I have an iOS application which supports iOS 6. And I have customers who use this old iOS version (on iPod touch 4). But now I would like to add a framework with iOS 7 as a minimal supported version. Is it possible to release one application in App Store with multiple supported iOS verions with this framework for modern devices and without this framework for old devices?
Not if you're still updating the version that supports iOS 6.
For new updates, if the apps have the same bundle ID, they're only one app as far as the App Store and iOS are concerned. You could do two builds but one would replace the other one in the App Store. You would have to have two separate apps. If it helps, you could set up app groups so that these apps could share data. That might make it easier for people to upgrade from one to the other.
If you're not still updating the version that supports iOS 6, people using iOS 6 will still be able to download that old version even if you release new versions that require more recent versions of iOS.
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I have been searching for an answer for this for a while now and I can't seem to get a straight answer anywhere. I'm new to iOS development and am looking to get started porting my android app over to make my first iOS app. I'm not a big apple user, so I'm just running xcode in a VM and trying to build and test on my old ipod touch 3rd generation running iOS 5.1.1. I understand how out of date this is, but I want to develop and test on this device for 2 reasons:
I dont want to buy a $750 new apple product just to test my very simple app
When I publish my app, I want to reach the most users possible
So my question is this:
In xcode 8, is it possible to develop applications with a deployment target of iOS 5.1.1?
If so, will it build for all versions of iOS?
When I attach my ipod to xcode, it says device is not supported, can I fix this by installing some 5.1.1 developer package or sdk to allow support? Or would I have to build, then manually install and test each iteration?
If all of these are possible, and I build an app targeted to 5.1.1, can I publish it to the app store? If I open the app store on my 5.1.1 ipod, there are still apps in the store with recent update dates, so people must still be releasing updates to apps on iOS 5.1.1 right? Or am I missing something and an app that runs on iOS 5.1.1 is entirely banned by Apple.
A lot of questions, but If possible I really want to do this. Even getting a fully known, confirmed answer for ANY of these questions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
I dont want to buy a $750 new apple product just to test my very
simple app
Xcode has a simulator, you don't need a device to test your app.
When I publish my app, I want to reach the most users possible
As of July 31th 2017, https://developer.apple.com/support/app-store/
86% of devices are using iOS 10.
11% of devices are using iOS 9.
3% of devices are using earlier. (probably iOS 8)
It makes sense that you have this concern coming from Android, but iOS is quite different. Devices are designed to be uniform and apple encourages (almost forces) people to update them. (You won't stop receiving a notification to update your device)
It would actually be bad to focus on developing for that specific device you have, specially because a lot of the APIs will be deprecated, plus the screen ratio of that specific device is not so common.
In xcode 8, is it possible to develop applications with a deployment
target of iOS 5.1.1?
No*
If so, will it build for all versions of iOS?
Kind of, it will run but it won't probably be what you expect until you FIX it for that specific iOS version. (many things break between iOS updates so developers are sometimes forced to branch code)
When I attach my ipod to xcode, it says device is not supported, can I
fix this by installing some 5.1.1 developer package or sdk to allow
support? Or would I have to build, then manually install and test each
iteration?
Maybe, but probably not. You can actually copy files from older xcodes to enable testing in newer ones. You can search about how to do this by googling for "Using iOS 7 in Xcode 8". However I doubt going as far back as iOS 5 will be possible. The Xcode needed for running on iOS 5 is not even supported macOS Sierra (The newest OS)
If all of these are possible, and I build an app targeted to 5.1.1,
can I publish it to the app store? If I open the app store on my 5.1.1
ipod, there are still apps in the store with recent update dates, so
people must still be releasing updates to apps on iOS 5.1.1 right? Or
am I missing something and an app that runs on iOS 5.1.1 is entirely
banned by Apple.
Theoretically yes, iOS Apps can still "support" old iOS version, the reason why developers drop support for older os is because it gets increasingly hard to debug them as well as they just don't have support for new features and APIs that come with newer iOS.
My suggestion if you are really obsessed with building for iOS 5.1.1 is to ensure it's a 64 bit app:
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/General/Conceptual/CocoaTouch64BitGuide/ConvertingYourAppto64-Bit/ConvertingYourAppto64-Bit.html
And Download an old version of Xcode: (Maybe Xcode 7 or 6?)
https://developer.apple.com/download/more/
But I think you still have to Build with xcode 8 since you need to build against their latest SDK. The old Xcode is just to develop for it and facilitate debugging.
Detail: NO is the minimum version
Is there any way I can restrict versions of iOS?
For example, I have developed an application and would like it swirled in iOS versions 7.x.x and iOS 8.1.x. In short, I would avoid the application was installed on the iOS versions 8.0.x.
How come? Currently in iOS 7 works perfectly on iOS 8.1.x also, but on iOS 8.0.x the application presents several problems, including constant crashes.
No it's not possible. Apple only accepts new apps in the App Store which are able to run on the current iOS(iOS 8+ at the moment). They don't care about earlier iOS versions.
Simply said: Apps have to run on the newest iOS version.
Also I'd recommend you to fix the iOS 8 errors instead, because even if you could do that. Over 50% of all iOS users are using iOS 8. That means that your app won't be seen by many users. If you have trouble to resolve your errors, I'm sure there are people, maybe on this website, which will help you.
I am an experienced developer starting on my first iOS project. I am comfortable with the hardware and software that I will be using, but confused about the dependencies between the various components to achieve what I need to do.
Here's what I have:
iMac 21.5 inch, i5 processor 2011 vintage
OSX 10.7.5
XCode 4.2.1
iOS SDK 5.0/4.3/4.2
iPhone 4 running iOS 7
I first became aware of a problem, when XCode refused to let me download the app I am developing to the device. Presumably because I am targeting iOS 5, while the phone is on iOS 7.
I am hesitant to rush off and upgrade everything, as I am aware with Apple this is often a one-way street. For example, I bought the iPhone second hand that the vender had already upgraded to iOS 7, and now I cannot downgrade.
Here's what I want to be able to do:
Use my current hardware for development
Publish new apps in the App Store
Test my app on my iPhone (and preferably older models also)
Support iOS7 plus as many older iOS versions as possible
If possible, have the app use older controls styling (-iOS6) on iOS7
Can someone help me with my thought process through the various dependencies, and what versions I am going to need to achieve these aims?
You'll still be able to develop for iOS6 and earlier if you have the latest version of XCode, just set your deployment target accordingly. With XCode 5 though Apple stopped including the iOS5 simulators and earlier, so you would have to manually download it and include it if you wanted to use that.
Note that to develop with a real device (not just on the Simulator), you need to have an Apple Developer license and have added the device through the Developer portal.
I recently found my app doesn't work on iOS 5 and I have a few users who have asked that I release an older version that works on iOS5. One of them sent me this link http://news.softpedia.com/news/Apple-Enables-Pre-iOS-7-Downloads-Offers-Old-App-Versions-When-Necessary-383663.shtml Is there any way to release two versions of my app? One for ios6+ and one for ios5?
Apple does not provide a way to do this, but there is a way to do it yourself if you REALLY want to.
You have to create a new app id and name, (eg: MyApp for iOS 5). Then you have to set the deployment target of your iOS 5 app to iOS 5. Of course, someone with iOS 6 or 7 could also install it, so you might want to detect the the system version (via UIDevice) and offer to take them to the app store to get the newer version. You'll end up with two apps in the app store and your users will have to figure out which one is the best one for them.
You're probably better off trying to get your existing app to work on iOS 5 and fix whatever issues you're encountering with that OS (unless you're using autolayout--which is not supported on iOS 5 and would mean you'd likely have to re-do a lot of your UI for that OS version).
That said, there's a diminishing return on investment to support older versions of iOS. Most people update to the latest version of iOS pretty quickly and the number of users stuck with an old version of the OS who are unable to upgrade is going to steadily shrink.
I wish to update an app to support ios5 and up. CUrrently the app supports ios5 and below and i was wondering what the implications of setting the build to be ios5 and above would be to customers still using the ios4 app on ios4. Would app store refuse to download the ios5 and up app update and complain to the user to update their os to 5? what exactly would happen in this case?
The App Store would simply refuse to upgrade the app and tell the user to upgrade to iOS 5 (or 6).
That's the standard policy, so that if you have an old iOS you can still use your old apps.
As a side note, the cumulated market share of iOS 5 and up is more than 90%, so you won't have to worry about supporting old versions. Most iOS devs I know are moving on or already have.