Running an application for iOS 5 and above, an error?

Question

I am new to Apple and working on a mass app that has about 30 different controllers. After I completed the Obj-C and iOS training course, I decided to study on the latest version, that is, the IOS 5 API works down. I realized that I had still compromised my work by deciding to organize my screens using a storyboard. Segues are very convenient, and binding different buttons on the fly gives me a pretty good overview of this already complex application.

I could go and convert all the view controllers into separate nib files and do all the navigation controls programmatically. I pretend to reach as many users as possible, so my question is: is it worth it to leave it that way and support iOS 5.x and beyond? What would you do?

Thanks in advance, this site is absolutely awesome for troubleshooting. Congratulations to you!

EDIT: My favorite part of Jory's post on Matt Gemmell on this topic:

Theres another thing about people who are already on the latest version too: theyre a growing market. The guys are stuck on old versions - this is a shrinking market, because over time, more and more people update (or get a new device that comes with the latest version pre-installed). Spending more time and energy to support an ever-shrinking market is insanity.

I adhere to support for iOS 5.x and higher.

Answer 1

New projects require what was in the latest version of iOS. You have been supporting it for a while, so don't make your life harder than necessary to support an OS that was outdated at startup. And although there are still some iOS 4 users, the number will quickly decrease (perhaps even at the time of launch).

A plausible (but admittedly not strictly studied) argument that I heard is that if someone does not want to do a free iOS upgrade or is not interested in updating outdated equipment, he cannot launch the latest version, which are are there any chances to spend money on your application?

Answer 2

My rule is to support the last two versions of the OS - currently it means iOS 5.x and iOS 4.x. This guarantees very good coverage - someone still on iOS 3.x has either a very old device (which does not give a better user experience), or probably does not know what the app store is.

In the case of storyboards, this makes it difficult. I recently heard a stat that 70% of users updated iOS 5.x (don’t quote me on this), but if so, you leave 30% of potential users in the dark.

Hard call, I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer - there are pros and cons for both. If it were me, I would support iOS 4. But this is your call :)

Answer 3

Matt Gemmell recently wrote about supporting the latest version . Interesting reading. Includes both pros and cons and some responses to Twitter community responses.

In my opinion, a clean code base and a user base that updates its device often do not withstand the support of all possible users. So yes, run the latest available platform and support each version of the application as long as it is reasonable.

Answer 4

If you want to support as many users as possible, you answered your question. Penetration of iOS 5 is good, but depending on the target group, you still have tens of percent of users remaining on iOS 4. And many older devices (such as second-generation iPod Touch) will never have iOS 5, so the number of devices remaining with iOS 4 will remain interesting for some time. (Again, depends on your target group.)