Supporting older iOS Versions

Is there any elegant way to "Cut off" support for older iOS operating system versions? When I first published my app the current version of iOS was in the 3.x range. As time progresses continuing to put out updates that support iOS 3.0, while integrating new features found in 4.0 is getting more and more time consuming. Yet I don't see any way that iTunes or any iDevice will effectively handle this for existing users.

Should I simply upload an update set the minimum iOS to 4.0 (or whatever I choose) and move on?开发者_开发知识库

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Most people have already upgraded to iOS 4.x, but there are still a few on iOS 3.x. Leaving those out will surely bring a couple bad App Store reviews (since they won't be able to update, and even worse: if they delete the app they won't be able to download the last 3.x-compatible version of your app), but sometimes it's worth it.

And yes, you'll need to upload a version that was built with "iOS Deployment Target" set to iOS 4.0.

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There isn't any really elegant way, but fortunately most users have moved on to at least OS 4.

The best thing you can do is to give lots of notice in your app update notes, letting users know that "the next update will be 4.0+ only" or that "this is the final 3.x supporting version, please make a backup if you need it..."

Communication is key.

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A few days before Apple released iOS 7, they start supporting download of older versions of your app. From the article:

For example, a user running iOS 5 can now — for the first time — download an app that supports that version of iOS, even if the latest version of the app is ready for iOS 7. The move, which was highlighted on Reddit, is a significant one as it will give those who have not upgraded their iPad, iPhone or iPod to the most recent versions of iOS access to a lot more apps.

So if I were you, I would do one more update to support older iOS devices for one last time before moving on and setting the deployment target to higher iOS version.

The weird thing is, I don't think we can go back and update the older version of our app. So if we have App 1.0 that supports down to iOS 5, then App 1.1 supports only iOS 7 and above, there is no way to release a 1.0.1 update to fix critical bugs for iOS 5 users.

That's why I said I'd update it one last time before bumping the deployment target. Maybe wait a few weeks and see if your last update has any critical bugs.