the mobile operating system is still a mystery.

We're just now reporting on the first iOS 10 update rumors, including new interface and app features that haven't been pushed out to your iPhone 6S and iPad Pro 12.9 as part of iOS 9.3.

Apple is preparing the redesigned iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, according to the latest leaks, and that means the interface may take on a few surprises. Here's what we've heard and want.

iOS 10 release date

Apple is reportedly testing iOS 10 right now, meaning it's on track for another June release date at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference event, WWDC 2016.

Siri let us know that the keynote date is June 13. That's when official iOS 10 announcement will happen with an introduction by Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering.

The iOS 10 beta should be available to developers immediately, while a public beta is probably launching in July, just as it did with iOS 9. After all, last year's public beta was a big success for Apple judging from the smoother sailing of iOS 9, and it continues to be a surprise with new iOS 9.3 features.

If you decide to wait for the final version of iOS 10, it'll take a while longer due to additional bug testing by developers and faithful Apple fan trying out the beta. A stable version of iOS 10 should launch alongside the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in September.

iOS 10 beta

The iOS 10 beta should be back given the initial rousing success of the iOS 9 beta to squash software glitches. That means you can anticipate three ways to download the operating system update once iOS 10 becomes available.

Apple Developer Program members will be the first to install iOS 10, likely in mid-June. That requires enrolling in the official developer program and paying a fee.

Since everyone wants everything for free these days, you can wait a few weeks, typically in July, to test out iOS 10 early via the public beta. It requires jumping through some hoops on Apple's website, but registration takes no more than a few minutes of your time.

The iOS 9 beta program was more unfinished than it was buggy. I counted just a few missing features, not glitches, so it wasn't a hassle to download a year ago. And it was free and an over-the-air update, so it's a friendly middle ground if you want to try iOS 10 before most everyone else.

iOS 10 compatibility

Amazingly, iOS 9 didn't cut anyone out of the mix when the update rolled out to devices in September. The iPhone 4S and iPad 2 still work with the latest operating system update.

That may not happen again given the simple fact that iOS 10 may require more than 512MB of RAM.

We really thought both of these devices would be axed when the iOS 9 update became available. Because these Apple gadgets are going to be five years old by the time iOS 10 comes out, we think it's time to put the clinging-to-life 30-pin dock-equipped phone and tablet to rest.

Expect the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, and the bigger iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone 6 Plus to handle iOS 10 without a hitch. Add the new iPhone SE to the phone roster, too.

Same goes for the iPad Pro 9.7 and 12.9, iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2 and maybe even the original iPad mini. Also, not to be forgotten, the iPod Touch 6th gen should be fine.

Siri and voicemails

When it comes to iOS 10 features, we fully expect Apple to improve Siri simply because this happens every year. This time, Siri may become your true personal assistant by handling your voicemails.

The first big iOS 10 rumor is that Siri can tell a caller why you can't pick up the phone and even transcribe voicemail messages so you can read them on the go or in loud venues.

The Siri voicemail service is reportedly part of something called iCloud Voicemail, and it's supposed to be an enhancement of the standard digital audio recorder.

Apple isn't launching a mobile network of its own, at least not yet. However, this feature, if it's a part of iOS 10, means that the company is one step closer to doing just that.

Peer-to-peer Apple Pay payments

Apple Pay is continuing to expand to new countries, but what's missing from your iPhone's digital wallet is the ability to directly send people payments. So far it's just between you and an NFC cash registers.

You can't treat Apple Pay as if it were PayPal just yet, but that may change with the new iOS 10 update, according to the longest-running rumors about the operating system.

Apple is said to be challenging the popular Venmo mobile payments app with the same ability: to send money between iOS devices. You may have to pay your Android friends back with real money, though.

That's still good news for iOS users who want Apple Pay to become more useful. Samsung Pay is poised to encroach on the Cupertino company's territory, and new features is the best way counteract that.

Apple HomeKit

Your home is about to become smarter thanks to all of your household tech coming together to live under one roof: your iOS 10 device.

Apple's Home app will transform for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV into remotes for smart bulbs, door locks, thermostats, door bells and all sorts of gadgets that fall into the Internet of Things classification.

Right now, this smart home technology is extremely scattered. It's going to take a company like Apple to bring it together.

You may recall that the developer-focused HomeKit is a year-and-a-half old, but iOS 10 is expected to make it into a front-facing feature for users with a new Apple Home app.

Apple Music redesign

Apple Music will celebrate its one-year anniversary at WWDC 2016 with a sudden aging-rockstar facelift. Yes, the new streaming service is already in for a retooling of its user interface.

It's no surprise. There's a confusing rift between Apple Music streaming and iTunes music downloading, and that clunky design was cited as the main issue in our review.

Just don't anticipate Apple Music Connect to play a prominent role. The underutilized tab, meant to let artists share photos, videos and demo tracks with fans, didn't live up to its "connect" label, is in for a demotion.

Make 3D touch relevant

3D Touch made its debut with the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, and at first it was a little underwhelming. More apps now use it, but it could still stand to have a better reason to exist.

Control Center is exactly where this Force Touch-like technology should head next. Pressing the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on-screen button should pop up the respective settings menus in a overlay window.

Apple has done such a good job over the years by sliding opaque menus into view without requiring you to exit apps. These Control Center buttons should follow the very same principle.

There are also rumors that Apple may get rid of the home button with an on-screen button (sort of like on some Androids) that uses 3D Touch. It's not a popular theory among all, but it may happen one day.

Customizable Control Center

While 3D Touch would go nicely with Control Center, it'd also be clever to have the entire menu overlay become customizable. Right now, everything's set in stone by Apple.

Instead of forcing everyone to have the Clock icon be a shortcut to the time, why can't I make that go to the stopwatch? Why can't the calculator icon be swapped out for a gallery shortcut?

These are some of the requests we've been hearing from Apple users since Control Center made its debut in iOS 7 back in 2013. It's about time Apple put them into action.

Apple News in the forefront

There's nothing necessarily wrong with Apple News. The Flipboard-like app works well and has some of my favorite publications, but the app is too far removed. I hardly ever tap into it.

A better move would be to expand its presence in the leftmost menu. Yes, this is something that Samsung has done with its phone and tablets, but I've come to appreciate it.

Otherwise, tucking the entire Apple News interface into its own app silos it from the rest of the operating system without the pizzaz it really deserves.

Volume controls

There's nothing more annoying than turning down the volume, tapping on a YouTube video during the middle of the night and hearing it still blare out my iPhone's mono speaker.

Media controls are different from notification controls, it turns out, and there's no easy way to turn down the volume on a video without starting it up first. That's annoying.

Many Android phone manufacturers have cleverly split up the volume control into two or three groups, and it doesn't look messy with a dropdown for more options beyond the main volume.

With iOS 10, Apple needs to catch up with the times on volume controls, as the iPhone and iPad rocker doesn't exactly rock with limited and often confusing options.

Cache and orientation bugs

There are bugs and limitations to the iPhone and iPad that could be resolved with the iOS 10 update. Namely, caching and orientation flaws trip me up on a weekly basis.

I'd like to be able to minimize an app without having it reset when I open it back up later on after having opened a couple of other apps in the interm. Memory seems to be the issue.

I'd also like iOS 10 to address the iPhone 6S Plus flaw in which orientation flips too easily into landscape mode when unlocking the phone. Its size is already unwieldy enough, and oddly, this doesn't happen on the smaller iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S.

Multi-user support

Apple did a really nice job upgrading iOS 9 for its iPad line. Split Screen multitasking and better Bluetooth keyboard support made a big difference.

However, Apple still hasn't given its fanbase multi-user support. This is something that Android tablets have had for a while and it's sorely missing on Apple devices. iOS 10 could be the time to do it.

In fact, the infrastructure for multi-user login support has launched ahead of iOS 10. It turns out that iOS 9.3 includes new education features for multiple student-logins for classrooms. That's a good sign.

Given that iPad Pro just came out in the last few months, and it's way more than a personal device, a lot of businesses and artist-filled studios might buy into the supersized idea if this could happen.

iOS 10 Touch ID

Touch ID works really well. It's faster than ever on the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, and it's really accurate. Maybe not as fast at the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, but is it still too quick for its own good?

That's what I've been hearing from users of Apple's new smartphones. They habitually light up their phones with the home button, only to have their notifications vanish.

iOS 9 made notifications easier to view in the pulldown menu by sorting them in chronological order (not by group), but an easier way to wake the phone may be in order.

LG and HTC use an ingenious double tap the screen to wake method that makes the entire display a big button. That would solve this problem for Apple, and we're looking for hints of that in iOS 10 in advance of the iPhone 7 launch.

More iOS 10 updates to come

This isn't the last word on the iOS 10 update. Apple's still has one month to go before it's expected to unveil the software and three months after that to finalize everything.

That gives us ample time to hunt down official news and slightly less official leaks about the iPhone and iPad mobile operating system update.

The iOS 10 release date seems like the easy part: likely in June for the developer beta, July for the public beta and September with the iPhone 7 for the final launch.

iOS 10 features, on the other hand, remain a mystery with the exception of the solid-sounding Siri voicemail lead. There's definitely more to come ahead of WWDC 2016 on June 13.

• Top competitor: Google's Android N update

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Google app on iOS catches up to Android

The Google app for iPhone and iPads is getting a juicy update today that will help load pages faster.

The search giant announced a major update to the Google app for iOS, bringing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) along for the ride. AMP works similarly to Facebook's Instant Articles technology as both companies try to speed up web browsing.

The feature loads a mobile-optimized version of a web page that strips out superfluous elements. The page still loads ads to ensure sites make money, but restricts the interactivity of pages by limiting the use of JavaScript. The resulting pages are tailored for reading on a small screen.

Beyond AMP, the app promises faster loading, though Google even admits users may not notice the slight speed bump.

Lastly, the Google app update on iOS brings sports highlights to Google Now, the company's intelligent mobile assistant. You'll be able to watch game lights directly from Google Now cards instead of having to navigate to a site to load the video.

Today's update brings iPhone and iPad users up to speed with some of Android's features, a reason to rejoice if you're on Apple's platform.

Google has been working hard to bring its apps and services to its own Android platform and as well as iOS. The company announced its artificially intelligent chat app, Allo, and video call app, Duo, are coming to Android and iOS at the same time.

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