Alright, have a question here -
A while ago I built an app in Swift using pods that, for one reason or another, disappeared one day. Meaning the project was there, but it reverted to a MUCH older version and was inrepairable. It's a great app and I released on the app store, so others are using it and that's great but I am unable to update it. The binary is gone.
My question is - with the updating of the app store and Swift (i.e. Swift 3 now instead of 2) will my app be able to run still on the app store in years to come?
Right now with Swift 3/ios 10 it still runs well. It's good.
But can an app written in an older version of Swift live indefinitely on the app store? Or will it die one day? Hoping its not the former..
Whether an app built with Swift will still be available in the App Store in a few years doesn't depend on the fact it's written in Swift. For a released app, Swift is compiled to binary code and Swift libraries are bundled with app. There are no Swift specific dependencies left.
However, Apple might have other reason to pull your app:
Your app hasn't been updated in a long while.
Your app hasn't been updated for the latest devices (e.g. new screen formats).
Your app was built against an old iOS version that lasted iOS versions are no longer compatible with. (Each iOS version contains compatiblity code to run old apps, e.g. iOS can still emulate the pre-iOS 7 UI.)
Your app crashes on newer devices or iOS versions.
Your app violates App Store rules but it wasn't discovered on the initial submission.
Having said that, if your app doesn't crash or violate rules, it'll likely take a few years until there is a realistic chance for it to be pulled.
even app which are written in objective - c also works fine which is more older then swift, then why your swift app will not work? it will definitely work without any failure!! doesn't matter whether it is swift 2 or swift 3!!!
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I'm working with iOS developers overseas. I'm not an iOS developer myself.
I currently have an iOS app posted and available in the app store.
I had some work done recently to make a few changes to the app and now my developers are telling me:
"We can't upload the app because it's not archiving since our current project version doesn't have the latest Swift version".
Is this a real problem?
Their solution to this is that a lot of new work needs to be done which will be very expensive, but I'm skeptical that this is even a real problem.
Shouldn't I be able to upload changes to an app without the app having the "latest Swift version"?
Is it possible to maintain 2 application versions of the same application at the same time?
When a device gets too old and won't receive any updates from apple, you will stay stuck on the last version supported by your device. When downloading apps from the app store that require a higher version of iOS, it will automatically download the last compatible version from the app store. this is default behavior as stated: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/160089/how-does-ios-appstore-handle-multiple-version-targeting-different-version-of-ios/336985#336985
While we will mostly update our latest version, can we still update the 'legacy' versions of the app for older devices? can we still add features to the old versions (eg iOS <11) while adding the same features in our new app?
You can maintain two apps simply by giving them two different bundle ids.
But you probably cannot update the "old" app without recompiling it against the current iOS or prevent a modern user from seeing and downloading the "old" app.
To give an example, if your old app was 32 bit only, a 64 bit user cannot download it. But if you update it, you have to make it 64 bit.
This question already has an answer here:
When can we start submitting apps to the iOS App Store written using the Swift programming language? [closed]
(1 answer)
Closed 8 years ago.
I have tried a number of different methods and I am still not able to submit my app written in Swift (set to target iOS 7.0) for app store review and I just wanted to confirm that no one will be able to submit swift apps until Xcode 6 is officially released.
So has anyone been able to submit their Swift app?
No! No one has submitted their Swift app in the Store, because it's not officially released yet, as you yourself mentioned.
You can begin using Swift code immediately to implement new features in your app, or enhance existing ones. New Swift code co-exists along side your existing Objective-C files in the same project, making it easy to adopt. And when iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite are released this fall, you can submit your apps to the App Store and Mac App Store.
From http://developer.apple.com/swift
I have an application whose minimum version has been set to iOS 7.0. This application also uses NSUserDefaults dictionary. This application is using UIAlertView and UIActionSheet extensively (not sure how much Apple non-disclosure covers). Now, with iOS 8.0, these two views have been deprecated and have been replaced by controller UIAlertController. Now, there are two ways that I can see which can help me in updating the app for iOS 8.
Raise the minimum version to iOS 8.0 for the update. This way, the users running iOS 7.0 won't be able to see the update. However, it leads to the following situation :-
However, there is one problematic case, and that comes from upgrades
performed from within iTunes or on a device with a higher version
number that is then synced to iTunes. When the user syncs the older
device with iTunes, iTunes will actually delete the application from
the device because it cannot run the new version currently within
iTunes. I had a couple of users with original iPod touches report this
when I upgraded one of my applications to only support 4.0.
The above comment is present under the accepted answer at the following url :-
Raising minimum iOS Deployment Target Version for App Update
Since, the application is using NSUserDefaults dictionary, the relevant entries in the dictionary would get erased when the application is deleted.
The other option is for me to detect in the code which version is being used and code accordingly using if-else statements. This would enable me to keep the iOS 7.0 as the minimum version and might also help me in deploying the update for iOS 8.0. However, this seems like a lot of work which can potentially lead to bugs.
So, I was wondering which option is better between the above 2 ways ? (This application would only be using Objective-C for now due to some constraints).
The best thing to do from the user's perspective is probably to code using UIAlertView and UIActionSheet even though they're deprecated. Keep your iOS 7 target the same as it's been. Xcode shouldn't give you warnings since you're using the older version as your base target. You won't need to change anything about your code and it should still work well enough.
Once you're ready to switch (perhaps when iOS 9 comes out), I would switch your base target to iOS 8 and update your code to use UIAlertController everywhere. To me, it doesn't make sense to spend time trying to support two different versions if it's just an API deprecation that still allows your code to work how you've written it for years. Saves resources and energy to just update it later.
But it's really up to you and how much you want to support iOS 7. I think it doesn't make sense to drop support until the next version comes out. I always try to support the current and last versions so there are no annoyed customers, but it depends on your own needs.
If you have analytics integrated, check out percentage of iOS 8 adoption once it's been released for the public. If not, it's a great opportunity to add it to find out how up to date your customers are!
I want to create a map based app but apple will no longer user google maps in ios 6.I dont want to upgrade to the developer beta yet as I am waiting for the final release. But I also want to get started as soon as possible. If I start my project now will it change or the code will differ when the ios 6 is available? In other words if I make a successful built in ios 5 will it be unsuccessful when i upgrade to ios6? Will I have to rewrite the entire thing or everything will be compatible resulting to an also successful built? thank you in advance..
Your code will work fine.
Almost nothing changes with iOS 6 and MKMapKit in terms of code.
The only thing which works different in iOS 6 is the way you call the native Map App from inside you app. (if you are using this functionality)
You don't need to wait to use beta versions of XCode, you place them in different locations on your hard drive and leave the current XCode in place.
Then you can test in the iOS 6 simulator just to make sure it works as well as on iOS 5.