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Developers Now Permitted to Submit 64-Bit Apps for iPhone 5s

troop231 said:
Does this mean also mean we won't be able to target back to iOS 5?
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iOS5 is done. The last update was 16 months ago. For all intents and purposes it's already deprecated.

iOS6 will take a while longer to reach the same sad end. My guess is around 2 years - because of higher number of iOS6 devices out there.

I can't see the recompilation of 32bit app into 64bit app going smoothly. Software companies always brag about smooth transitions. In reality there are complex issues that need to be solved. Chances are people will just stop developing 32bit apps once iOS7 hits critical mass.
 
You'd be foolish to release a 64-bit binary for a phone that hasn't even been tested on. Which is probably why Apple removed the note -- the last thing they want is bad press about ios7 or the 5s from lazy developers with crashing apps.
 
Perfect Score said:
iOS5 is done. The last update was 16 months ago. For all intents and purposes it's already deprecated.

iOS6 will take a while longer to reach the same sad end. My guess is around 2 years - because of higher number of iOS6 devices out there.

I can't see the recompilation of 32bit app into 64bit app going smoothly. Software companies always brag about smooth transitions. In reality there are complex issues that need to be solved. Chances are people will just stop developing 32bit apps once iOS7 hits critical mass.
Click to expand...

People upgrade quick enough that after a few months developers can drop support for previous versions. I only plan on supporting iOS 6 for a few months.

No reason to support iOS 5, its such a ridiculously small marketing share it isn't worth the effort.
 
Perfect Score said:
iOS5 is done. The last update was 16 months ago. For all intents and purposes it's already deprecated.

iOS6 will take a while longer to reach the same sad end. My guess is around 2 years - because of higher number of iOS6 devices out there.

I can't see the recompilation of 32bit app into 64bit app going smoothly. Software companies always brag about smooth transitions. In reality there are complex issues that need to be solved. Chances are people will just stop developing 32bit apps once iOS7 hits critical mass.
Click to expand...

/dev/toaster said:
People upgrade quick enough that after a few months developers can drop support for previous versions. I only plan on supporting iOS 6 for a few months.

No reason to support iOS 5, its such a ridiculously small marketing share it isn't worth the effort.
Click to expand...

Yes I know iOS 5 is deprecated, but there's no reason not to target it as there are many people with older iPods, etc. using it.
 
I love the idea of 64-bit in iDevices. It's really continuing the post-PC thing. I can't wait to see where it brings the computer world in the coming years. Maybe thats why the say "the most forward thinking iPhone yet". Very exciting to me...:apple:
 
I really don't understand this 32bit and 64bit information either.

Can someone explain the me in simple non technical non geeky language what this is all about when it comes to apps.

I mean I have an iPhone 5 since my iPhone wont support 64bit apps what am I going to be missing out on for example having a 32bit app compared to a 64bit app.

Also are apple app developers going to ensure that apps will be compatible for both devices. Devices that only handle 32 and 64bit apps?
 
troop231 said:
Yes I know iOS 5 is deprecated, but there's no reason not to target it as there are many people with older iPods, etc. using it.
Click to expand...

It depends, if you have a dead simple app sure why not. If you aren't using anything specific to the newer versions go for it.

For example, pull to refresh on UITableViewController. If you are already using a solution then keep rolling with it. However, if you are adding that feature its better to raise the requirement to iOS 6 and use that version.
 
/dev/toaster said:
It depends, if you have a dead simple app sure why not. If you aren't using anything specific to the newer versions go for it.

For example, pull to refresh on UITableViewController. If you are already using a solution then keep rolling with it. However, if you are adding that feature its better to raise the requirement to iOS 6 and use that version.
Click to expand...

The one thing I wish Apple would do is eliminate the need to supply two versions of the same image in an app bundle. It wastes so much space.
 
Amazing Iceman said:
Wouldn't a single app binary result in a bigger file, hence a bigger download???

Apple should implement their AppStore to give a user the choice (making the most suited the default), to download either the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of the app, similar to how they let a user choose their videos between SD or HD.

What do you think about it?
Click to expand...


That is WAY too complicated for the typical iPhone user. Many iPhone buyer do not want to know anything about anything like that. That is why they go with Apple products in the first place: you need know nothing in order to use them.
 
Think of the processor in your phone as being like a juggler keeping a bunch of balls in the air. The balls represent chunks of information that help make your app achieve its functionality.

The 64-bit juggler can handle larger balls than the 32-bit juggler can, and therefore can achieve its end results faster.

In reality - there's no difference from a usability perspective, it's all about performance. The compiler & frameworks will take most of the heavy lifting here, as they will be able to choose bigger balls to juggle with.

The reason that we prefer to have more 64-bit apps then boils down to the difficulty the juggler has when you change the size of some, but not all, of his balls.

In short, the iPhone 5s has got bigger balls.


abz1981 said:
I really don't understand this 32bit and 64bit information either.

Can someone explain the me in simple non technical non geeky language what this is all about when it comes to apps.

I mean I have an iPhone 5 since my iPhone wont support 64bit apps what am I going to be missing out on for example having a 32bit app compared to a 64bit app.

Also are apple app developers going to ensure that apps will be compatible for both devices. Devices that only handle 32 and 64bit apps?
Click to expand...
 
64-bit iOS isn't going to bring the slightest bit of performance, and might even slow things down a little. As many more knowledgeable people have already said, this is being done so that Apple can merge the Mac and iPhone product lines. 64 bit is not needed for at least two years and probably more in phones, but is immediately necessary if you're talking about desktop/laptops.

I think this is a big tell that the Macbook Air will go Apple ARM in the next year.
 
To be honest, I never knew that iPhones only ran 32-bit programs until now, and I'm a semi-beginner programmer. Talk about abstraction!

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ikuragames said:
Think of the processor in your phone as being like a juggler keeping a bunch of balls in the air. The balls represent chunks of information that help make your app achieve its functionality.

The 64-bit juggler can handle larger balls than the 32-bit juggler can, and therefore can achieve its end results faster.

In reality - there's no difference from a usability perspective, it's all about performance. The compiler & frameworks will take most of the heavy lifting here, as they will be able to choose bigger balls to juggle with.

The reason that we prefer to have more 64-bit apps then boils down to the difficulty the juggler has when you change the size of some, but not all, of his balls.

In short, the iPhone 5s has got bigger balls.
Click to expand...

You didn't mention that it's not always best to juggle bigger balls. I tested 32-bit Java vs 64-bit Java in a program that just adds to a 32-bit integer (int) repeatedly. The 64-bit process took almost exactly TWICE as long.

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SpectatorHere said:
64-bit iOS isn't going to bring the slightest bit of performance, and might even slow things down a little.
Click to expand...

Floating point performance is supposed to be better on 64-bit, from what I've heard. Apps involving a lot of floating points would probably benefit from running in 64-bit mode. Anything "heavy" is also supposed to, or so I've heard from the geeks, and iPhones are getting faster, so 64-bit support seems logical to me. So would the N64 emulators I think :D
 
iGrip said:
That is WAY too complicated for the typical iPhone user. Many iPhone buyer do not want to know anything about anything like that. That is why they go with Apple products in the first place: you need know nothing in order to use them.
Click to expand...

Then, the AppStore should deliver the one suitable for your device. My point is that a Universal binary is not convenient as it increases the size of the download for nothing.
 
ikuragames said:
Think of the processor in your phone as being like a juggler keeping a bunch of balls in the air. The balls represent chunks of information that help make your app achieve its functionality.

The 64-bit juggler can handle larger balls than the 32-bit juggler can, and therefore can achieve its end results faster.

In reality - there's no difference from a usability perspective, it's all about performance. The compiler & frameworks will take most of the heavy lifting here, as they will be able to choose bigger balls to juggle with.

The reason that we prefer to have more 64-bit apps then boils down to the difficulty the juggler has when you change the size of some, but not all, of his balls.

In short, the iPhone 5s has got bigger balls.
Click to expand...

Okay thanks for your post. I understand It a bit better now. However to an average joe user I guess they won't notice much of a difference between the two right? And will app developers introduce 2 versions for phones that support 64bit and 32bit apps?
 
Amazing Iceman said:
Wouldn't a single app binary result in a bigger file, hence a bigger download???

Apple should implement their AppStore to give a user the choice (making the most suited the default), to download either the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of the app, similar to how they let a user choose their videos between SD or HD.

What do you think about it?
Click to expand...

I'm with iGrip on this. It's an iPhone, not a Mac, and it's not the early 1990s video game "bit race" anymore. Why can't the developer just choose 32 or 64 based on what would normally be faster for that particular app instead of making the end user do that?
 
donutbagel said:
To be honest, I never knew that iPhones only ran 32-bit programs until now, and I'm a semi-beginner programmer. Talk about abstraction!

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You didn't mention that it's not always best to juggle bigger balls. I tested 32-bit Java vs 64-bit Java in a program that just adds to a 32-bit integer (int) repeatedly. The 64-bit process took almost exactly TWICE as long.

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Floating point performance is supposed to be better on 64-bit, from what I've heard. Apps involving a lot of floating points would probably benefit from running in 64-bit mode. Anything "heavy" is also supposed to, or so I've heard from the geeks, and iPhones are getting faster, so 64-bit support seems logical to me. So would the N64 emulators I think :D
Click to expand...

I'm still skeptical we'll see any performance gain on the iPhone, but just imagine the battery life of an iOS ARM version of the AIR...I would think it would be impressive with...perhaps...little performance loss for most tasks.
 
Kranchammer said:
You would have to be exceedingly brave to submit a binary built for hardware you don't actually have yet, and have not tested on.
Click to expand...

That's the Java life for you ;)

For a project I had to do, I had to deal with Java in Windows handling window sizing in a slightly different way. It was off by 19 pixels otherwise. What the heck...

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SpectatorHere said:
I'm still skeptical we'll see any performance gain on the iPhone, but just imagine the battery life of an iOS ARM version of the AIR...I would think it would be impressive with...perhaps...little performance loss for most tasks.
Click to expand...

Hmm, energy efficiency is not something I can comment on because I don't know the whole ARM vs Intel story. The problem I see is that bigger Macs (Mac Pro especially) would never use ARM, so you'd have processor fragmentation.
 
SpectatorHere said:
64-bit iOS isn't going to bring the slightest bit of performance, and might even slow things down a little. As many more knowledgeable people have already said, this is being done so that Apple can merge the Mac and iPhone product lines. 64 bit is not needed for at least two years and probably more in phones, but is immediately necessary if you're talking about desktop/laptops.

I think this is a big tell that the Macbook Air will go Apple ARM in the next year.
Click to expand...

Most likely OS X will disappear and Macbook Air will run iOS. One chip & One OS. More money in Apple's pocket.
 
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