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.

At last, public transit routes have been added to Apple's Maps app. Maps has come a long way since its introduction a few years ago, but with the app's iOS 9 upgrade, the missing piece of the puzzle - public transit options - has finally fallen into place. We'll take a look at the upgraded Maps app and show you how to get the most from its new features.

First, the bad news: Maps only features public transit routes for a handful of select locales. If you're in New York City, San Francisco, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Mexico City, Toronto, London, Berlin, or China, then you're in luck. If not, you'll have to wait a bit longer to put the public transic features to use.

If you are in one of those lucky locations, however, getting public transit info is pretty easy. Simply enter your destination (and starting point if necessary) as usual, then tap the small arrow to get directions. You'll immediately see options for drive, walk, or transit - obviously, transit is the one you want to select in this case. You'll see the recommended route toward the bottom of your screen (tap it to see the steps involved), but if you're not happy with it or just want to see more options, hit the More Routes button to see what else is out there.

After tapping More Routes, you can select another public transit option that's more to your liking. You'll also find the Options button on this screen - tap it and you'll be able to make refinements based on your departure or arrival time, and also decide which means of transportation are included in public transit directions. If you want to avoid the subway, for example, you can tap that option to remove it from your route suggestions. Once you're finished refining the details hit the Done button, then when you've returned to the map, tap Start to receive complete step-by-step directions.

Public Transit isn't the only new feature in the iOS 9 version of Maps. There's also an addition called Nearby, which shows you places and services in the vicinity. Simply type an address into the search field in the Maps app, then tap the search field to be taken the the Nearby page, which lets you select from categories such as food, drinks and shopping, all broken down into further subcategories. Click on one to see what's in the area, and how it's been reviewed on Yelp. And if the search field is empty, you'll be shown places that are near your current location.

If you backup your iPhone, iPad or other iOS device to your Mac instead of to iCloud, then you've probably seen a noticeable increase in size used on your start up disk. This is because iOS backups can be multi-gigabyte files that take up considerable space; however, you may not actually need these backups except in emergencies. This can be especially noticable on a laptop, where disk space is often limited.

In this tip, we'll show you how to move your backup files to an external disk so that they no longer take up extra space, plus we'll show you how to move them back so restoring can be a breeze.

Before you begin, of course, you'll need to create a backup for your iOS device using iTunes. To do so, connect your iPhone or other device to your Mac, click on the device tab in iTunes, and hit the Back Up Now button. (Or go to File > Devices > Back Up.)

Moving the backup from your start up disk

When you're ready to move the backup file to an external drive, follow these steps:

1. Quit iTunes.

2. Open a Finder window and type Shift + Command + G (or select Go > Go to Folder), then type "/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup"

3. Locate the folders inside of the Backup directory, and move these to another drive. Once they've copied, you can delete the originals.

4. Relaunch iTunes.

That's all you need to do in order to move the current iOS backups to another disk. Note that each time iTunes syncs with your iOS device, new backup files will be created, so you'll need to repeat this process whenever you make new backups.

Moving the backup back to your start up disk

When it's time to restore your iOS device, you'll need to move the backups back to your main start up disk so that iTunes can locate them. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Quit iTunes.

2. Open a Finder window and type Shift + Command + G (or select Go > Go to Folder), then type "/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup"

3. On your external drive, locate the folders previously removed from this Backup directory, and move them back to this location.

4. Open iTunes and begin the restore process.

Once the files are back where iTunes they were originally, iTunes should be able to see them and make them available during the restore process.

Everybody loves to personalize their iPhones with custom ringtones, but Apple doesn't make it obvious how to do so - it's not as simple as assigning one of your songs as a tone. Fortunately, by following this guide, you'll be able to whip up your own custom ringtones in a jiffy without having to resort to additional apps or anything outside of what's built right into iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite.

Start the process by opening the sound file you want to set as your ringtone in iTunes on your Mac. You'll need to export a copy of the song and edit it to a suitable length (30 seconds or less), if necessary. You can edit within iTunes and then export, or, if you wish, you can edit with an additional app (such as QuickTime) after exporting.

For this tutorial, we'll do the editing from within iTunes itself. Highlight the song, then hit Command + I to get info. Click on the options tab, and adjust the start and stop times to capture the portion of the song you want as your tone. (Of course, if the sound is already less than 30 seconds, this adjustment is optional.) Once you've adjusted the length, export the edited song by clicking on File > Create New Version > Create AAC version. You must do this even if the file was already in AAC format! (Also, after you've made the copy, be sure to deactivate the start/stop options from the original version of the song so it will play normally the next time you listen to it.)

Locate the newly created AAC version in the finder; you should find it in Music > iTunes > iTunes Media > Music > [artist name] > [album name] > [song name], possibly with a "1" added onto the file name. Copy the file and put it somewhere convenient, such as the desktop, then change its file extension from .m4a to .m4r.

Next, drag the file to the Tones folder (Music > iTunes > Tones), then open it by dragging it to iTunes or double-clicking it. Navigate to the Tones section of iTunes (hit Command + 8 for easy access) and you should see the ringtone there.

In some cases - usually if your original sound file was in a non-AAC format like MP3 or WAV - the ringtone might not show up in the Tones section of iTunes. If this happens to you, it's best to temporarily delete the original and edited versions of the song from iTunes (highlight each one and press the delete button, but choose to keep the file if you're given the option), and to move the original m4a file out of its designated folder to someplace safe (again, like the desktop). With that done, drag the m4r file to the Tones folder, then drag it to iTunes or double-click it. The ringtone should now show up in the tones section, at which point you can put the original song back in its designated folder (or simply play it) so it will show up in your music library once again.

Now that you've created a ringtone that's recognized by iTunes, you need to sync it to your iPhone. Connect your iPhone to your Mac, go to the device tab by pressing the button in the upper-left, select the Tones section, then check "Sync Tones" (all tones or selected tones is up to you). When you sync your phone, the ringtones will copy over.

• Here's how you can try iOS 9 public beta