iOS Requirements description customization?

[xStep]

Here is a mystery I'd like solved.

Is there a way to customize the the requirements field in iTunes connect or Xcode?

My app under Requirements says: "Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.".

A competitors app is more detailed and says: "Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (4th generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi and iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G. Requires iOS 4.3 or later."

 

[xStep]

I think I have the answer. Will need to do a release to see the result.

Property List key UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities seems to be the solution. It can be a dictionary or array of predefined values. The item I'm going to add to an array is 'video-camera'. If I understand this correctly, the App Store will fill in the requirements appropriately.

This key is also referred to as 'Required device capabilities' in long form.

For those interested, I haven't found a way to exclude a particular device such as the iPad.

 

[amorya]

Apparently you have to set it correctly in the first version of your app, you can't add restrictions in updates: see here.

 

[xStep]

Amorya, thanks for that link. Of course I'll try it anyway for my own personal feedback.

Without this change, I'll likely have to wait for iOS 6 or 7 where Apple effectively drops support for devices without video camera capability. That sucks.

 

[amorya]

Amorya, thanks for that link. Of course I'll try it anyway for my own personal feedback.

Without this change, I'll likely have to wait for iOS 6 or 7 where Apple effectively drops support for devices without video camera capability. That sucks.

Please do try it yourself —*it'd be good to have more data points on whether that policy is always the case.

If you want a workaround, try setting your minimum OS to 4.3 —*only the 3GS and newer can run that anyway, so the only device you have that can't do video would be the iPad 1.

 

[xStep]

Please do try it yourself —*it'd be good to have more data points on whether that policy is always the case.

If you want a workaround, try setting your minimum OS to 4.3 —*only the 3GS and newer can run that anyway, so the only device you have that can't do video would be the iPad 1.

That is my situation now. Both the iPad 1 and the iPod touch 3rd generation support iOS 5, which is my minimum supported OS. The point of adding the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities parameter is to exclude those since neither has a camera.

I'm not yet ready for the next upgrade, but I did make the change so I'll see what happens when I do the upload.