Home/ Questions/Q 6320251
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-05-24T15:56:20+00:00

This is not a programming question, but a question on the best practice for

  • 0

This is not a programming question, but a question on the best practice for iOS build versions for the iOS devices.

Target the latest iOS release. 

Targeting the latest release allows you to take advantage of all the features 
available in the latest version of iOS. However, this approach may offer a smaller 
set of users capable of installing your application on their devices because your     
application cannot run on iOS releases that are earlier than the target release.`

Target an earlier iOS release. 

Targeting an earlier release lets you publish your application to a larger set of 
users (because your application runs on the target OS release and later releases), 
but may limit the iOS features your application can use.`

  1. Right now, if my app is built for iOS5, which will work only on the iOS5 devices. And so, is it more advisable will have to launch the product in the iOS 4.3 version ?

  2. When should I consider the launch of the app for iOS5 devices (1 week after ios5 is released, 1 month after ios5 is released ) ??

    Should I launch a new app on ios5 release or upgrade it from iOS 4.3 ? An upgrade would mean that it would be unavailable for 4.3 users.

  3. What about the methods in my app that are specific for ios5 ? should I change them back to ios4.3 ?

Kindly advise on the best practice that is being followed.

Note: iOS5 is under NDA. This question does not involve any breach of contract as there is no specific question on the operation or methods of ios5 Beta. Please do not flag the question. The question is mainly for the best practice for application launches.

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Setting the deployment target as far back as possible is usually recommended. However, what may be limiting how far back you can set it is what new OS features you may be using. If you are using new APIs that don’t exist in the older OS versions, then you need to cleverly branch your code and call alternative methods or disable that feature somehow. This can be easy or hard depending on the feature, and how important it is to the core of your app’s functionality.

    To be clear, deployment target is different form the SDK version you compile it against. You always want to compile your app with the latest released (not BETA) SDK. But you can set the deployment target as far back as Apple officially supports. The deployment target is your minimum OS version required to run the app.

    You should submit your iOS5 compatible app as soon as Apple lets you. Historically, that has been a week or 2 before the OS version’s official launch.

    • 0