iOS 14 and earlier will seemingly stop getting App Store app updates in 2027
When uploading an app I got this email:
ITMS-90068: MinimumOSVersion too low - This app has a MinimumOSVersion of 13.0. Starting in Spring 2027, all iOS apps must have a MinimumOSVersion of 15.0 or later in order to be uploaded to App Store Connect or submitted for distribution.
These are old iOS versions, so this policy isn't going to affect many people but I thought I'd post anyway. I still have an old iPad with iOS 12 that's usable for reading and media. I think some apps are still supported and getting updates surprisingly. As a dev I still update Three Cheers for Tildes to support iOS 12 and up. No idea if anyone other than me uses that old version though.
I like supporting the older iOS version because it means I can keep using this old hardware. Also knowing something runs on those old devices with okay performance, means it will be buttery smooth on any moderately recent iPhone/iPad. I mean, I can probably still install apps on it for my own personal use, just not distribute on the App Store.
On the other hand supporting iOS 12 is just not practical and not really a good use of developer time, so this had to happen at some point.
It's not a good idea to use a device stuck on an old version of iOS day-to-day because of security concerns (or indeed connect them to the internet), what does make them basically ewaste regardless though is that there is no option to unlock the bootloader for these things after EOL.
Really wish there was interest in legislation to change that.
Apple does push security updates for older version of iOS when the vulns are serious enough. 15+ got updates this past may
Up until like a month ago I had an iphone 8 with like ios12 or something on it and it still got security updates even though apple website swore it didn’t. Was pretty cool.
Ive still got an iphone 4s and eventually it just failed to download the latest update, didnt give a specific error code but I suspect it was just too large.
Right to repair could essentially fall under that umbrella.
There is a bug in my car's dashboard. I must be able to unlock my bootloader to be able to fix it.
For those who don’t know how the Apple App Store works, you can still download the last compatible version of an app if you already own it. It’s not like they won’t be able to use the store, just that they won’t be able to use the latest version of third party apps, so it will serve them an older version.
That’s only if those older versions are available though right? I have an old iPad (2017) and there are a few apps that I’ve tried to install but it says they aren’t available for my operating system.
...still rocking my 2017 ipad pro but i'll probably migrate to my M1 this month; the older model still works fine but its screen, case and speakers are really beyond-done at this point...anyway, i haven't bumped into any issues with iOS17 support on applications yet, but i don't install much new software these days...
...that said, i concur that unsupported OS versions really need to open up to third-party application stores; maybe the EU will do something about it if the FTC won't...
Yes. Obviously if it’s a new app that came out last year, it won’t have older versions available because they just never existed. I believe that developers can mark specific old builds as expired or make it so they can’t be redownloaded. It also doesn’t address apps that have server-side components that stop working, making the app useless (i.e., YouTube not supporting the original built-in iOS YouTube app anymore).
Yeah it’s definitely happened either way apps that aren’t brand new though. For example the NYT games app won’t install and that’s definitely been around for years.
do you upload to the jailbreak stores? i would assume that a strong reason for people to stay on older versions (besides older hardware) is jailbreak ability.