A little while ago, that wasn't exactly true. Office 2016 installed as a 32-bit app and then you had to install an update to get it up to 64-bit.
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Apple Reminds Developers About 64-Bit Requirement for iOS and Mac Apps, Releases WWDC 2017 Transcripts
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I only had 3 apps that were 32-bit.
One paid music app I really cared about... and I emailed the developer and he updated it.
And two free speedometer apps that I downloaded years ago... and I deleted them.
One paid music app I really cared about... and I emailed the developer and he updated it.
And two free speedometer apps that I downloaded years ago... and I deleted them.
It can be extremely easy if all you do is use apple's APIs in your app. But if you use some 32bit 3rd party precompiled libraries that haven't been updated (or updated to work in a totally different way over time) things can get much more difficult. In the end, it may not be worth for some to do an update, but a much bigger problem is that a ton of older dev teams and publishers have dissolved, and even if there's a developer alone from some team willing to do an update, they typically wouldn't own an IP or publishing rights to be able to do so. Due to that, it's just completely impossible for some games to get updated, no matter how many advance warnings Apple gives.
It's mostly games that are massively affected by this. Not so much apps per se.
Here's a handful in no particular order. I have more. The Slitherine games are particularly annoying, because they're expensive and they have some pretty high priced IAP (additional campaigns and scenarios, not bags of coins), and they're still for sale, with absolutely no indication that they will completely stop functioning on any device purchased with, or upgraded to, iOS 11.
- The AppShopper & TouchArcade apps - Apple won't let them update these.
- UNO, and Yahtzee - they're only upgrading the newer replacement apps that have lots of ways for you to spend money in them.
- A bunch of kids apps that my niece likes (one example, "The Monster at the End of this Book")
- R-TYPE - a highly rated port of a wonderful old arcade game.
- Sentinel 3 - one of my old favorite tower defense games.
- Doom Classic
- Espgaluda 2 - weird name, awesome arcade shooter from Cave, the king of "bullet hell shooters"
- Lost Treasures of Infocom - yes, I have other ways I can play these. But having them officially packaged up was nice.
- geoDefense - still one of the best tower defense games ever made.
- Battle Academy and Battle Academy II - highly acclaimed WWII strategy games. Actually, it looks like many of Slitherine's very well-regarded strategy games are in trouble.
- Google Earth - how can this be?
- Pinball Tristan and Crystal Caliburn II - old-school pinball games from the early days of the Mac, for some retro pinball.
Thankfully we won't be moving to 128-bit anytime soon, since 64-bit can address up to something like 16 exabytes, which is insanely huge, there won't be much pressure to move higher in a very long time.
I think it's great. We needed to move on from 32-bit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2ke0o5/we_have_32_and_64bit_cpus_why_not_a_128bit_cpu/
I think it's great. We needed to move on from 32-bit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2ke0o5/we_have_32_and_64bit_cpus_why_not_a_128bit_cpu/
Interesting fact: On their Windows platform, even the latest versions of Visual Studio are still 32-bit.
Abandonware at its finest. The last meaningful update for this app was over four years ago.
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This is an extremely valid thing to bring up... It is a bit questionable this approach, as @CarlJ mentioned above, some of these games and IAPs are very pricey (and I am all for paying for a good bit of software, don't get me wrong).
But, what happens if I am a user that isn't aware of 32/64bit and iOS 11's dropping support, I buy a game and IAPs the day before? At the moment, it would be useless overnight, and I'd have no idea why, and be at the behest of a (potentially non-existent) developer.
The cynical answer to this is that Apple doesn't care, because it is still getting the share of the money, and can shift blame onto developers for not updating despite many warnings.
Unless Apple will allow more generous refund periods for recently bought 32bit apps during the transition period to iOS 11?
^ Correct you are, Glassed Silver. iPad with Retina Display (iPad 4), iPad 2 or iPad mini are the best iPads for the 32-bit apps. Any other newer iPad and you're at risk.
Exactly this. And this is exactly why I don't bother with games on iOS. I don't consume games in the way Apple intends us to - by having them as a disposable commodity where you pay your 69p, play for an hour, delete and move onto the next one. I prefer spending more money on solid experiences that I'll be dipping in and out of for years to come so that's why I put my money into Nintendos handheld games instead.
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Each major iOS update I hope to see the foundations of long-distance legacy support, or anything really that's worth putting money into.
What's irritating is because we can't change batteries in these devices, that eventually you won't be able to run any of these old apps no matter how useful they were - or how another one doesn't offer the same functionality. Meanwhile I'm still able to play my classic gameboy just fine
meh. I know Apple aren't really big on games but it's just frustrating being reminded of that year on year.[doublepost=1498728938][/doublepost]
Yup. What did it for me was buying a reference app for £25 that the devs stopped supporting. I didn't know Apple could block redownloading it (dire policy). Naively I asked for my money back but they said they couldn't and said "it was only £25" - totally missing the point. I've bought from digital download stores for over a decade and each and every title I purchased on Steam, PSN, Xbox Live, are all still available for me to download even if their store page has been removed.
Bye bye many games i enjoyed over the years
Or just dont update to ios 11.
Apple hasn’t said when the 32-bit libraries are going to be removed from macOS. It only said that it will require 64-bit-only apps in its App Store starting next year (with a few months leniency for app updates). This does not affect non-App Store apps at all. Apple also said that they will start warning users in the next release of macOS after High Sierra, similar to what iOS 10 does now.
My guess is that High Sierra (10.13) and macOS 10.14 (which should be updated throughout 2019) will be fine. Also remember: Apple provides two years of security updates after development stops. You might be able to continue using 32-bit apps until 2021.
No, they are saying that it may be the last one to do so. Your 32 bit apps are safe for about 1,5 years still.
Macrumors has a 32 bit app in the appstore.