Apple said Monday that it had fixed the iCloud backup bug that delayed the release of app thinning feature in iOS 9. The Cupertino company rolled out iOS 9 on Sept.16, but it had to disable the feature due to bugs in the iCloud backup functionality. Starting with the recently released iOS 9.0.2, users will be able to take advantage of the app thinning feature that can help save storage space.
What is app thinning?
The iPhone maker has also unveiled searchable text transcripts of WWDC-2015’s developer and keynote sessions. App Thinning is a trio of technologies: On-Demand Resources, App Slicing, and Bitcode. These features allow Apple to trim down on app install size.
Previously, app developers were supposed to make “universal” apps that contain all assets for multiple types of devices. It would let the app run smoothly on an iOS device regardless of its configuration. But users had to install all assets of an app even though many of them were not necessary for their hardware configuration.
Get device-specific app assets on iOS 9.0.2
Apple’s app thinning feature addresses this issue by downloading only app assets that are necessary to run the app on your particular iOS device. It may download additional assets as needed. For instance, the graphical assets required for the iPhone 5S are different from that for an iPad Air. Now that Apple has fixed the bug, device-specific versions of an app will be delivered to devices running iOS 9.0.2 or later.
Developers won’t have to do much to enable the feature because much of the action happens at Apple’s end. Users running the latest version of iOS 9 should be able to notice the difference in apps file sizes when downloading apps. The app thinning feature is likely to benefit especially those who own 16GB versions of iPhones and iPads.
The iOS 9 also suffered from several bugs such as battery problems, Slide to Upgrade, lagging, and crashing. But Apple has fixed most of these bugs now
