Apple Gives Developers More Time to Update 'Outdated' Apps Before Removal

[cupcakes2000]

As a developer they is no excuse not to do what Apple is asking for, if any software has not been updated within 2 years, seriously needs updating as many of the APIs have change.

Its good practice to maintain code and tweak it a bit every so often to make sure it’s still working fine on the latest OS not just sit back and let the code rot.

Exactly. Even if you write the most perfect and stable code and the app is stable from release one (which I doubt it is anyway) - that code will eventually becomes unpolished due to api changes, due to aspect ratio changes, resolution changes, os design language changes - certainly after years and years. I have old un-updated apps, and they look *****, and don’t offer the most modern functionality. It’s pure laziness and not overly professional.

 

[loby]

This is going to result in the loss of a lot of vintage software.

Think about it, right now you can download old games and applications from the 90s to fool around with you on your 90s-era retro PC. You can play those old games and enjoy the nostalgia.

If Apple does this, nobody will be able to download and play games from the early years of the app store on older iOS devices. A lot of this software will be lost forever, since there's no archive of it out there and even if there were you need to jailbreak to load it up.

This policy is really bad for historical preservation. Apple really should re-think this.

Why not just save a copy of the app that you have already downloaded. Since it is not updated it should still work until eventually a new OS yearly version will eventually break it anyway. It is not like windows where part of the app is embedded into parts of the OS (like Adobe etc. does) to work. Usually the old apps don’t do that. Not all of course, but most should still work if you copy it back into the Application folder.

Perfectly understandable to clean up the App store and have developers keep their apps updated.

 

[flottenheimer]

I hate this whole 'Removal of apps'-thing.
Especially the fact that I no longer have any way of running several old games that I loved playing.

 

[RadioHedgeFund]

I hate this whole 'Removal of apps'-thing.
Especially the fact that I no longer have any way of running several old games that I loved playing.

This is only removal from sale. I can still access my purchases all the way back to the launch of the App Store. They don’t run because they are abandonware but if I had a compatible device (say, an iPhone 4) they would download and run without issue.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

This is going to result in the loss of a lot of vintage software.

Think about it, right now you can download old games and applications from the 90s to fool around with you on your 90s-era retro PC. You can play those old games and enjoy the nostalgia.

If Apple does this, nobody will be able to download and play games from the early years of the app store on older iOS devices. A lot of this software will be lost forever, since there's no archive of it out there and even if there were you need to jailbreak to load it up.

This policy is really bad for historical preservation. Apple really should re-think this.

It's already pretty much like this. Rare for an old game to still work with the latest iOS. Unless you mean you'd like to keep an old iPhone around to play old games, in which case, I think you can save the IPAs and load them in later? May have to mess with the system clock if they're no longer signed.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

due to aspect ratio changes, resolution changes, os design language changes

Cause AutoLayout is unreasonably hard to use. My first app (written in ObjC for iOS 4) just used C macros and math to define all the UI dimensions, and that held up when all the new screen sizes came about, plus I could actually understand it. Any React Native app will also do better.

 

[BCARLLUVSM1]

Those may have been removed by the developer. Check in your “purchased” apps list, do you see them there still?

Yes, I do. However, when I click on link it says AppStore could not connect.