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PSA: Your Older 32-Bit Apps Won't Launch After Installing iOS 11

I actually have an iPad Pro and iPod Touch just to keep playing/using a bunch of 32-bit apps.

I paid real money for some of those apps, and I'm still going to use them, dammit.

Luckily Spaceward ho went 64-bit a few weeks ago, but the Battle Academy series is still kaput.
 
Just checked my dad's iPhone 12 apps that won't work, 3 that he regularly uses. I told him to just not update until he finds replacements for the 3 he uses.

Is there a way to stop iOS from asking you to update? I have an iPad that I never keep up to date and feel like I have to dismiss the update reminder every time I use it. Sure would be a nice feature since this update will render so many apps useless.
 
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I was surprised to see a few of the classic games I have hanging around updated as recently as today.

I'm sad, however, that Cave doesn't seem to be intending to update any of their awesome classic bullet hell games.

This may have been explained somewhere, but if a developer does update an old 32-bit app to 64-bit after I've installed iOS 11, is there any way other than searching the App store to find out that's happened? A notification would be nice, but I doubt that's going to happen. Maybe at least will reappear in your "purchased" list?
 
Converting to 64-bit is an expensive process. You need new artwork, which is probably the highest cost item. You also need to rework your app to use the asset catalogs, which is work. You have to update all the libraries that the app is based on, which may not exist in 64-it form.

Oh, and you have to test.

Then if you release it as an update you can't make it a paid update.

Why do all that work for free?

Financially it makes no sense. I wish they'd just open-source their 32-bit app, because at some point someone might rebuild it.
 
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What sucks about is that there are expensive apps that goes up to couple hundred dollars which involves academic or whatever. Of course developers needs to update it. If not, that's a huge loss from not updating the apps. That would lead users to think: "why should i spend lot of money on these types of apps again?" They wouldn't trust buying apps again.
 
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Why are they forcing this? Like what is the technical reason that 32 bit apps suck SO bad? Im legitimately curious.
 
Internet Enzyme said:
Why are they forcing this? Like what is the technical reason that 32 bit apps suck SO bad? Im legitimately curious.
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been running 32 bit and 64 bit versions of many programs on my 64 bit desktop.... they all seem to run the same to me. never noticed anything different with iOS and mobile stuff either. I am curious as well.

the biggest advantage with 64 bit, is the ability to use more than 4 gig of ram with windows . not sure if same applies with iOS or not but we don't have any devices with more than 4 gig as of now.
 
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Internet Enzyme said:
Why are they forcing this? Like what is the technical reason that 32 bit apps suck SO bad? Im legitimately curious.
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If someone hasn't updated from 32-bit, it's obvious they are no longer supporting their app and haven't been for more than 2 years now. That's a great reason.

But running 32-bit apps along with 64-bit means some slowing of the entire experience for all apps. Making everyone run 64-bit offers a full-speed experience for all.

Biggest reason is that it means Apple no longer has to maintain backwards compatibility for a small number of apps people still use. They have plenty of internal data showing just how many use 32-bit apps still and they know what it costs them to continue supporting it within ongoing iOS releases. At some point they need to take that time, money, and resources and invest it elsewhere to give everyone else a better experience.

This is really like those that cried when Windows removed DOS compatibility. 99.5% of users had no issue with it but the 0.5% it impacted were vocal about it.

No one is forcing anyone to upgrade to iOS 11. If you have an app you have to use and the developer abandoned you more than 2 years ago, then stay on iOS 10. It's pretty simple.
 
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OldSchoolMacGuy said:
No one is being forced to upgrade to iOS 11. You can stay on iOS 10 if you want to keep your 32-bit apps.
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Yeah not forced, but constantly annoyed by the prompts coming up telling you to upgrade, which takes multiple taps to get rid of. Do you not agree that, at the very least, people should be able to disable that?
 
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Tubamajuba said:
Interesting, because I'm pretty sure I only see you around these forums bashing Apple.

Apple has given developers several years of warnings and several months of warnings to users. If you value backwards compatibility, you shouldn't be using modern Apple products anyways.
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I value the idea that "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" What is so broke with 32 bit apps? It is not the consumers fault that some of the developers no longer exist to update their apps that are not broke.
 
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Looking through my long list of 32 bit apps, I find that many of them are orphans that the developers have quietly replaced with apps of the same name which require subscriptions or other in-app purchases to get the same functionality as the older app. Not nice.
 
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mgipe said:
Looking through my long list of 32 bit apps, I find that many of them are orphans that the developers have quietly replaced with apps of the same name which require subscriptions or other in-app purchases to get the same functionality as the older app. Not nice.
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Apple makes some decent money off of subscriptions and IAP.
 
I can't believe I might have to give up playing Doom (yes, I still do)!

Anyone know if a 64-bit version or clone is available?
 
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Act3 said:
I value the idea that "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" What is so broke with 32 bit apps? It is not the consumers fault that some of the developers no longer exist to update their apps that are not broke.
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Exactly. If removing 32bit app support did something spectacular for iOS 11 performance I'd be in favour, but seeing iOS 11 stutter on the 10.5 inch iPad Pro just trying to open applications tells me that there aren't performance gains. A device that supposedly out benchmarks MacBooks shouldn't struggle to rendering simple animations.

It's not my fault that various Apps I use aren't getting updated, so I fail to see why the consumer should get punished. Its not like Apple makes it easy to stay on an older version of iOS. We should be able to turn off update alerts and stop updates downloading and downgrade if they wish to do so.
 
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I think the crux of the issue is that there are many "abandoned" 32-bit apps that work very well and do not have good alternatives. I have grudgingly switched to inferior, but 64-bit alternatives for productivity and editing apps, and in the case of games or themed activity apps, had to let go or keep them in old devices.

I suppose the developers could be faulted, but even prominent companies like Disney and EA simply abandon old apps and it's really sad to see all those data created by me or my kids becoming inaccessible after the OS update. There are like, 8 Disney Princess-related activity apps I need some sort of exit strategy for.

On the point of "updating app doesn't make any money", there had been instances of releasing a separate app that users need to pay again, with the older version not working in a new version of iOS. Developer may take some criticism, but at least the willing customers will pay again if the app is good enough. But the thing is that much of the apps stuck in 32-bit land are basically in the "abandoned" category. The makers are no longer in the development world (bought out, bankrupt, lost interest, etc.) and even the big OS-level warning won't bring them back. There's no remedy but to put them in older, supported OS in order to use them.

Disclaimer: I'm one of such abandoned developer. Made several iOS apps a few years ago, but my interest had shifted and haven't gone back... not coming back, at least not in the near future. Sorry for everyone who used my apps.
 
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now i see it said:
Well well well. Does that mean that everyone still staying on iOS 9 & 10 suddenly won't be able to download their apps again if they delete them
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Does anyone know this for sure? I have several oldies but goodies that I don't have a copy of on my phone for space. But if I'm on iOS and want to download them later on my phone or iPad, will I be able to, or should I quickly try to download them to my iPad b4 it's too late and avoid deleting anything in the future since I won't get it back (even if I'm on iOS 10 still)?
 
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