
Make sure you have reasons to drop an iOS version and use them to convince both your colleagues and your managers. It might be clear that you want to drop an iOS version, but you’re often not alone. If this percentage is low enough, you might want to consider dropping the version. You can combine this number with other iOS versions you consider dropping and calculate the percentage based on the total number of users. In the above image, you can see 3.84K active users on iOS 13.7 over the last 30 days.
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One of the options you have is to look at the active users for the last 30 days per iOS version. Within App Store Connect, there are multiple ways of looking at your data. If you didn’t build in any analytics, you could always go to the App Analytics page in App Store Connect.Īpp Analytics allows showing the number of active users for a specific minimum iOS Version. Please make sure you know the facts and you have an overview of what it means for your app to drop a certain iOS, macOS, tvOS, or watchOS version. This could be another time-related reason to drop support.Īlthough mentioned before, data is your best friend when dropping an iOS version. Although you might be able to make it possible to create your app for an older iOS version, it could be that new APIs make you develop twice as fast because they’re simply making it easier to implement a certain feature. The previous paragraph discussed the fact of dropping a version based on certain released APIs. Therefore, time could be a big reason to drop an iOS version. It will take even longer if an older iOS version contains certain bugs or features which need to be fixed. An example could be ShazamKit, SharePlay, or Machine Learning features.Įach iOS version you support needs to be tested, which can take up a lot of time. Sometimes, you have a particular use case for your app, which requires your app to use a certain minimum iOS version to use a new API. New APIs are only available on newer iOS versions
IOS VERSIONS UPDATE
If your current minimum support OS is iOS 13, you could argue that it doesn’t really matter to drop iOS 13 as all your users can update to iOS 14 and get the latest app version. It’s good to evaluate whether your users have a choice since iOS 15 is compatible with all of the same iPhones as iOS 13 and iOS 14, including older devices like the original iPhone SE and iPhone 6s. If they don’t bring in any profits, but it does cost a lot of time to maintain the old OS, you might still want to drop the old version. If there’s a relatively high number of users using an old iOS version and you still want to try dropping that OS, you can decide to look a little closer and verify how much those users are worth. Make an overview of the number of active users per iOS version to know how much it’s worth supporting an older iOS version. This differs case by case and can be decided based on your analytics data. Therefore, the first reason why it would not be easy is based on losing customers and revenue. Reasons for (not) dropping an iOS version Losing customers and revenue: Take a look at your dataĭropping an iOS version means losing customers, and losing customers could mean losing revenue. As the above poll shows, it’s not the same decision for everyone. However, it’s not always that easy, and multiple reasons could make you decide differently. With the release of #iOS15 coming closer: Which minimum iOS version will your app support?- Antoine v.d. Many companies rely on the “current minus one” rule, which comes down to supporting the latest and previous iOS version. Which minimum iOS version should I support? That’s the big question for which the answer is different case by case. Which minimum iOS version should my app support?

The same counts for macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. The minimum iOS version can be set in the build settings under iOS Deployment Target.
IOS VERSIONS DOWNLOAD
Users running an older iOS version will not download newer updates of your app from the app store. The minimum iOS version is the lowest iOS version supported by your app. Let’s dive into details into what it takes to drop a version. You can decide as a team to deliver a latest update for a certain iOS version before you finally drop it. It’s important to realise that dropping support for older devices does not mean they can not use your app anymore. Quick start guide for Apple M1 silicon Learn about the 3-step process to transition your iOS development to Apple M1 silicon Macs - with insights from Reddit’s successful M1 transition, FAQs, and helpful M1 transition tips.
