Live data from Hacker News

iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do

berzniz.com

1–10 of 82 posts

Re: iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do

#2
Note that Apple now keeps the previous version of the app around for users on older OSes. Of course they won't get any of the upgraded features, but at least there's still something there for them - and you won't have to worry about all that messy code for supporting multiple versions.

My next app updates will also be iOS7 only, since I know the iOS6 version will still be around. Makes it much easier to decide to use newer features.

Re: iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do

#4
post #2

Note that Apple now keeps the previous version of the app around for users on older OSes. Of course they won't get any of the upgraded features, but at least there's still something there for them - and you won't have to worry about all that messy code for supporting multiple versions. My next app updates will also be iOS7 only, since I know the iOS6 version will still be around. Makes it much easier to decide to use…

Yeah, that's a great feature.

One open issue is that from time to time a breaking change to our API is needed and a force-upgrade is forced on the app users. We try to avoid it, but it happens.

The next time this happens, it's really goodbye iOS 6 users.

Re: iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do

#5
There isn't anything in this article that explains why you can't support both. The only sentence about this is "We can’t leverage what iOS 7 has to offer and a lot of the UI is compromise.", which doesn't cite any difficulties they've run into. The only iOS 7 features they mention are UIDynamics and the receding keyboard—the rest are iOS 5/6 features.

Re: iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do

#6
post #4
post #2

Note that Apple now keeps the previous version of the app around for users on older OSes. Of course they won't get any of the upgraded features, but at least there's still something there for them - and you won't have to worry about all that messy code for supporting multiple versions. My next app updates will also be iOS7 only, since I know the iOS6 version will still be around. Makes it much easier to decide to use…

Yeah, that's a great feature. One open issue is that from time to time a breaking change to our API is needed and a force-upgrade is forced on the app users. We try to avoid it, but it happens. The next time this happens, it's really goodbye iOS 6 users.

This year, Apple's "12 Days of Gifts" app only runs on iOS7. I don't know if that was intentional, but it seems likely.

Re: iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do

#7
> When we added pull to refresh to our app there weren’t many apps using this technique and it added a premium feel to our app.

This makes me want to vomit. I can't wait until implementing flashy UI is so trivial and common that shallow things like this don't actually affect an application's perceived value. I don't remember the transition to GUI in the 80s as being as shallow as the mobile app market is.

Re: iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do

#9
post #7

> When we added pull to refresh to our app there weren’t many apps using this technique and it added a premium feel to our app. This makes me want to vomit. I can't wait until implementing flashy UI is so trivial and common that shallow things like this don't actually affect an application's perceived value. I don't remember the transition to GUI in the 80s as being as shallow as the mobile app market is.

> I don't remember the transition to GUI in the 80s as being as shallow as the mobile app market is.

Then you weren't there. I'm pretty sure the first caveman to use a different pigment in cave paintings got the same shallow reactions.

Re: iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do

#10
post #7

> When we added pull to refresh to our app there weren’t many apps using this technique and it added a premium feel to our app. This makes me want to vomit. I can't wait until implementing flashy UI is so trivial and common that shallow things like this don't actually affect an application's perceived value. I don't remember the transition to GUI in the 80s as being as shallow as the mobile app market is.

Its not shallow, it makes the app easier to use and therefore better designed.

Also, perception is reality.

Post reply on HN