How can i check the compatibility of my application, based on IOS 5.0.1 created with Xcode 4.3.3 on Lion, on IOS 6 without having to change my current MAC OS version and Xcode? Is there any way? And as an addition to this question, if i submit my application to the Apple Store, can it be rejected just for the simple reason of being created compatible with IOS 5 and not with IOS 6.
It’s not clear what you mean by “compatible”. One thing is the version of the SDK you link against, one thing is your Deployment Target setting and then there’s actual code compatibility regarding various API, UI and behaviour differences between iOS 5 and 6.
It seems that you have to develop with at least the iOS 6 SDK to submit your app at all.
However, your Deployment Target setting may go as low as required, so that your app still supports older iOS versions.
Your app doesn’t have to be “compatible” with iOS 6 in the sense that you tested it on iOS 6 and handled all the potential quirks that may have appeared by moving from iOS 5 to iOS 6. Of course, the user experience on iOS 6 could suffer in this case, but unless there’s a major bug, the reviewer doesn’t care.
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I am going to develop an Iphone application in IOS8.But I have no idea whether it will work on IOS7 and IOS6.Can anyone clarify my doubts with clear explanation?
Thanks & Regards
Sam.P
It would only support the older OSes if you didn't use any features exclusive to the newer OSes, and if you targeted the old OS when building the application. There is nothing stopping you from doing so, except that you will miss out on a lot of the new technologies (and adoption of recent iOS versions is very high traditionally among Apple's customers, so it isn't a huge issue generally to only support the latest version).
You must make this decision before you publish your app, the earlier the better. You can support all OSes starting from 6 and only use APIs and features available in 6. Or use all the new features of the 8 and make the app incompatible with the earlier versions.
Each published app has a target OS version. If you specify 8 then users with earlier OSes simply won't see your app in the app store. However it's not sufficient to set your target to 6 to support earlier system. You must be careful in using the APIs: each has a documented version where it became available. And you must test, at least in simulators with different OS versions. iOS 6 simulator is still available as a separate download for Xcode 5. I'm not sure about Xcode 6.
iOS 7 adoption wasn't as overwhelming as with earlier updates because Apple made big changes in the UI. So the iOS 6 user base is still significant. I think it still makes sense to support iOS 6 for a new commercial application.
We are planning for a new mobile application for iPhones/iPads this month and we are outsourcing this project as we dont have much knowledge about the subject. Could someone tell me if current iOS applications will run on iOS 7?
I would appreciate help in this as I tried to search but could not find related articles as most of the articles talk about features and not backwards compatibility.
Sure. It will support older versions of iOS. If not millions of applications in Appstore will be unusable in iOS 7. You need to download iOS 7 SDK once available to exploit iOS 7 specific features, thats all.
Yes current iOS application will run on iOS 7, because apple will take care that if they launch new iOS then they create new iOS in such a way that it's always compatible with older iOS apps other wise if someone upgrade the iOS and the apps of previously developed will not work on it then they loose their customers/users. So don't worry new iOS 7 will also support apps developed for iOS5/iOS6. There were only new features in iOS7.
Although iOS 7 has seen a major overhaul in UI field as well as several back end changes too. But the main point for your question is that any application if working on previous versions of iOS should work in iOS 7 too. The OS will take care of all the UI instances drawings in different versions of OS. The situation where the applications supporting newer versions of OS not working on older versions is that they use some features only available to a specific version of OS or later.
It would run in iOS 7, but probably not as you would expect it to run, so my recommendation is to create 2 (or 4 if you build for iPad) 1 for iOS 6 - and one for iOS 7 + just detect the iOS version and load the storyboard for the appropriate version
It is always better to start development in the latest available version of iOS. In this case 7 is the latest with all the support for developers. You can get the relative iOS SDK and Xcode.
Long Story Short: Start Development in the latest iOS and nothing shall go wrong.
From the research I had done, indeed app built using 6.1 SDK and Xcode 4.6 will run on iOS7, however, the app will have an iOS6 look and feel on iOS7.
I am new to iphone app development and am wondering which deployment target to use (as ios 6 approaches). My app is simple (http web service interaction, map) and my natural inclination is to target 3.1 to maximize potential use. However, I understand that ios 6 will soon be available to all iphones and I presume it will be widely adopted.
So, if I target 5.1 today, will my app be available to most, if not all, iphone users once ios 6 is released?
Right now, requiring a minimum of 5.1 is a bit bold in my opinion, but that depends on your app. It is customary to support the current version and the previous major release.
If you want to expand your target, you may considering going back to 4.3 or even all the way down to 4.0. But 3.x is practically obsolete. but:
Warning: Don't target a version you can not test on device. If you don't have a device running 4.0, testing your app only on the 4.0 simulator is not recommended (although perhaps it is OK. No assurance).
The iPhone 3G can run up to iOS 4.2.
All other phones and iPads can run the latest OS (5.1.1)
Not sure about iPod Touch devices but 3rd (and 4th) gen. should run iOS 5.
You can use 5.1.1 as deployment target if it is available to your menu.. if not 5.1 is best for your needs for now.
This way all (Who have not updated to IOS 6) can use your app...
Best luck for app development.
I did a search here already, and haven't found a clear answer to my question, so I thought the time was right to post.
I have an iOS application that was developed using Xcode 3.2 and SDK 4.2. When I built the bundle, I targeted iOS 3, so that people running older iPhones (like my wife who has iPhone 3 with iOS 3.x on it) can run the application. The app was also tested on, and runs fine with, the latest 4.x iOS.
With the release of iOS 5, I want to make sure my app is compatible. There is nothing new in iOS 5 that my app uses. I have installed the latest version of Xcode and iOS SDK. My question is this : if I rebuild my app using this new Xcode/SDK combination, and set the target iOS level to something older than 5, for backwards compatibility, this still means that my application is built for, and is thus compatible with, iOS5, correct? I will of course test it with iOS 5, but I want to be able to claim it's supported on iOS5, while still maintaining backwards compatibility.
Do I understand correctly how this works?
Thanks!
Mark
Yes, that's no problem. You should always build with the latest SDK but if you set your Deployment Target to, let's say, 4.2 (which is common for many apps), or even 3.0, as you intend to do, of course it will run under iOS 5.
Testing it will still be wise since there are some changes that might lead to bugs in iOS 5, but in general, it shouldn't be a problem.
I am a beginner Apple developer and I have some issues I would like to resolve.
First of all, I am curently working on Xcode 3.2.6 because I haven't enrolled for the developer program yet. I would like to know if Apple only accepts apps (for the App Strore) compiled on SDK 4.
Secondly, I want my apps to work both on iPhone 3 and 4. What would you advice me to do? I have read in several developer forums that in order to achieve this I have to build my application with 3.1 iOS as a target. Is this correct?
Finally, is there any problem due to the difference in resolution between iPhone 3 and iPhone 4? Which resolution do you think I should use?
Thank you in advance,
Cherry
Set Base SDK to latest (4.3).
Set Target SDK to 3.1.
Avoid features available only in iOS 3.2 or later (e.g., don't use blocks, don't frameworks introduced in iOS 3.2 or later, always check availability of methods). Later, when you get more experience with Objective-C, you may try to combine features of more modern iOS, but still keep compatibility with older iOSes.
Don't worry about resolution. It affects only images – if you want to take full advantage of Retina display, then you will need to create images for both resolutions (std. and hi-res).
P.S. I suggest you to avoid support for iOS 3.2 or earlier. iOS 4 introduces a lot of nice and helpful features. And I pretty sure, Apple will revoke support for iOS 3.x soon after iOS 5 release.
If you are aiming for iOS 3, you will end up not using the features of iOS 4, which is the majority.
This is Apple's statement.
Target the latest iOS release.
Targeting the latest release allows you to take advantage of all the features
available in the latest version of iOS. However, this approach may offer a smaller
set of users capable of installing your application on their devices because your
application cannot run on iOS releases that are earlier than the target release.`
Target an earlier iOS release.
Targeting an earlier release lets you publish your application to a larger set of
users (because your application runs on the target OS release and later releases),
but may limit the iOS features your application can use.`
But I would suggest that you target the iOS 4 as people are now targeting iOS 5, and in another 8 months, I am sure Apple would release iOS 6 (They are very quick with their updates), and I personally feel that targeting iOS 3 is not going to give you great results in the long run.