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NB: This question has been extensively edited to make it more relevant, for completeness the original question maintained at the end.
What version(s) of iOS should my App support?
When building a new iOS app what a strategies should one use to determine what versions of the operating system to support? What practical considerations are there in supporting legacy OS version. Are there any reliable statistics to support the business case of dropping legacy support?
Original Question
If I build a new iOS application, should I support iOS versions prior to 5.0, or is that not necessary anymore? Is there any reliable and up to date data on iOS 5.0 adoption rates?
iOS Support Matrix v3.0.1
This version is updated and includes iOS 7.1 and new iPads.
Link: http://www.iossupportmatrix.com
According to this article: http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/03/06/why-do-developers-prefer-ios-over-android-try-75-adoption-of-ios-5-while-ics-is-stuck-at-1/
the adoption rate of iOS5 has been very fast, at least when compared to Android ICS. You will always have users that are very slow to upgrade, however they seem to be the minority on iOS. If the numbers from the article are correct, you should be fine using iOS 5 for you app.
Look at statistics and judge for yourself if it is worth the effort.
For example:
http://www.14oranges.com/2012/03/ios-version-statistics-march-14th-2012/
http://pxldot.com/post/18754186750/ios-ebb-and-flow
from which I can read that < 11% are still using iOS 4.3
Or just search for e.g. "ios version stats", and try to find a web site that matches the target audience for your app.
This depends a lot on your app. But I would recommend supporting only iOS 5.0 and later because:
The new Xcode creates iOS 5.1 projects by default.
The new Xcode doesn't include iOS 4.3 simulator by default.
Apple has some iOS 5.0 only apps (like iTunes U).
So I guess, Apple is somehow pushing developers to support only the newer versions of the iOS.
Here is a good article that has some recent stats about iOS 5 adoption rates and good arguments on why to support only iOS 5 for new apps.
Here is another good article that discusses the question. Its conclusion is:
I think that both positions (support old, or support only new) are valid.
So it really depends on your special case. But personally, I'll currently support iOS 5.0 or later, unless there are solid reasons for a particular app.
I asked the same question some time ago and did not get any good answer with respect to a reliable up-to-date source of statistic data. In the end it comes down to your target market.
People who do not update their os recently are not likely to buy apps in high volumes. So even if these devices exist, the fraction of potential customers amongst their owners is most likely much smaller. That makes it hard to justify the extra effort in providing iOS 5.0+ functionaltiy and same functionality for smaller iOS.
On the other hand it may be suitable for you just to omit some functions for older iOS. That of course depends on the nature of the 5.0+ function that you want to use. Testing the curent os version and then deciding wether to call a function/method or not ist not that much of an effort. It needs to be tested though.
On the other hand there may be an interesting part of the user community that does consume apps but did not yet afford a brand new device. There is a number of devices around which cannot be migrated to iOS 5.x. And I personally would be interested in a) how many of these divices exist and b) how many of these are still in use.
If it is a new app then adressing older devices may not be justifyable. Unless of course you address some very special interest group and now for sure that the amount of oder devices is of a significant value.
Just some thoughts. Sorry that I did not have the statistics handy that you were looking for.
In my opinion it depends on which features of iOS 5.0 you need...
As example: in an application I need support for forward geocoding, available only in iOS 5.0 so I decided that the number of unsupported devices "cost" less then the effort to find a non apple library for forward geocoding ..
Related
We are developing a project with a lot of functionality and module (Call, Chat, Update Feed and so on). It's deployment target is 7.0 to latest. This project has been developing since 2013. So there was a lot of bugs and old code. Recently this project is completed and ready to release in App Store.
But now we are finding some difficulties while testing it by QA. iOS changes many things according to it's version. We are struggling to check these changes in different versions.
For an example from iOS 8.3 the facebook sharing will have to implemented by their own SDK. The old SLComposeViewController is no more good. So we have to take care of it from iOS 8.3.
I just wondering if somehow we can get the list of these iOS versions where apple make changes, it would be easier for us to check the project installing those certain iOS version in iPhone. I think this type of information could be find in their developer site. If so any kind of information would be much helpful for us.
Thanks a lot in advance.
I asked very similar question couple years ago (not saying this is a duplicate!), and all I got then was - "read the documentation carefully". Unfortunately it still remains true even now, but you can get some tools to help you out.
For external libraries, I strongly recommend using either CocoaPods or Carthage. You can specify which versions you want to support and those tools do the job for you to check whether that library you want to include will be compatible with your deployment targets.
For your own code, you have to just write XCTests to verify the most crucial parts of your app or possibly the whole codebase (testing ftw) and stick with version checking. That will be slightly more zen in Swift 2.0 where you'll be able to do API checking as well with #available(iOS 9.0) { ... }.
I'm not sure if this is really what you're asking for, but here's a link to all of Apple's iOS release notes and API diffs on their developer portal. I believe it covers all major versions of the iOS SDK.
But speaking from personal experience, I would also say that the actual impact of minor iOS updates on the functionality of existing apps is usually negligible. I would focus your QA efforts on the major versions you support (7.X and 8.X in your case) and use the latest stable release versions there for testing, as those will be the versions the vast majority of your users will be using.
That said, I think it's also an excellent idea to at least briefly look into the actual distribution and adoption rates of iOS versions in your user base, and agree on sensible cut-off points. If you find, for example, that 87% of your users are running iOS 8.X, 12.5% iOS 7.1.X and only 0.5% iOS 7.0.X, you might conclude that providing explicit testing and/or support for 7.0.X users is not actually worth the effort.
There are many sites that provide you with general numbers about iOS adoption rates to give you a rough idea.
Lastly, if you feel that you've covered the (user-wise) biggest 2-3 versions in your testing, I think it's fair to push for your initial release and trust in your bug handling/update process to take care of any problems that may pop up in the more exotic iOS versions still out there. But that's of course a conscious decision you have to make for yourself.
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As someone who has never developed an iOS app but hopes to soon and has never had a Mac (to date) the whole XCode and process for developing apps was a little lost on me.
To start: things like which languages are supported in development was one area I wasn't sure of:
I've seen C, C++ and Objective-C referenced as the languages used to write the apps. But I've also seen JavaScript` + HTML + CSS and .NET as options and a host of other compiled languages, with people arguing if you can or can't use them.
Another thing I wondered about was Xcode, does it support all the mentioned languages? Or is an IDE built for a specific language such as Cocoa ? If it is, then how would someone use JavaScript for example to write the app?
I'm sure this is a fairly simple answer to Apple users, but I had some struggle trying to relate from a non-Apple background.
Updated
Thanks for the great answers and insight, hopefully other this post will be helpful to others who don't have an Apple / iOS background
All three language alternatives that you mentioned are available to iOS application developers *.
Objective-C/C++ offers a way of making native apps for iOS, you produce machine code that runs on the devices. You use Xcode to develop in these languages.
You can build apps in JavaScript + HTML + CSS because iOS comes with a browser. Apple offers a mode that gives your apps a completely native look and feel, so they do look like first-class citizens.
You can build your apps in C# as well by using Mono Touch. This is different from .NET, although the language is the same, because your code is compiled into binary ahead of time. Although using Mono Touch eliminates the learning curve associated with the new language, you need to go through a fair bit of learning to adapt your knowledge of .NET to a different platform.
* Except Cocoa, which is not a language, but a collective name for Apple's frameworks for developing under OS X and iOS.
iOS' native language is Objective-C. While it's true you can use C++ to make apps (Cocos for example, is mostly written in C++) it isn't the 'native language'.
As for the other languages you mention, while it's possible to create apps using them they won't be 'native' normally relying upon another IDE/Library, phone gap or adobe air for example. Most of these also support cross platform development.
Where I work we also use HTML5 to create a 'faux native' interface/experience.
If you're new to iOS it's worth while checking out Apple documentation/sample code at:
https://developer.apple.com
There is a wealth of knowledge there that should set you on the right path. It ins't however, something I'd recommend if you don't have any experience with object orientated programming.
Coming from a C++ background myself, I didn't find it too difficult but have been working on iOS for about 3 years (on and off) and am only just starting to really become truly fluent in it's processes and conventions.
Hope this helps, let me know if you want to know anything specific.
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With the technology preview of Android/iOS support in Qt 5.1, are there any news on deploying to Apple's app store yet? Since the non-commercial version of Qt is LGPL-licensed, and dylibs are usually not permitted by the app store rules, there would not to be an exception either on Digia's or Apple's side, however the Licensing talk doesn't provide any up-to-date information on the matter.
So, did anyone try to push a dynamically linked Qt app to the store, or have an official statement of either party?
So, did anyone try to push a Qt app to the store, or have an official statement of either party?
Yes, there are qt demo applications in there. See the following examples:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/subattack/id659283830
and
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qtquicksand/id666273528
This answers your question and concern I believe. As for further information, Qt 5.2 will even come with more support for this mobile platform. Although, I am not working on this port in the Qt Project, but I see that as a developer that 5.2 seems to support a lot more.
For instance, v8 has just got replaced by the new shiny v4 engine which will allow the proper QtQuick2 delivery for this platform.
That being said, the Apple Store will not allow dynamic libraries for runtime loading, so you will need to link statically.
I don't know of a Qt iOS app that has been published, but I have been looking into this myself. One good thing I found was an iOS preview that was published by Qt which states the following:
"We are very excited to be able to bring Qt to a new platform. Qt for iOS is planned to be a supported part of Qt 5.2, scheduled for release late 2013. The scope of that release is not completely determined: available resources, platform/app store restrictions and Qt legacy set constraints on the project."
The rest of the blog can be found on the Qt site.
That's an official statement, although it's stating that they don't know yet.
I have been looking into the same situation and as of now it seems that you need to have a commercial license to deploy Qt on iOS.
Inspired by an exchange on a recent question, I wanted to know whether there is any good reason to develop Windows Phone 7 applications that target pre-Mango models, i.e. by creating applications that target the 7.0 APIs rather than the more recent 7.1 APIs.
My impression was that because the Mango update has now been fully rolled-out, there is very little reason why anyone would have a phone with a pre-Mango OS. My guess is anyone with a pre-Mango phone probably never connects it to their computer and probably does not download applications.
Are there any good statistics on OS version demographics that can inform this decision?
I know from the analytics of my apps that there are still people out there using pre-Mango versions of Windows Phone, but as you point out, they are unlikely to be connecting their phone to their PC to perform updates or even update apps they've already downloaded (my wife for example would still be on the original shipped version if I hadn't updated her phone myself!).
With that in mind, personally, I don't see the point in creating applications now that target pre-Mango versions of the operating system. The return is highly unlikely to warrant the effort.
There isn't much of a reason to target pre-Mango as opposed to Mango as the upgrade is available to all models of phone currently, and for free.
It is worth keeping on the latest SDK for no other reason than there is no reason not to... lol, made sense in my head. Things like performance improvements, bug fixes, new features etc are all reasons to keep up with the latest, as you are likely aware.
The only reason I would target an older SDK is if a particular version of the phone OS was not available to a certain piece of hardware for any reason.
Then again, if you can make your app with the lowest common SDK, why not - it will in theory only increase your user base as backwards compatibility is enforced, over choosing a newer and not-completely-rolled-out version. You just personally suffer the older APIs and miss out on new features. However, I see this counter-point as a largely academic argument and adds little weight to the choice of older versions.
Save yourself the headache, go with the new stuff. Anyone actively using their phone enough to also use your app is likely hot on updates.
I don't do 7.0-specific programming any more since the roll out of Mango is now available pretty much everywhere I'm interesting in deploying apps. This question will rear it's head again when vNext is released (with potentially updated hardware requirements / sensors, etc), but for now I can't see much reason to target the old version.
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Possible Duplicate:
How many units of each iOS version are currently in usage?
I'm trying to see which versions of iOS I should support. I'm looking for some up to date statistics about worldwide usage of each version (not just 3 and 4, but 3.1, 3.4, etc ...).
Is there a reliable source for this kind of information?
if you use a search engine (I used "iOS version statistics" as search terms), there are no official number but many say that more of 90% of their users have iOS4.
do you already have an app ? if yes, you could use a statictis API ( google analytics for example) and see what is the iOS distribution for your users.
Last January it was widely stated by big developers that about 90% had already upgraded to iOS4. A long time has gone by since then, and through anecdotal discussion with other developers I am left with an impression that only a couple percent of users who would bother installing anything still have iOS 3. I haven't seen a pre 3gs iPhone on the streets since last year.
I suggest that most developers should target iOS 4+ if they can make good use of its new features.