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Apple Will No Longer Approve Apps Using Unique Device Identifier (UDID) Beginning May 1, Must Also Support iPhone 5 and Retina Display

Nermal said:
Thanks, that assuages my fears for the moment :)
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Realistically, if the app has been updated in the last year it is already doing something like this. Using UDID has been cause for rejection for a while.

Perhaps they used to allow some exceptions, but… I haven't heard of it. Then again, if someone were allowed an exception, they'd probably be told to be quiet about it. :)
 
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So am I right in thinking any app with a new update after this date will have to support the 4" screen?

If this is the case then finally because the current Orange (UK) Your Account app is (I'm sure) still not retinafied and looks horrible on mine!!

Orange recently updated another of their lesser used apps (U24 one) for the 4" so I assume that means they will update the other too, but I hope it's soon.
 
Nice that Apple looks out for its customers so that they won't have to be as frustrated as Android users with the majority of their apps having no guidelines to support various screen sizes whatsoever.
 
Is it very difficult to make all these separate versions? It seems like this is exactly what Phil Schiller said was wrong with Android (different screen sizes and resolutions). I would imagine some applications could just add more room for longer lists, but it seems like it would be difficult with something like video games, not that I've ever made an application, so I don't know.
 
pubwvj said:
So what Apple is doing is making it so that all Apps that are new or get updated will no longer work with older devices that don't support iOS6. Of course, Apple controls what devices get iOS6. This is Apple's way of trying to force people to upgrade their hardware. Apple is being both greedy and very not green. What a bad Apple.
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Not all apps, only those that required the use of the device UDID. Apps can still support back to iOS 4.
 
pubwvj said:
So what Apple is doing is making it so that all Apps that are new or get updated will no longer work with older devices that don't support iOS6. Of course, Apple controls what devices get iOS6. This is Apple's way of trying to force people to upgrade their hardware. Apple is being both greedy and very not green. What a bad Apple.
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Most apps already no longer support iOS 4... In fact, it will mostly kill the iOS 5 generation (iPad 1st, iPod Touch 3rd). Previous devices are blocked to iOS 4 and more recent ones are running iOS 6. It's not like blocking a lot of devices in the ecosystem :p And as I said, most apps (although ones I use) already only support iOS 6.

With that said, I do agree with you that Apple seems to force people to upgrade... And they do it with OS X too. It's a bit frustrating... The first iPad was discontinued in 2011. A 2 years old device and it is already blocked in term of iOS ? What's next ? A device which can only support the actual iOS version ? :p I always find ironical to see my 3GS (from 2009) with the lastet version while a 2011 device can't. A bit ironical...
 
Moonjumper said:
It is referring to the iPhone 5 in particular. Apps from before it was released run in an iPhone 4 sized window. Developers will no longer be allowed to submit apps that do not support the 16:9 screen ratio.
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No, that is a separate issue from what I am talking about. Apple's new requirement is that apps must be "built for retina display". That's an unrelated requirement from supporting the iPhone 5 screen. What does "built for retina display" mean? In a 2D app, it makes sense - just use bigger textures (I guess.) But, in a 3D app, what does it mean? Are 3D apps now required to run at full retina resolution? Because, a LOT of 3D apps won't be update-able if that's the case.
 
calisurfboy said:
Why make it retina required when they still sell products without retina like ohhhhh lets say the iPad mini.......
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Because retina apps look fine on non-retina devices, but non-retina apps look like crap on retina devices. That's why.
 
SchneiderMan said:
Nice that Apple looks out for its customers so that they won't have to be as frustrated as Android users with the majority of their apps having no guidelines to support various screen sizes whatsoever.
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Please learn more about how android development works before making blanket statements like this. The limitation of iOS's handling of resolutions does not apply in android. Android was designed from the beginning with multiple resolutions and aspect ratios in mind. Its app layout engine scales fine without specifically coding for each resolution.
 
calisurfboy said:
Why make it retina required when they still sell products without retina like ohhhhh lets say the iPad mini.......
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To prepare for the retina iPad mini coming in a few months (in addition to dropping the iPad 2).

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rorschach said:
Because retina apps look fine on non-retina devices, but non-retina apps look like crap on retina devices. That's why.
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True dat.
 
calisurfboy said:
Why make it retina required when they still sell products without retina like ohhhhh lets say the iPad mini.......
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What dev makes apps specifically for the mini? I don't know of any. OTOH why should devs be allowed to design to the least common denominator when Retina iPads are well established now with the 3 and 4.
 
So that means latest Xcode, only (10.7+), with the latest SDK, only (4.3+), right?

Well, then let me make this a bit more clear:

As of May 1st, Apple will no longer approve apps that

- work on older devices such as the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod touch (1st generation) and iPod touch (2nd generation).

- work with older versions of iOS, such as iOS 3.1.3 or iOS 4.2.1.

- are able to be compiled with older versions of Xcode or on popular operation systems such as Snow Leopard.

So if those of you with an older device or using an older (faster) version of iOS thought you had trouble finding compatible apps before, now you're *really* screwed.

Edit:
This also gives developers a bit over 1 month to rush and bug-fix any of their "legacy" applications before Apple blocks them, forever.

Basically, if a developer makes an app that even attempts to load on a 4.2.1 device, Apple will auto-reject it.
 
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Sad day for people with old iOS devices :(

This is really bad, since there are no tools that can build an iOS app that supports both old armv6 devices (iPhone 3G, early iPod Touch, etc.) plus the iPhone 5 4" display. The latest Xcode can't build armv6 apps. Older Xcode versions can't build apps for the 4" display (actually they could, but Apple won't approve apps built that way).

All those kids with hand-me-down devices will never see a new app, even free baby talk ones.
 
I bet that with in the next 5 hours al least 20 people will complaint about this... Were are the android people?
 
Gemütlichkeit said:
Yes! Glad apple is shaking up the devs lazy enough to not update their apps.
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Just the opposite. This will cause developers who have or support older devices or have their development Mac back on Snow Leopard, to never be able to update their apps in the App Store.

There's at least a couple large baby toy vendors in the first category.
 
Good, now they just need to remove MAC address collection!

Good, now they just need to remove MAC address collection!
 
Thank you! Now Verizon will be forced to update the ugly junk that is their FiOS app. Hopefully they'll also fix it so it works more than 50% of the time.
 
firewood said:
Just the opposite. This will cause developers who have or support older devices or have their development Mac back on Snow Leopard, to never be able to update their apps in the App Store.

There's at least a couple large baby toy vendors in the first category.
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What developers don't keep their machines running the latest OS and SDKs? Not ones I'd hire. Even I have a little partition for Mountain Lion.

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calisurfboy said:
Why make it retina required when they still sell products without retina like ohhhhh lets say the iPad mini.......
Click to expand...

Better question: Why do they sell apps that are only for iPhone if they have products that aren't iPhones?
 
tann said:
So am I right in thinking any app with a new update after this date will have to support the 4" screen?

If this is the case then finally because the current Orange (UK) Your Account app is (I'm sure) still not retinafied and looks horrible on mine!!

Orange recently updated another of their lesser used apps (U24 one) for the 4" so I assume that means they will update the other too, but I hope it's soon.
Click to expand...

Have you considered swapping to EE 4G? I was with EE/Orange on an 8 month old iPhone 4S contract and used their Swap&Go thing to get a 5. The whole operation cost me 25£ giving them my old 4s.
Monthly fee wise, I'm paying the same and in theory I should get half the Internet allowance but the guy at the store said that as a bonus, I'd get double the allowance for the whole length of my new contract.
To sum it up, I'm paying the same, getting exactly the same but on an upgraded service and phone. I'm really impressed with LTE, I have to say.
 
Very glad they're doing this. Developers may not be thrilled, but there is no excuse for not having these apps updated, especially paid ones.
 
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