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iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

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Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#71

Post by melange »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #34
marbletiles wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's less that and more that there is now a significant-enough installed base that can't upgrade to the latest OS. There's now a lot of older iPhones and iPods Touch out there that will never get 7. Knowing that, developers will become increasingly reluctant to leave those customers behind -- and so will keep building for 6 and earlier, and won't use the new 7-only stuff. This way, devs can immediately go to 7, knowi…

I'm one myself, since my 3GS still works. If iOS7 were any good in my opinion, I would feel compelled to upgrade to a 4 or 5 though, as already happened before for users of 3 and prior. This App Store change makes people like me even less compelled to upgrade, so this move is kinda unexpected coming from Apple, since it keeps the inertia.

Have you tried iOS7 on an iPhone 5?

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#72

Post by briandear »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #35
snom380 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as you keep a backup of your old app bundles on your computer (for instance using Time Machine) I don't think it's a problem to load old apps. The exception being if some of those apps require online services that are no longer available.

Keeping and installing old copies of app bundles doesn't seem like a very viable option for non-technical users.

Of course the non technical user is not generally the one complaining.

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#73

Post by simonholroyd »

e1ven wrote: post #54
kenrikm wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if your backend APIs have changed and you never expected to support that older version? I can see a lot of the older apps not working at all in that case.

How is this scenerio different from one where the user installed your app a year ago, and hasn't upgraded to the newest version? You'd need to handle it in either case.

It's different because prior to this change, you could make an educated decision about whether to support an older version of your API based on usage of your app. When the legacy version reached some threshold percentage of your user base you could be fairly confident that you were inconveniencing a small and dwindling fraction of users and drop support.

With this change you can no longer be confident that app usage for legacy versions will always decrease. If your app suddenly becomes very popular (as most app developers are aiming for), you might have a substantial contingent of users who are on an old OS downloading an outdated version that you no longer support.

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#74

Post by [deleted] »

e1ven wrote: post #54
kenrikm wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if your backend APIs have changed and you never expected to support that older version? I can see a lot of the older apps not working at all in that case.

How is this scenerio different from one where the user installed your app a year ago, and hasn't upgraded to the newest version? You'd need to handle it in either case.

[deleted]

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#75

Post by kbutler »

kalleboo wrote: post #63

Does this apply to new purchases as well, or just redownloading something you already bought before?

I expect you'll buy the app [the new version] and this will allow you to download the old version from an older device logged in to your account.

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#76

Post by escoz »

melange wrote: post #69
jimsilverman wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

looks like they're fearing slow/low iOS7 adoption, considering how boldly they emphasize how few legacy iOS users are out there.

No. It's looks like they are telling developers the state of affairs, so that they don't fear slow adoption.

Agree. Knowing that users of old devices will continue to be able to use your app makes me a lot more excited about releasing for iOS7 only.

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#77

Post by kbutler »

Is this an acknowledgement by Apple that there will be tens of millions of iOS users who cannot upgrade their devices to iOS7?

I'm personally in this camp, with iPhone 3GS and iPad 1. I'm hoping to be able to get an iPad Mini Retina soon, but the older devices remain in use. (The original iPhone doesn't get much use anymore, though...)

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#78

Post by neon_electro »

untog wrote: post #30

Happy to see this being codified - Spotify currently has an old version for <= iOS4 as a separate app, which is fantastic for my old iPod I have lying around. I was concerned that at some point Apple would forbid them from doing this, glad they went in the opposite direction.

Can you tell us if you were able to successfully download the old version? Just curious if it definitely works for your use case.

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#79

Post by themartorana »

simonholroyd wrote: post #73
e1ven wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this scenerio different from one where the user installed your app a year ago, and hasn't upgraded to the newest version? You'd need to handle it in either case.

It's different because prior to this change, you could make an educated decision about whether to support an older version of your API based on usage of your app. When the legacy version reached some threshold percentage of your user base you could be fairly confident that you were inconveniencing a small and dwindling fraction of users and drop support. With this change you can no longer be confident that app usage…

This was my immediate fear. We're geared up to take offline versions 1.0-1.3 of our API, which are used by less than 2% of users (and we gave them a nice banner urging them to update with a future cut-off date). This announcement has me worried, mostly from the customer support standpoint.

Re: iOS App Store now allows legacy downloads to support older OSes

#80

Post by jasomill »

donretag wrote: post #7

I wonder if this applies to the Mac App Store, but I doubt it. I want to purchase Logic for an older Macbook, but the OS doesn't support Logic X. Apple won't sell a compatible version and there is no shrink-wrapped version.

Sure there is; while Apple no longer produces it or sells it directly, it's still in the channel, e.g., from Amazon[1].

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Logic-Studio-Old-Version/dp/B002...

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