As of April 30, All Apps Submitted to App Store Must Use iOS 13 SDK or Later

[MacRumors]

Apple today informed developers that starting on April 30, 2020, all iPhone and iPad apps submitted to the App Store must be built with iOS and iPadOS 13 SDK or later.

Apple previously told developers that iOS and iPadOS 13 SDKs would be required as of April, but did not give a specific date.

iOS 13 is now running on 77% of all iOS devices introduced in the last four years, worldwide. Deliver great user experiences by seamlessly integrating with Dark Mode, Sign in with Apple, and the latest advances in ARKit 3, Core ML 3, and Siri. Starting April 30, 2020, all iPhone apps submitted to the App Store must be built with the iOS 13 SDK or later.

Take advantage of Xcode features such as storyboards (including launch storyboards), Auto Layout, and SwiftUI, to ensure your app's interface elements and layouts automatically fit the display of all iPhone models, regardless of size or aspect ratio. Starting April 30, 2020, all apps submitted to the App Store must use an Xcode storyboard to provide the app's launch screen and all iPhone apps must support all iPhone screens.

Apple also says that as of April 30, all apps must use an Xcode storyboard to provide the launch screen. All iPhone apps must support all iPhone screens, and all iPad apps must support all iPad screens.

Article Link: As of April 30, All Apps Submitted to App Store Must Use iOS 13 SDK or Later

 

[mariusignorello]

About time. No excuses for not supporting every device, no matter the size and scale of the developer’s organization.

Want to make money? Keep up with the times. No rewards for laziness.

 

[Elitegate]

What about the devices not capable of running iOS 13? Can apps that were developed with the iOS 13 SDK still be deployed on iOS 11/12?

 

[mariusignorello]

What about the devices not capable of running iOS 13? Can apps that were developed with the iOS 13 SDK still be deployed on iOS 11/12?

They will probably be stuck running the last compatible version.

 

[now i see it]

Take advantage of Xcode features such as storyboards (including launch storyboards), Auto Layout, and SwiftUI, to ensure your app's interface elements and layouts automatically fit the display of all ‌iPhone‌ models, regardless of size or aspect ratio....

Uhhh not quite "all". iPhone 6 and earlier are stuck in iOS 12 and 10 land forever.

 

[fokmik]

So this will be planned obsolete ? I mean if you have an iphone with ios12 you will be forced to upgrade, if you can, to ios13 (the current one) for you to be able use any apps?!

 

[Elitegate]

So this will be planned obsolete ? I mean if you have an iphone with ios12 you will be forced to upgrade, if you can, to ios13 (the current one) for you to be able use any apps?!

Yes. If you cannot fetch a last compatible version instead, yes, you are pretty much left without options.

 

[KALLT]

What about the devices not capable of running iOS 13? Can apps that were developed with the iOS 13 SDK still be deployed on iOS 11/12?

Yes. SDK ≠ deployment version. You can technically still deploy apps for iOS 8 with the iOS 13 SDK, maybe even lower. The only problems are that new iOS 13-only APIs and bug fixes in existing APIs are not available on older OS versions.

 

[Zaft]

So this will be planned obsolete ? I mean if you have an iphone with ios12 you will be forced to upgrade, if you can, to ios13 (the current one) for you to be able use any apps?!

You can’t support old phones forever. iPhone 6 was released over 5 years ago.

 

[askep3]

You can’t support old phones forever. iPhone 6 was released over 5 years ago.

This. It’s not even planned obsolescence, the phone is still going to perform all it’s main functions, and the last version of the app will work. This is more than enough for a device that’s more than 5 years old. If the user is really running into the wall for unsupported things in the eye case scenarios, they should just get with the times.
[automerge]1583356884[/automerge]

About time. No excuses for not supporting every device, no matter the size and scale of the developer’s organization.

Want to make money? Keep up with the times. No rewards for laziness.

I love these deadlines Apple sets for developers. So many times I see apps not taking advantage of the latest hardware, it really does seem to be that on average, an new devices hardware is only fully taken advantage of a full year or two after its release in the case of some apps, which I understand makes sense, but is unfortunate.

These limits help raise the consistency and overall quality of all apps in the App Store and it’s fantastic

 

[tranceking26]

I'm surprised this wasn't done sooner tbh.

 

[mi7chy]

iOS/iPadOS is the other battery throttling to force customers to buy new devices. There's no reason backwards compatibility can't be better like on Android where something complex like Playstation emulator can still run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread from 2010.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.epsxe.ePSXe
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emulator.fpse

And, while they're at it allow emulators on app store.

 

[Doctor Q]

"In addition, all apps that run on iPhone must support all iPhone screens and all apps that run on iPad must support all iPad screens."

They presumably don't mean all iPhone models that were ever made, so what DOES it mean? All iPhones that are currently sold new by Apple? All iPhones that will run iOS 13? All iPhones that will run the latest iOS version, whatever it currently is? Or something else?

 

[MadDawg2020]

So this will be planned obsolete ? I mean if you have an iphone with ios12 you will be forced to upgrade, if you can, to ios13 (the current one) for you to be able use any apps?!

Who is ‘forcing’ you to do anything?
Ive never seen the Apple Genius tech put a gun to your head demanding you upgrade! The older model phones will still run the last version available of an ap for that OS. It will keep running with all the same features and capabilities it came with from the factory. YOU can chose when or if you want to ‘upgrade’.

Put it this way - do you complain that a 10 year old car does not have the same features as one that just rolled off the line? The older car will still run perfectly fine as is and will not lose any capability it came with, it just won’t have the latest features availble on the new model.

 

[TiggrToo]

iOS/iPadOS is the other battery throttling to force customers to buy new devices. There's no reason backwards compatibility can't be better like on Android where something complex like Playstation emulator can still run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread from 2010.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.epsxe.ePSXe
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emulator.fpse

And, while they're at it allow emulators on app store.

Well, use an Android phone then.

Meanwhile the rest of us will use an app store where is rare to read of Apple pulling hundreds of apps with millions of installs due to some form of malware or another...

 

[konqerror]

They presumably don't mean all iPhone models that were ever made, so what DOES it mean? All iPhones that are currently sold new by Apple? All iPhones that will run iOS 13? All iPhones that will run the latest iOS version, whatever it currently is? Or something else?

The original (2G-3GS) and original Retina (4, 4S) cannot be supported because their corresponding phones are 32-bit only and the App Store does not accept any 32-bit apps anymore.

All other screen sizes (5 and onwards) are currently in production devices, so it's safe to say you have to support those.

 

[TiggrToo]

iOS/iPadOS is the other battery throttling to force customers to buy new devices. There's no reason backwards compatibility can't be better like on Android where something complex like Playstation emulator can still run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread from 2010.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.epsxe.ePSXe
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emulator.fpse

And, while they're at it allow emulators on app store.

In addition, Google require this as well: https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-practices/develop/target-sdk

If these apps support GB, then I'm guessing those apps are not taking advantage of any new features to stay compatible with Gingerbread.

In addition, good luck in finding a Gingerbread device that'll even connect to Play, yet alone have enough storage free to install a 10MB app. Google stopped allowing Ice Cream Sandwich to connect over a year ago...

So that's that as well.

 

[simonmet]

I hope this forces developers that don’t dim the annoying Home Bar in their games to finally do so.

 

[Doctor Q]

The original (2G-3GS) and original Retina (4, 4S) cannot be supported because their corresponding phones are 32-bit only and the App Store does not accept any 32-bit apps anymore.

All other screen sizes (5 and onwards) are currently in production devices, so it's safe to say you have to support those.

Xcode 11's default set of simulators doesn't include one for the screen size of the 5, 5C, 5S, and SE.

 

[XxAnonymousxX]

Finally. I hope this forces developers to integrate dark mode support for all apps. I hate to have to switch dark mode on YouTube and Facebook messenger instead of turning on dark mode automatically like other apps have

 

[jinnj]

All iPhones that will run iOS 13

That one. Anything that the SDK will compile to.

 

[konqerror]

Xcode 11's default set of simulators doesn't include one for the screen size of the 5, 5C, 5S, and SE.

Still supported, you have to add it yourself.

 

[cmaier]

What about the devices not capable of running iOS 13? Can apps that were developed with the iOS 13 SDK still be deployed on iOS 11/12?

No.

 

[konqerror]

No.

Incorrect. SDK version can be greater or equal to deployment target. APIs in versions uplevel from the deployment target are weakly linked, that is, the symbols are set to nil when they are not available on the runtime OS. Your program then determines whether it is safe to call those APIs or else substitutes its own code (i.e. disable the feature).

 

[mi7chy]

Well, use an Android phone then.

Meanwhile the rest of us will use an app store where is rare to read of Apple pulling hundreds of apps with millions of installs due to some form of malware or another...

What are you mumbling about? Some of us use cross platform that's how we know iOS/iPadOS is missing whole categories of apps like emulators due to Apple's oppressive policies. The fact that you have to jailbreak, etc. to acquire emulators outside of app store on iOS/iPadOS opens yourself up to malware. Even app store isn't perfect.

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-app-store-malware-click-fraud/