All New Apps Must Be Built With iOS 11 SDK Starting in April

[MacRumors]

Apple today sent out a notice to developers letting them know that starting in April of 2018, all new apps submitted to the App Store must be built using the iOS 11 SDK, which is included in Xcode 9 or later.

Furthermore, Apple says that all new apps designed for the iPhone, including universal apps, must support the iPhone X's Super Retina display.

Update your version of Xcode to the latest release of Xcode 9 available on the Mac App Store, which includes the iOS 11 SDK, and build your apps. Starting April 2018, all new iOS apps submitted to the App Store must be built with the iOS 11 SDK. All new apps for iPhone, including universal apps, must support the Super Retina display of iPhone X.

With this requirement, Apple is aiming to encourage developers to adopt key features introduced in iOS 11, like Core ML, ARKit, new camera APIs, expanded SiriKit domains, and more, plus the company is making sure future apps will be fully compatible with the display of the iPhone X.

Apple will, for the time being, allow apps built using earlier SDKs to continue to be updated without switching over to the iOS 11 SDK, but at some point in the future, Apple is likely to require developers to use the iOS 11 SDK for app updates as well.

April 1, 2018 is also when Apple plans to stop accepting updates to watchOS 1 apps. All updates submitted after that date must be built using the watchOS 2 SDK or later, and all newly submitted apps must be built with the watchOS 4 SDK or later.

Article Link: All New Apps Must Be Built With iOS 11 SDK Starting in April

 

[FelixDerKater]

X compatibility should be required.

 

[simbo123]

Does this happen every year with iOS releases or is this a first for being so soon into iOS 11’s life time?

 

[keysofanxiety]

X compatibility should be required.

It is! Second sentence on the article.

 

[KrisLord]

They should also have to support the 10.5 iPad Pro if offering iPad support...

Whilst they’re at it, Apple should be forcing Facebook to support it too.

 

[dontwalkhand]

What about apps like CVS Pharmacy, literally still to this day is an iPhone 4 app!!

 

[sracer]

With this requirement, Apple is aiming to encourage developers to adopt key features introduced in iOS 11, like Core ML, ARKit, new camera APIs, expanded SiriKit domains, and more, plus the company is making sure future apps will be fully compatible with the display of the iPhone X.

...and also ensuring that every customer who actively uses apps from the app store must upgrade their device to iOS 11. That's one way to improve the iOS 11 adoption rate.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

Cue all the banal post about progress.

 

[mariusignorello]

What about apps like CVS Pharmacy, literally still to this day is an iPhone 4 app!!

Meh. They refuse to take Apple Pay too.

 

[TComm]

The apps must be compliant with the bugs in iOS 11.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

What about apps like CVS Pharmacy, literally still to this day is an iPhone 4 app!!

And yet you still use it and them as your pharmacy. So what's their incentive for updating?

 

[Solver]

“Must use iOS 11 SDK.” This is why you do not see new apps for older devices, even if developers wanted to support them.

 

[Plutonius]

...and also ensuring that every customer who actively uses apps from the app store must upgrade their device to iOS 11. That's one way to improve the iOS 11 adoption rate.

Isn't it backwards compatible ?

I just foresee app bloat (the size of them) occurring.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Does this mean I'll have to put that virus ios11 on my phone?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Good. Along with IOS App updates, maybe we will see better GUI app designs.

 

[Jimmy James]

What about apps like CVS Pharmacy, literally still to this day is an iPhone 4 app!!

Don't be so hard on them. It's only 7 years.

 

[JosephAW]

As long as the apps compiled can still run on iOS 6,7,8,9,10 I'm fine with that. There are a lot of active iPhone 4,4S,5&5C devices out there. Don't want to shoot myself in the foot and exclude buyers.

 

[mikesch]

Does this mean I'll have to put that virus ios11 on my phone?

Nope, using the iOS 11 SDK and Xcode 9, developers will still be able to target earlier iOS versions all the way back to iOS 8.

 

[pubwvj]

I wish Apple would put more focus on legacy support so old apps and applications continued to run on the new hardware and OSs.

 

[ersan191]

What about apps like CVS Pharmacy, literally still to this day is an iPhone 4 app!!

And they refuse to accept Apple Pay, CVS irritates me to no end.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Meh. They refuse to take Apple Pay too.

What? I use Apple Pay at the CVS here without issue. Used it on my Apple Watch just last month. It's a newer location which opened last year. Maybe that has something to do with it?

 

[ersan191]

What? I use Apple Pay at the CVS here without issue. Used it on my Apple Watch just last month. It's a newer location which opened last year. Maybe that has something to do with it?

They probably forgot to turn the machines off - CVS does not take Apple Pay, they actively disable their NFC readers. They have CVS Pay instead, which never works.

 

[B4U]

The iPhone X compatibility is applied to only new apps?
What about updates of old apps?

 

[Markoth]

To all the non-devs out there: this article is misleading. Devs can still target older iOS versions, thereby ensuring compatibility, they just can’t use the old SDK to do so. There’s really no downside for anyone here.

 

[NT1440]

I wish Apple would put more focus on legacy support so old apps and applications continued to run on the new hardware and OSs.

Uh, that’s the developers job. If they’ve abandoned an app it’s not Apples fault.