Apple will require all new apps to be optimized for iOS 7 from February 1 | Hacker News Reader

Apple will require all new apps to be optimized for iOS 7 from February 1

thenextweb.com

35 pointsBrajeshwar28 comments

The question is, by "optimized", do they mean just the UI of the app? The article mentions that the apps must be build with xcode5. But it doesn't specify against which iOS version it must be build.

Do they force devs to not just make their apps looks like iOS7 but also force them to use iOS7.x as a minimum build target? That would really suck considering there still are devices out there that are ineligible to upgrade to iOS7.

This just means apps will have to be built with Xcode 5. Older iOS versions can still be supported.

More specifically, it means apps will have to be built with the iOS 7 base SDK (you can modify Xcode 5 to build with the older SDKs as base).

This ensures things like the new style keyboard and status bar UI are used in your app when running on iOS 7.

the big problem here is that apple gets to decide what hardware can and cant be updated. The nice thing about linux and some not locked down android devices is that someone in the community can generally back port to older hardware if the device manufacturer didn't bother to do it themselves.

Apple doesn't have fragmentation to worry about. I think the requirement is smart and necessary. Developers must keep up with new SDK and new iOS.

On the other hand, older devices, at least my iPad, doesn't work very well all the new updates. I wonder if this has anything to do with the backward compatibility, or the hardware, or just the fact iOS7 is new so updates are not optimized yet.

Maybe I'm cynical, but I think that's part of the Apple treadmill to keep people buying new devices. iOS 7 is written for the new hardware (as it should be), and not fully optimized for older devices because they want people to buy new ones.

I have a 5 year-old laptop that works perfectly for my purposes, but I'll probably have to buy a new one just so I can run Xcode 5, and the only reason I can't run Xcode 5 is because it won't run Mountain Lion / Mavericks. Even then, that's only because Apple won't optimize Mavericks for the GPU on my machine - the same laptop can run Windows 8.1 just fine.

You are not being cynical, that is exactly what Apple is doing and always has done. They set a limit on how far back they support older products regardless of if they are technically able to do whatever is needed.

Whether doing so is right or wrong is up to the individual to decide. Apple do not keep it a secret or advertise that whatever you buy today will be supported by their newer software in a couple of years. You buy the product as is today.

Off-topic note: you can be cynical and correct at the same time.

In spite of this bad behavior, Apple is still the best at supporting old devices with OS updates.

http://www.fidlee.com/android-support-vs-ios-support/

So Apple is the best at this but they are still the bad guys or just the less worse ?

Except that a lot of sensible people don't install the final updates for any given Apple iDevice that's going out of support, because it's often so slow as to make the device unusable and Apple have got strong anti-downgrade protections that stop anyone from rolling back to the previous version. Nice bit of forced obsolescence.

Running iOS 7 on my partners iPad 2 is fine. The biggest performance issues with it are websites that are more and more complex than just a few years ago when she got the iPad. They lag like hell.

I understand why Apple makes downgrading so difficult but I agree it is a real pain in the ass and wish it was simple to do.

It'd be pretty terrible if it didn't run properly on there, since as far as I can tell Apple are still making and selling the iPad 2. I'd be curious how the iPad 3 is doing since that was discontinued a year or so ago.

Can I ask, purely out of curiosity, which MacBook you have?

I'm not OP, but I think it has got to be the white MacBook with the Intel X3100 graphics. Out of interest, I bought my wife the first aluminium MacBook that would have been released on the same day as his laptop, and that does support Mavericks (because it has Nvidia 9400M graphics, which the next year's white MacBook then also got).

It's a shame those old white Macs (including white C2D iMacs) don't support Mavericks, because they are 64-bit capable and generally still reasonable machines. But support has to stop somewhere, I guess, and I wouldn't like to be the person writing the 64-bit firmware and drivers for those machines, 6 years later. Also, most of them have got dodgy GPUs thanks to a combination of poor Nvidia parts and all-in-one/ultra-slim designs that got clogged up with dust.

FWIW, if you're programming for the AppStore (i.e, using these as a professional tool), 5 years of life out of a laptop is actually pretty good (IMVHO). I get at least three years of use out of my Macs (currently on a Nov 2010 MBA) before I start thinking about upgrading/replacing, but that's still going strong.

That's what I initially thought. I was under the impression that the lack of support was down to OpenCL.

Adrian was almost correct: I have a Black MacBook 3,1 (not white!), which has the X3100 GPU and a 64-bit 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo. I've upgraded it to 6GB RAM, 1TB Drive, brand new battery, and even considered swapping out the CD drive to add an SSD. It's more than a match for a brand new MacBook Air.

I installed Mountain Lion today on it by using MLPostFactor, so my own crisis is resolved... but it also shows that the machine is completely capable of running Mountain Lion. The only thing stopping it is Apple (and a lack of 64-bit X3100 drivers).

I have a 2007 iMac and it is still a better computer than any other desktop I've ever had. It can't run the latest OS X releases but it got more releases than I expected.

You can't magically make older devices support newer features, especially in a market that has evolved as much as mobile.

No need to buy a new device if you don't want to upgrade because you don't think iOS 7 will work well on yours. iOS 6 still works, and it's possible to download an older version of an app if the latest version isn't compatible.

If there is an older version of the app. I was just looking at a Kickstarter project the other day that predates iOS 7 but only ever released their app for it (can't remember which one) and there were a lot of pissed off iOS 6 users in the comments section who can't or don't want to upgrade.

This provides some additional support for your cynicism (and may also be useful to you):

http://lifehacker.com/5994204/mlpostfactor-installs-mountain...

I have a (slightly) less cynical interpretation, which is that they have a finite amount of engineering time and would rather use it developing new products than supporting old ones (or increasing capacity at the risk of lowering focus/quality).

It's probably not a coincidence that developing new products makes more $$ than supporting old ones.

Thanks! I found out about MLPostFactor last night, and was able to install a hacked Mountain Lion on my machine today. I've only tested it for an hour, but it seems to work really well so far, no problems with graphics, even in the OpenGL app I tested. Helps me delay my laptop upgrade & stick with the laptop I really like (wish Apple made black MacBooks again). Thanks so much!

YMMV, but I'm very happy with the performance of iOS 7 on my iPad 2.

I heard this multiple times and I think this is most likely because the iPad2 does not have a retina screen.

I heard from multiple persons with an iPad 3 aka the first and therefore "weakest" iPad that uses a retina display that iOS7 does not result in a nice user experience when comparing it with the performance they had on iOS6. Talk about lots of lags and stuttering in the OS itself.

> Apple doesn't have fragmentation to worry about.

This is not true, even if you are able to install newer iOS releases into older devices, not all features are available.

I do agree with you. If we upgrade xcode or new os in older device, there is always an issue with performance.

You also need to upgrade RAM an other hardware

Also, if you're developing games for, a lot of the fragmentation issues are apparently the result of differing GPU performance between devices, which is a problem on iOS just as much as on Android.

Okay, in that case, yes I do agree there is fragementation. However, I argue being a single OS distributor Apple's move forcing people to move to newer device, SDK and standard helps to achieve the long term goals.

When was the last time you ever thought about upgrading to Android officially from your phone's? Well, at least for contract phone I have I can't upgrade unless Motorola supports it and doing custom build is a lot of work and I care about stability. For the iOS I wait a bit before upgrade (usually 2-3 months after each new release of iOS).

> Developers must keep up with new SDK and new iOS.

It's also a great way for Apple to defend against companies spending time and money building/updating for Android and other platforms. They'll continue to get priority.

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