iOS 10.3 Beta Says 32-Bit Legacy Apps Will Not Work With Future Versions of iOS

[KALLT]

For all the similarities, macOS and iOS are different. Apple has OS X's Carbon 32-bit framework which they still maintain but don't enhance ( much ) and AFAIK, iOS doesn't have a separate 32-bit framework. While Apple could eliminate 32-bit Carbon from OS X, there is nothing compelling them to do so.

Apple doesn’t maintain Carbon anymore. It has been declared deprecated since Mountain Lion (2012) and the version has not changed since then. What you have in Sierra is what you had in Mountain Lion. Developers knew that this would happen since Snow Leopard.

Ultimately, it is a question of policy: do we keep old, unmaintained code around and ignore any bugs in them? Do we want to support legacy software forever and continue to saddle all customers with unnecessary code? Universal binaries and old frameworks come at a cost: they cost disk space. Abandoned frameworks may contain bugs and vulnerabilities. I think it is sensible to remove such code after the decision has been made. The more pertinent question is: should Apple choose to deprecate technology so quickly?

 

[redscull]

Then don't update.

Your advice is terrible. Trolling even. You know how hard it is to not update? Apple is insanely obnoxious about forcing iOS updates down your throat.

 

[clukas]

Not good for me. Im using an app for work, which has not been updated for a long time, but still works perfectly. I paid around £60 for the app, and the developer decided to switch with a new app to a costly subscription model which I and many other users are not willing to support. This would mean that my £60 app, which still works perfectly would suddenly be blocked by apple. Bad move!

 

[C DM]

Your advice is terrible. Trolling even. You know how hard it is to not update? Apple is insanely obnoxious about forcing iOS updates down your throat.

To be fair, there are some fairly simple methods to avoid that if one desires, like through the use of tvOS profile.

 

[seanmcbay]

Hopefully this means Appshopper could finally get an update.

 

[Carlanga]

Then don't update.

but if they delete the app you need to have it backed up.

 

[ConfusedChris]

Maybe Google Earth will finally go 64-bit and stop running out of memory.

 

[scotty588]

Heh, AppShopper (in the screenshot) is the only one I use. Hoping it gets updated.
If you open it, you'll get a dialog saying it's 32-bit.

Speaking of which, AppShopper is a MacRumors branded app, no?

What is taking so long to update this app?
It still doesn't have an iPad version.

Going to miss AppVault. Pain to use but I still use it. Sucks but I came to post to ask when is the AppShopper app going to get updated? Or is there some other updated price tracking app I should be using?

Hopefully this means Appshopper could finally get an update.

AppShopper was removed due to new App Store rules a while ago. They released AppShopper Social but I haven't tried it. Looks like it hasn't been updated in a while either. Also yes it was created by same people who run MacRumors @arn

http://appshopper.com/blog/2013/04/21/appshopper-is-back-in-the-app-store-with-appshopper-social/

 

[briloronmacrumo]

Apple doesn’t maintain Carbon anymore.

Actually, they DO maintain it but they don't enhance it. Of course, it depends on the definition of "maintain". For example, in macOS Sierra 10.12.2 they fixed a FPShowHideFontPanel() call bug that caused Sierra to crash in prior Sierra versions. The bug reporter number is: 28568182. Is fixing bugs maintaining? Developers I know think maintaining means just keep it alive ( i.e. bug fixes ) while enhancements are new features.

However, you're right, Carbon is deprecated and hasn't been enhanced since Apple dropped the project to bring Carbon to 64-bit. Given Apple's decade( or so ) of admonishments to use Cocoa instead of Carbon, it is surprising they still fix bugs but they do.

 

[Math889]

Will this brick my iPhone 5C? Or does this mean iOS 11 is most likely not compatible with iPhone 5c?

iOS 11 Will support only 64 bit devices . 5C Will be stuck on iOS 10
[doublepost=1485913300][/doublepost]So iOS 11 will be 64 bit only ...
And finally just 64 bit apps

We all knew this will happen one day . So
5S and newer
iPad Air 1 and newer
iPad mini 2 and newer
iPod touch 6

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

I love all these people that have never programmed telling us how easy it is to update to a completely different API from Apple. Psst API is the Application Programming Interface that lets my code talk to Apple's libraries and Apple likes to change them CONSTANTLY.

It's not like one can just load their code and then press the huge button labeled "recompile to 64 bit"

I've been a programmer for more than 20 years and helped to create some of the best known Mac software on the market. I know what it takes to convert an app to be 64-bit very well. We all made the change when things went to Intel and again later when we had to go to 64-bit.

Most everyone put in the work because the benefits are big. Only those truly lazy and those that didn't see a profit in it, didn't bother. At very least it means you can keep selling your product.

Most of those that complain about this move are those who haven't bothered supporting their product for years and are simply looking for someone else to blame for it. The truth is they haven't bothered to update their app in years.

 

[FelixDerKater]

10.3 beta hangs when updating apps. How should they expect people to upgrade?

 

[C DM]

10.3 beta hangs when updating apps. How should they expect people to upgrade?

Who are "they"? And "upgrade" to what?

 

[jonblatho]

Looking forward to seeing millions of 32-bit apps disappear from the store because the developers don't see it as worth the cost to update

For most apps, the "cost" of recompiling for 64-bit is pushing this button:

[doublepost=1485926723][/doublepost]

10.3 beta hangs when updating apps. How should they expect people to upgrade?

This is what betas are for. Have you reported this issue to Apple? They can't fix it if they don't know about it.

 

[macfacts]

...
If they are commercially viable they'll be updated.

iOS updates have already broken games in the past. One example is BioShock for iOS. Triple A type game and it isn't going to get updated to work on current iOS versions.

Too risky to buy iOS games.

 

[nutmac]

Hopefully this means Appshopper could finally get an update.

Not likely.

Arnold Kim, the guy behind AppShopper and MacRumor, wrote a piece on Medium titled The AppShopper App is dead, but the website lives. In it he writes the main reason for AppShopper not getting update, a new App Store rule that says:

2.25 Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected

As it stands, AppZapp Notify is the most recently updated app price alert app at January 4, 2016.

 

[macfacts]

Just to understand. You are upset with Apple because they let you know that some time in the near future your ten year old Apps won't run on their newest system????

People are upset Apple didn't warn them before they bought the app. What is the point in telling users years after they paid for the app? If people knew that iOS updates could break apps, I'm sure many people wouldn't have invested in so many apps and games on iOS.

 

[Abazigal]

Just as well. The App Store was in sore need of a house cleaning anyways.

 

[jkruehne]

Then don't update.

hopefully Apple removes the "Update available" Popup, too ! most stupid UI element, forcing the user "daily" to update and interrupts any tasks !!

 

[C DM]

hopefully Apple removes the "Update available" Popup, too ! most stupid UI element, forcing the user "daily" to update and interrupts any tasks !!

Install the tvOS profile and that won't download the updates and prompt to update.

 

[smacrumon]

Uh, the answer to your question 'by who?' is right there in the alert. "This app will not work with future versions of iOS. The developer of this app needs to update it to improve its compatibility."

The developer has been made aware for a couple of years now that iOS is moving to 64-bit. This alert, along with the previous one that's out there in the wild now indicating that 32-bit apps will slow down your phone, are there to create a mild awareness among users that developers of certain apps are not keeping them current with compatibility requirements. That way when iOS 11 breaks those apps, users will have been warned. Some will still complain, mind you, but they will be using "alternative facts" if they say they weren't warned what would happen.
[doublepost=1485897854][/doublepost]

https://developer.apple.com/library...ual/64bitPorting/indications/indications.html

What I'm trying to get at is a message like "slow down your phone" and "the developer of this app needs to update it to improve its compatibility" are terrible. The user should never see something so inane like this. It's such poor design. It makes the user think about maintaining their device. The "iPhone" user, as a priority, should need never think about maintenance and these kinds of things if they are getting a true "it just works" user experience.

Less BS prompts and messages from the operating system is my mantra. These messages from iOS fit clearly in the category of BS prompts.
[doublepost=1485937682][/doublepost]

I agree.

I find it sad that people are more willing to defend Apple's decisions (that affect customers) than defending customers. Anything that removes customer choice seems to be applauded.

High five to you, good person!

 

[Anonymous Freak]

This is probably intentional. If an app isn't worth a recompile, it probably isn't worth staying on the app store.

Considering it means the app hasn't been updated in over two years, yeah. Although I do have a few really old apps that I still use from time to time that I would miss if they just stopped working. (Including Apple's original Texas Hold Em game from when the app store first launched.)

 

[NobodyOwens]

Then don't update.

This is not a sollution, that's throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Updates introduce important security patches. I really don't understand why Apple doesn't allow people to use the apps they have already paid for. If they want to "clean up the App store", they could simply create a legacy section that would not come up in the normal result, but would have to be accessed separately. They could also dipslay a prominent warning every time the user attempts to purchase a 32 app (rather than display the warning on staring the app on the device), so that the user thinks twice before purchasing the legacy app. Seeing a warning like that might prompt him/her to search for an alternative version of the software (from the same or other developers), but would still let him use the app if it meets his/her needs and no other option is available.

That's just my private opinion, premised on the deep libertarian conviction that the consumer should have a choice rather than dance along to the tune payed by a ernormous corporations whose managers seem to believe that their arbitrary decisions offer a one-size-does-not-quire-fit-all-lifestize solutions that everybody should be happy with or else...

 

[MacBH928]

1-Can't Apple just let them run in emulation?

2-How difficult is it to upgrade to 64-bit?

3- I haven't noticed a single difference using 32-bit or 64-bit, what are the benefits? Actually I don't know which app uses which.

 

[NobodyOwens]

To think of it from a DRM perspective, all those 32 bit apps you purchased... you will have no access to them because Apple axed 32 bit all together. That's DRM. Your purchases are not yours after all. You are at the mercy of the company who enforces the DRM.

Developers being lazy is not a valid reason. Not everyone has to be like Facebook to routinely update their app with junk lines of code and keep on bloating it till it explodes.

I will have to upgrade my 5 year old CCTV camera system which will cost me $1000 because their remote app is 32bit and very old. It may stop working in iOS 11.

Now I will lose $1000 because of DRM.

This is a valid point in case. People here seem so focussed on their own limmited usage scenarios that they fail to see the big picture here and the consequences this will have for some people.