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Apple Begins Offering 'Last Compatible' Version of Apps for Users Running Legacy Versions of iOS
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I will wantit especially for my iPod touch 2g which I gave to my sister. Now she can have any app she wants, not just the 4 I had backups from after I restored it.
This might be good. I'm now concerned about how many versions back it will allow. Because sometimes apps might use older APIs and those older APIs are quite possibly deprecated or now unavailable. And I'm not talking about iOS APIs. I'm talking about APIs like the Twitter API v1 for example.
New iOS release adoption is extremely high, so the number people that will run into this are low.
I'm not sure. It just seems like this could cause trouble though. Otherwise, it's a nice move on Apple's part for sure.
New iOS release adoption is extremely high, so the number people that will run into this are low.
I'm not sure. It just seems like this could cause trouble though. Otherwise, it's a nice move on Apple's part for sure.
I'm in the UK. It's now working.It must have just not updated in the UK right away or something.
I'm in the UK too and it's not working to download Facebook app on iOS 4.2.1 on a 2nd Gen iPod touch. It is telling me I need iOS 5
I'll try on my old 3G on same iOS version later...
Was there a version of the current YouTube app that was ever released for iOS 3?
Was there a version of the current Facebook app that was ever released for iOS 4?
iOS 3 had a native YouTube app so I guess not.
There was an app for Facebook which ran under 4.2.1 because I had it in the past.
You can find IPA files online for old apps but need a jail broken device, which I don't want to do.
But it might have been a different version of the Facebook app (not just by version number, but the whole app itself). So, when Facebook released a redesigned app as a new app, and not an upgrade to the old one, that old one was removed, and therefore might not be available now.
It sounds like this policy of older compatible apps applies to older versions of the currently existing apps in the store. If there was a previous separate/different app that was replaced by a new one, it might not apply in the same manner.
Ditto here. I mistakenly updated all apps on an older iPod touch that serves up content for our home entertainment center and iheartradio's update killed its app on the old touch on 3.1.3. It's been a huge bummer as we used it all the time, so I was excited when I saw this thread's headline, but it was all for naught. Long story short, doesn't work when trying to source iheartradio's previous app version.
Someone already reported that it worked for Facebook but I understand what your saying.
That would be nice...but I think that will create much more issues for Apple to keep more than just the latest OS version updated (at least from security point of view). Not sure if they are ready for that yet, even though it would be a great change.
Ahh it's a good move. Hardware gets old but forcing it to become obsolete was nonsense. I'm happy with this. My second gen iPod touch might be let back into the App Store after a very long restraining order.
Perhaps an acknowledgement by Apple that not everyone running pre-5C & 5S devices is ready to embrace iOS7 just yet; This multi-version app availability is the right thing to do for Apple. After some more tweaking, I suspect most will eventually move up to the new iOS.
Personally I think it's light, breezy, sleek and easy on the eyes, and I will definitely upgrade fairly early on.
Apple is less Apple every day. This causes fragmentation.
IOs7-owner: Have you the xxx app?
ios5-owner: Yes, I have.
Ios7-owner: I can't sync with you
Ios5-owner: oh I don't know...
IOs7-owner: Have you the xxx app?
ios5-owner: Yes, I have.
Ios7-owner: I can't sync with you
Ios5-owner: oh I don't know...
I hope so too. Some people love to talk about terms they don't really understand or were misinformed. Is not their fault; the internet is loaded with all kinds of information. The challenge is to be able to identify what's true and what's false, what's accurate and what's not accurate.
I'll check it with my old iPad 1 and see how this works.
This isn't really a fragmentation issue. I mean, is Apple supposed to program iOS 7 to run on every iOS device, from the original iPhone up to the new iPhones?
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This is how it already is though. It's been this way since iOS 4 when the original iPhone and iPod touch was dropped.
However, unlike Android or Windows Phone, this is fragmentation due to outdated products. Not every iOS device ever made can run the latest software. I have friends who still use 3GSs, and friends who just got 4s and they're on 2 year contracts who will miss out on iOS 8. The "fragmentation" here is due to a product's date preventing it from running an OS at optimal performance. The computers at school use Leopard while I'm on Mountain Lion, and so my apps don't match up with theirs, but they're also using much more dated computers than I am.
Android and Windows Phone, however, have fragmentation on all new devices. The fragmentation they experience is due to the fact that every phone has different screen sizes, different supported resolutions, two companies can launch 2 phones at the exact same time, but one will be a giant 5.5-inch phone with a quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, while the other company launches a 4 inch phone with a dual core processor and maybe 512MB of RAM. The App either has to be written to support both, or written to support only the higher end. In addition, the OS is so broken up because of all these devices. There are some phones that were promised 4.1 that still haven't gotten it, and 4.3 is already available! Most Android users are just NOW getting to experience 4.0, even though 4.0 was released in 2010! This is what fragmentation is, new devices that can't support each other, essentially.
Another reminder that Apple makes their money by giving a good experience. Of course, decisions like this are forgotten while any time something legacy is lost, it's "pure greed"
Yes, 'giving a good experience' is what Apple has always traded on, and it's important that they remember it! In the long term they're not going to win by focusing on lawsuits and various lock-in practices, but in focusing on providing a superior experience.
I don't think this one will be soon forgotten—at least not by people who, like me, are delighted that the world of the App Store has opened up to them and their 'legacy' devices again. I can tell you, this has raised the Apple warm-and-fuzzies for me big time.
As for the people who can say 'fragmentation' parrot-fashion, since when is planned obsolescence a good response to fragmentation??! New apps can't support an old device forever, and no one is saying they should. But consumers who choose to keep using the devices they paid for, with the apps they paid for, should be able to keep using them for as long as they like, while the rest of the world moves on.
What Apple's previous practice (of removing all trace of older apps from the App Store) did was deny users of older devices access to the apps they paid for. This caught many of us out before we even thought about keeping backup copies of the older app versions and wrestling with the task of managing this.
This change really is a win for everyone with an older device, and doesn't affect people with newer devices at all. How anyone can find something to complain about in this is beyond me!
What Apple's previous practice (of removing all trace of older apps from the App Store) did was deny users of older devices access to the apps they paid for. This caught many of us out before we even thought about keeping backup copies of the older app versions and wrestling with the task of managing this.
This change really is a win for everyone with an older device, and doesn't affect people with newer devices at all. How anyone can find something to complain about in this is beyond me!
100% agreed! the doomsday fragmentation scenarios people are describing are exactly the same scenarios that existed if someone simply hadn't updated an app, or restored it from a local backup on their computer. the ONLY difference is that apple has added that functionality to the cloud, which is where it always should have been anyway. you are prompted that you are not downloading the newest version. add a "some or all functionality may be unsupported" disclaimer if necessary. i'm all for curating the user experience, but in the case of ancient hardware, i'll take a clunky semi-supported experience over a non-existant one.
