iOS 9 Beta 4 Tidbits: Home Sharing for Music, Volume Button Photos, iPod Touch Support, and More

Apple today released the fourth beta of iOS 9, and as with the previous iOS 9 betas, there are quite a few new features bundled into the release. There are some major additions, such as the promised return of Home Sharing for Music, and several other minor tweaks intended to refine the look and feel of the operating system.

With approximately two months to go until release, iOS 9 is already feeling faster, more polished, and more full featured. For those eager to know all about what's coming in iOS 9 ahead of its release, we've rounded up a complete list of the changes introduced with iOS 9 beta 4 below.

You can also check out all of the changes, large and small, that have been made in previous betas: iOS 9 beta 1, iOS 9 beta 2, iOS 9 beta 3.

Home Sharing - Home Sharing for music was removed in iOS 8.4 with the launch of the new music app and the new Apple Music service, but iTunes chief Eddy Cue said Apple was working to re-add the feature in iOS 9 and it has, in iOS 9 beta 4.

home_sharing_ios_9b4
iPod touch Support - People who purchased one of the new A8-based iPod touch devices last week can now upgrade those devices to iOS 9 beta 4. With this beta, Apple added a new installation profile for the device.

Volume Button Photos - In iOS 9 beta 3, there was a bug that prevented the volume button from working as a shutter button for the iOS camera. That's been fixed in beta 4 and it's once again possible to snap a photo using the volume buttons on your iOS device.

Notifications icon - In the Settings app, the icon that represents the Notification setting has been updated with a new red color. The Battery icon has also been fixed and now has rounded edges instead of square edges.

notifications_ios_9b4
Picture in Picture for Podcasts - One of the iOS 9 features on the iPad is a multitasking Picture in Picture option that lets users watch a video while continuing to complete other tasks on their iPads. As of iOS 9 beta 4, this works with the Podcasts app.

Handoff - The Handoff feature in the App Switcher has been moved to the bottom of the app-switching interface. Pull up on the new Handoff bar to open an app. Previously, Handoff was displayed in the app carousel.

newhandoffui
Apple Pay - There's a new option in the Settings app for Apple Pay that lets you turn off the feature that allows Apple Pay be accessed from the home screen with a double click.

applepayhomebuttonsetting
Additional feature updates in iOS 9 beta 4 will be added here as they are discovered. Apple should continue to release regular updates to iOS 9 at two to three week intervals throughout the beta testing period to bring minor performance boosts and changes ahead of the operating system's official launch. iOS 9 is expected to be released to the public in the fall.

Related Forum: iOS 9

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 21, 2025 2:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are around three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices from credible sources. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X...
iPhone 16 Battery Life Feature

iOS 26's New Battery Life Mode Available Only on These iPhone Models

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:02 am PDT by
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode. Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer." The full description of...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

iPhone Reportedly Moving to All-Screen Design in Two Stages

Sunday June 22, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
Apple has long been working towards an iPhone with an all-screen design, and it might finally achieve the feat in a few more years from now. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple will shrink the size of the Dynamic Island on new iPhone models released next year. A year after that, he expects Apple to release a redesigned 20th-anniversary iPhone model....
ios 26 control center b2

Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 2

Monday June 23, 2025 2:57 pm PDT by
Apple provided developers with the second beta of iOS 26, introducing the first changes and refinements to the new operating system since it debuted after the WWDC keynote. Because we're early in the beta testing process, there are quite a few tweaks to iOS 26, which we've rounded up below. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Control Center The background behind the...
ios 26 control center b2

iOS 26 Beta 2 Fixes Control Center Design

Monday June 23, 2025 10:58 am PDT by
With the second beta of iOS 26 that Apple provided to developers today, Apple addressed one of the major complaints that people have had with Liquid Glass. iOS 26 beta 1 on left, iOS 26 beta 2 on right The Control Center buttons are now slightly more opaque, making it easier to see the different control options even on a multicolored background. The new, more opaque look is apparent with the ...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro's Alleged Vapor Chamber Cooling System Partly Revealed

Sunday June 22, 2025 6:37 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models are rumored to be equipped with a vapor chamber cooling system, and a leaker known as Majin Bu today shared a photo of an alleged copper thermal plate for the system. Many high-end Android smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra are equipped with a vapor chamber cooling system, which can manage heat dissipation inside the...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Tuesday June 24, 2025 3:40 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

watchOS 26 Adding a Smaller Yet Useful New Watch Face Setting

Monday June 23, 2025 9:39 am PDT by
watchOS 26 is adding a new "Show Data When Locked" setting to the Apple Watch. MacRumors contributor Steve Moser discovered the new setting within the code for the first watchOS 26 beta, and a Reddit user has seemingly found it in action, but we have yet to figure out where it is exactly. Leave a comment if you know. The new privacy setting allows you to toggle on or off the ability to...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adding Two New Wi-Fi Features, Allows AirDrop and AirPlay Alternatives

Saturday June 21, 2025 7:02 am PDT by
iOS 26 is gaining two new Wi-Fi features, including Captive Assist and Wi-Fi Aware. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered a reference to Captive Assist within the code for the first iOS 26 developer beta, but Apple has yet to enable the feature. It should be available by the time the software update is released later this year. In his Power On newsletter last month, Bloomberg's...

Top Rated Comments

cambookpro Avatar
130 months ago
Oh dear. It's 2015 and Apple officials apologize for bugs in iOS betas. Betas have become mainstream. Or the amount of iOS beta installations is now higher than 'normal' iOS users 5 years ago. Either way, good!
8.4 was a public release. Nothing to do with bugs in betas!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iGeek2014 Avatar
130 months ago
Why no public beta Apple? You give me a headache.
I saw this in another thread re: iOS 9 Beta 4; if you delete the Public Beta profile, reboot your iDevice running PB2 and go to Software Update you can download B4.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TMRJIJ Avatar
130 months ago
New Handoff view as well.
https://twitter.com/v1597psh/status/623570974919802880/photo/1
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brilliantthings Avatar
130 months ago
Does iTunes show me the correct album art? It doesn't now. Songs bought from Apple's iTunes on Apple's hardware running Apple's OS synced with Apple's Macintosh computer running Apple's iTunes gives me the wrong artwork on my phone. Yes, I deleted all the songs and synced it again. I get AC/DC album art with a David Bowie album I bought on iTunes. That same AC/DC artwork is scattered across my library.

Does it show me an accurate % of my battery, or does it still go from 20% to 0% in 15 minutes? In general, the battery life sucks. That Samsung commercial that shows iPhone users hovering around power outlets is very accurate. I just bought my third lightning cable because that connector Apple invented is so fragile (and gets loose so it's connection is intermittent).

Does Siiri have the ability to "Play Artist ..." without saying "I'm sorry but I can't connect to the Internet"? My Ford is able to take voice commands without Internet connection, why can't Siiri? Just in general, Siiri sucks. It doesn't work most of the time for me. For example, I'll say, "Call Bob on mobile" and it says "You have many numbers, which one do you want?" and one of them is labeled "mobile". Sometimes Siiri works as it should in this regard, most of the time it doesn't.

To this day, Apple Maps gives me the wrong directions or the wrong location for an address about 20% of the time. The biggest company in the world can't get this right. Allow me to select Google Maps as my map program integrated with Mail and Safari just like you let me change my search engine in Safari from Google to Duck Duck Go. Just give up on it at this point and go back to Google.

I'll assume that my iPhone's inability to hold WiFi connection or phone calls while I hold it with my hand is a hardware issue since my 3GS was the last iPhone that worked well as a phone. To be fair, I have an iPhone 5. Waiting on the 6S. I learned to go with the S products to avoid being a beta tester for Apple (4 had serious issues, 5 had serious issues, 6 had serious issues). But I just purchased Apple's $199 WiFi Airport Extreme for my house and my iPhone will drop WiFi. ALL OF MY APPLE DEVICES DO. The iPad does, the other iPhones, the Apple TV, with every single router I have used including the older Apple Airport Extreme and the one Verizon gave me. This is an iOS issue because it shows the icon for full bars of WiFi but it actually will sit there and animate the loading icon for a long time because it's not getting the connection. It tells me it has the connection, but it doesn't. Holding the phone up high in the air works. I have to do this with the iPad and other iPhones. If the iOS doesn't have a signal from the WiFi router, it should show ZERO bars.

As mentioned by someone else, Apple TV's OS is way behind the competition in regards to the user interface. Fire up Netflix on a Playstation and then fire it up on the Apple TV. The Apple TV feels like old, antiquated software. While I'm on this subject, HBO Now's user interface is a joke and it crashes my version 2 Apple TV. Apparently, this is a common problem, the crashing. This is how Apple gets you to buy new hardware. Classic Apple. The HBO Now user interface doesn't even have the ability to show me what I previously watched. How stupid is that? I know this is HBO's issue, but Apple has requirements for their UI. They shouldn't sign off on this. Binge watching Game of Thrones means you have to go back to Series:Game of Thrones:Season 4:Episode 7 MANUALLY. You can't even add the series to a list like you can in Netflix. You can add an EPISODE to the list, which is really stupid. I already watched that episode, I want to watch the next one in the SEASON.

And when is Apple going to fix Safari on Yosemite so I can simply select a menu item "Delete history" that doesn't delete my cookies and data with it? THIS IS SOOOO RETARDED. You can't do it! You have to press CMND 2 and replace your entire browser window with your history, then SELECT ALL, then press DELETE. But wait!!! It doesn't delete it all! It leaves a couple folders there and you have to select them and DELETE again.

Oh, and Notes still deletes an arbitrary entry when my Mac connects to iCloud. It's there, but blank. This issue is all over the Net.

Apple has turned into Microsoft. The quality control is crap. My guess is there are a ton of people who might have bought an iWatch but are waiting till the iWatch S comes out. Let the other people be guinea pigs.
Try HP, Windows, Samsung, Android and Chromecast. Let us know how you go.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sss4r Avatar
130 months ago
Pretty lame when you have to report on the notifications icon changing color.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
khafaga Avatar
130 months ago
Here are my two cents :)

When Low power mode is getting disabled (after you recharge the iPhone), you can swipe down this notification and Enable Low power mode again...



Attachment Image
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)