Report: iOS 9 to Play Nice With Older iPhones, iPads

Good news for those of you with older iPhones. Apple's next-gen mobile OS will reportedly support your aging smartphone.

According to 9to5Mac, which cited multiple sources familiar with Apple's plans, iOS 9 is being developed to work with devices like the iPhone 4s and original iPad mini.

"In order to avoid the sluggishness and bugginess that was most notably seen in iOS 7 for the iPhone 4, Apple has restructured its software engineering process to better support older hardware," 9to5Mac said.

Cupertino is building a "core version" of iOS 9 that will work on devices with Apple's older A5 processor, the blog said. Then, it will enable other features that might only work on newer gadgets.

Apple's iOS 8 is technically compatible with older devices, but it's not an ideal experience on gadgets like iPhone 4s.

As 9to5Mac notes, the move might surprise some Apple-watchers, who likely assumed that Cupertino wanted its customers to upgrade to newer, pricier iPhones rather than updating old phones to iOS 9. That might be the case, of course, but not everyone can afford a new iPhone (and this lets Apple poke fun at Android fragmentation even more).

The report comes several months after 9to5Mac reported that iOS 9 would focus more on stability than shiny new features. That's still true, it said today, though we'll probably see a few tweaks, from transit info on Apple Maps and new fonts to a Home app for HomeKit devices and split screens on the iPad.

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Apple's WWDC Kicks Off June 8

One thing enthusiasts might not like: a new security feature, dubbed Rootless, which "will prevent even administrative-level users from being able to access certain protected files on Apple devices," 9to5Mac said—a potential blow to iPhone jailbreakers.

Expect more details about iOS 9 and Mac OS X at next month's WWDC, which kicks off June 8 in San Francisco.