I noticed that our application had became much bigger lately, partially due to the presence of multiple binaries.
I understand arm64 is now mandatory, and armv7 mandatory to support older models, but what about armv7s ? Can I safely remove it from my app, thus making it a few Mo lighter ?
You can remove armv7s. armv7 and arm64 are enough. In fact, in Xcode 6.2 these are now the Standard architectures. If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is.
Related
Just wondering if I inlcude ARMv7 only and exclude ARMv7s in my binary if it will still actually run on an iPhone 5?
Thanks
Yes, just think of all the existing apps on the App Store that have only ever been compiled for ARMv7, they all work on the iPhone 5.
I'm developing an app supporting since iOS 3.0. With Xcode 4.2, I have to add armv6 manually to Architectures. So is armv7 optimized for new devices the only advantage to compile with "armv6 armv7"? The size will be bigger than with only armv6 ?
Using only armv6 is not optimal - but it will work on older iOS devices (i.e. no defect).
An alternative is to provide both armv6 and armv7 binaries so newer devices will use the armv7 code. Of course that will double the size of the application code. It might be worth it depending on your application (e.g. if speed is an issue) but it will not affect compatibility.
I am building ARMv6 only (to keep the app size down), and it all runs fine on all iPhones/iPads.
My question is, when I submit it to AppStore, do I need or not need to update UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities to say it is an Armv6 build?
The docs here:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/General/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Articles/iPhoneOSKeys.html
say:
armv6: Include this key if your application is compiled only for the armv6 instruction set. (iOS v3.1 and later.)
BUT, does this mean if I include this key it will only work on ARMv6 platforms (eg: iPhone 3G) or does it just mean only ARMv6 code is in this app, but all phones compatible with that will still work?
Any help appreciated, I don't want to wait for the usual rejection.
Thanks,
Peter
If you include the armv6 key, your application will still work on armv7 devices like the iPad and iPhone 4. As far as I know, the original iPhone is armv6 as well, so there's no hardware restriction imposed by adding that key at all. It just means that any version of iOS which doesn't support the armv6 instruction set will not be able to download your app (pre-iOS 3.1, as they mentioned).
In xCode 4.2 it is possible to switch the Architecture to support armv6 manually, Standard is armv7. Just select it under Architecture, select other, delete existing one and add manually armv6 and armv7.
When I removed the complete "UIRequiredDevicesCapabilities" out of the source code view of my .plist file and switched back to the summary view of my project, xcode crashed and the whole project became unusable. After doing the same using the "Property List" view did not cause the same problem.
I snapshot my settings below. In my project settings, i am targeting arm6 and 7. Does this mean i need to include both armv6 and armv7 keys even though the descriptions by apple state "is compiled only for the armv6 instruction set":
armv6
Include this key if your application is compiled only for the armv6 instruction set. (iOS v3.1 and later.)
armv7
Include this key if your application is compiled only for the armv7 instruction set. (iOS v3.1 and later.)
No, as you're compiling for both architectures, you don't require either of them. You would only include the requirement if you compiled for just one architecture.
In xCode 4.2 it is not possible to switch the Architecture to armv6, Standard is armv7 and cannot be changed. I'm not sure whether the "armv6 armv7" value in the field "Valid Architectures" is enough for supporting all devices. Therefore I included the (array-)string value "armv6" as described by peterept in the key "UIRequiredDevicesCapabilities". I hope that like that my app will be compatible with all (iPhone) devices.
Other experiences? Cheers.
I want to build my binary just for 3GS as it contains NEON assembly code, my app only works on 3GS. When I upload the binary to iTunesConnect, it rejects the binary saying that it should be compatible with armv6 as well. Is there any build setting that I can use so that I have a binary which iTunesConnect happily accepts and which runs only on iPhone 3GS(armv7). Please help.
Perhaps this post will help. Instead of picking both armv6 and armv7, specify armv7 to build a smaller binary.