iOS App Compatibility (iOS & Device)

[loon3y]

how many old versions should my app be compatible with?

so far im thinking just iOS5, and iOS6, since I've read that close to 90% of all iOS users update their devices.


and when iOS7 comes out, for future apps and versions should i let the app be backwards compatible with iOS5? given that the original iPad and iPhone 3G is going to be stuck with iOS5.

does people know how the percentage of people using older devices? how long will i have to be able to support these older devices and OS?

 

[Reason077]

91% of my users are on iOS 6 already. My app supports back to 4.3, but there's still a handful of users (< 1% of visits) using a previous version that supported 4.2 on iPhone 3G devices.

But in general, it's still pretty easy to support old versions back to at least 5.1, and maybe 4.3. I know a few people who are holding off upgrading because they don't like the new Apple Maps. Do you really want to miss out on that other 9% of users?

Unless you have a good reason not to (i.e.: you really need an API or a bug fix that isn't available on older versions), IMO it's a good idea to support the oldest version that you practically can.

 

[DDustiNN]

Unless your app is using iOS 5 specific functionality, I see no reason to limit your user base. Personally, my current support is as low as Xcode will go (currently it is iOS 4.3), and I'll be following that pattern for my upcoming apps unless I simply can't due to functionality restrictions.