iOS Upgrade to iOS 5 or not?

[(marc)]

Hi,

I develop for iOS on an iPhone 4. I also have an old iPod touch stuck at iOS 3.0. Until now, I used to test my apps on my iPhone and iPod touch, covering all relevant iOS versions.
With iOS 5 coming out, I'm left with only one device to test my apps on. The question is, should I update to iOS 5 (and no longer be able to test my apps' compability with iOS 4) or stay on iOS 4 and rely on the (unreliable) simulator to test my apps on iOS 5?

Thanks.

 

[lefooey]

Hi,

I develop for iOS on an iPhone 4. I also have an old iPod touch stuck at iOS 3.0. Until now, I used to test my apps on my iPhone and iPod touch, covering all relevant iOS versions.
With iOS 5 coming out, I'm left with only one device to test my apps on. The question is, should I update to iOS 5 (and no longer be able to test my apps' compability with iOS 4) or stay on iOS 4 and rely on the (unreliable) simulator to test my apps on iOS 5?

Thanks.

In your situation, I'd update to iOS 5. The devices you're targeting (iPhone 3GS and better) will all be great candidates to update to iOS 5 - there aren't nearly the issues that the 3G had with iOS 4.

In my circumstance, I ordered a 4GS. I have a 3GS currently running iOS 4 and it will remain my iOS 4 test device, while the new 4GS will become my "flagship" device.

 

[firewood]

If it's your only iOS 4.x test device, and your App store presence or App store revenue is more valuable to you than the use of your iPhone, you might want to stick with iOS 4.x until reports are than around 50% of your potential customer base has upgraded, or until you get another test device (perhaps a used one stuck at iOS 4.x). Or you may want to wait until the percentage hits a higher numbers such as 80% or 90%.

Published web analytics will usually show the approximate ratio of users on iOS 5 versus iOS 4. It will probably take only a few weeks to hit 50%. So you wait won't be long.

If you don't depend on App store revenue, then go ahead and take the risk of immediately not being able to test your apps on the OS that this weeks current majority of iTunes customer's use.