Apple offers the user the option to download an older version of the app that is compatible with the device. if device OS is not compatible with latest version of application. Apple is now displaying a message that allows users to download the "last compatible version" of an app. like below
It is a potential problem for developers if Apple starts re-distributing old versions of apps that their creators thought were safely dead and gone from the App Store. Now that older versions of apps are apparently getting resurrected, so how developer can manager last compatible version of application
(1) How developer can upgrade the last compatible version of application. should he can manage the 2 code base. one is for old OS and second for new OS ? is there any way to submit different binaries to the App Store.
(2) if there is any severe issue with last compatible version of application : how to remove it or upgrade it ?
(3) is there any way to specify that whether old versions of an app are viable.
I think developers should be able to submit different versions for different iterations of iOS so they can ensure the old versions of their app receive what functionality updates they can.
Link
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/09/apple-resurrects-old-app-versions-to-run-on-old-ios-hardware/
You can't upgrade the old versions, but you can remove them so that users can only download your latest one, or nothing. See this answer.
you can disable the availability of previous versions in itunes connect under Rights and Pricing. sadly there is no way to update previous versions.
Related
In the windows dev center, I am still seeing old versions of my app being installed - from the Analytics section. I assumed that when I upgrade the package in the store, that the old packages no longer become available. Or is that not the case?
I've updated my package many times in the past month and the versions being displayed should no longer be downloaded and installed. They wouldn't have been available in the store for much longer than one month.
If you added a new package targeting a higher OS version and didn’t delete the previous package targeting an earlier OS version, then the previous package remains available to users using devices with earlier OS version.
For example, if you add a package targeting Windows 10 Mobile and keep your previous package targeting Windows Phone 8.x and earlier still over there, which means your app has two packages now, then users using Windows Phone 8.x still can get the previous package.
If you hope only the new package can be installed , then the old package need to be deleted.
I've got a report from a customer saying the latest update to our app isn't working on his iPad 1. Since I don't have an iPad 1 to test on I don't have any way of fixing this, but he says the previous version worked fine. He spoke to Apple and they say he needs a "special code" from us to download the older app.
Does anyone know what this special code or voucher is and how I go about sending him one?
I don't think this special code exists. I suppose what he means is allowing downloads of older app versions.
So let's say you wanted to download an app that requires iOS 7, but an older version only required iOS 6, which is what you have. The App Store will let you know that the latest version is not compatible, but will then download the older version that was still compatible with the older iOS. The latest version that is still compatible will be downloaded.
I asked this question on the Apple Developer Forums as well:
https://devforums.apple.com/message/965324#965324
You can't "delete" the current version. You would have to submit a new version and then go into the previous version list and disable the former version.
Okay, but would this enable iOS5 users to downgrade to the previous release that worked for them?
No. The user would have to delete the app from their device then download the latest compatible version to their devices.
I have two versions of my app in the AppStore.
Version 1 and Version 1.1
Version 1 is a iPad-only app supporting only iOS 6 and up.
Version 1.1 is a universal app supporting iOS 5 thru 7.
I have a user that REALLY want's to use version 1 of the app (for specific reasons), can he now download that version instead of the latest release?
I know Apple claims to allow the download of older versions, but I have a stinky feeling that Apple also applies their own conditional logic to this feature: i.e. Only allow the download of an older version if the newer version is not supported by the user's current iOS.
I hope I'm wrong, but on my iPad there is no option to download version 1 in the AppStore.
PS. My itunesconnect setup is correct as follows:
image http://imageshack.com/scaled/medium/818/u635.png
No Apple will only offer to download an older version of your app if the new is not longer supporting the user iOS version.
Lest say user 1 is on iOS 5 and can upgrade, you new version is only available on 6 and 7. Them the user will be prompted with the option to download the previous version.
Users cannot choose the version to download themselves.
Ill start developing for IOS but the hardware I got only suport up to 10.6.4
I know that Xcode 4.2 seems to work on Snowleopard...
but the last version requires 10.7.4, in there anyway to make the last version work on the 10.6? If not, if I just use the 4.2, can I still develop with no problems? what Im going to be missing out?
Thanks
Edit: Thanks guys, Ill be building myself a hackintosh...
Older versions of Xcode are still available:
If you can't install the latest version of Xcode on your MAC, you can get older versions at connect.apple.com.
Notes:
However, they won't come with the latest SDKs.
And you can't develop for the latest iOS devices with an old version
of Xcode.
In short, you will probably need to upgrade your hardware in order to develop using the laters version of Xcode.
Apple are very sneaky - they want to sell hardware - so by dropping support for various OS versions in Xcode and not supporting older hardware with newer OSes they are effectively forcing developers to buy the latest hardware to keep up to date with software development.
You can still develop older iOS apps (i.e. using older SDKs and targeting older iOS versions) using an older version of Xcode (Apple do at least make the older versions of Xcode available through the developer portal). However, you'll need to carefully figure out what iOS versions you can target because Apple are also increasing the minimum app specifications in order to submit new apps and updates to the App-Store. So soon enough it won't be possible to submit apps developed using Xcode 4.2 to the store and you will need to update the Apple hardware you develop on if you want to make apps that will be submitted to the store.
The most annoying thing about this is that you can't even use an older Apple computer as a build server. I have a Mac mini which is less than 5 years old and I can't use it for development any more - it would be perfect as a build server!
I am currently working with Xcode 4.5.2 and I'd like to upgrade it to version 4.6. Will installing the new version completely replace the previous one? If so, is it possible to just "extend" your current version and keep the SDKs you already have? I wouldn't like to lose the compatibility with my current projects...
Thanks!
Xcode 4.6.x supports iOS 4.3 through 6.1. Xcode 4.5.x supports iOS 4.3 through 6.0. Upgrading to 4.6 is not going to result in you losing any compatibility.
"Will installing the new version completely replace the previous
one? If so, is it possible to just "extend" your current version and
keep the SDKs you already have?"
It is possible to install them side by side which allows you to start picking up newer versions as early as preview while being able to fallback to the stable version you've been working with. I roll between versions in parallel. Remember that developer tools have bugs too :)
Go to Applications and rename Xcode to Xcode45. Login to your developer account at apple, look under it for download older versions (which actually has newest version) and download the Xcode dmg for 4.6. Run it and drag to Applications.
If you download from the developer web site rather than the app store you can have multiple versions of Xcode installed at the same time. At one point I had 4 or 5 versions.