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I have a very frustrating experience with recent iOS development. The situation is: I have developed an iPhone app which targeting iOS 3.1.2, and I am about to submit to AppStore.

What I received from Apple after submission is: I have to support iPhone 5 tall screen. The reject message is:

iPhone 5 Optimization Requirement

To support iPhone 5, I need to update the UI and include a launch image: Default-568h@2x.png

After having the Default-568h@2x.png included, Apple rejected my submission again with reason:

Invalid Launch Image - Your app contains a launch image with a size modifier that is only supported for apps built with the iOS 6.0 SDK or later.

OK, I am kind of stuck, Apple force me to support iPhone 5 screen, yet, it doesn't allow me to upload app under iOS 6 with iPhone 5 tall screen support.

So I try to compile the code with iOS 6 SDK, then what I find is in order to support iOS 6 I need to have XOS 10.7. Mine is 10.6.8.

To support 10.7 I need to upgrade my Mac to have 2GB memory and i3 duo core CPU and brah brah brah brah...which I don't have at the moment.

So, my question is:

I have XCode 3.2.2, XOS10.6.8, I want to develop iPhone app for iOS 3.1.2 and able to publish in AppStore, how can I do it?

Thank you. Regards,

rmaddy
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Zhang Zhan
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    Why do you have to target an OS from 2009? – David Rönnqvist Jul 24 '13 at 15:07
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    http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12508357/import-ios-6-sdk-into-xcode-4-2-on-snow-leopard ? EDIT: According to [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12533544/build-for-armv6-architecture-target-ios-3-1-3-with-ios-6-sdk-and-xcode-4-5), iOS6 SDK may not support iOS lower than 4.3. – Joachim Isaksson Jul 24 '13 at 15:08
  • Thanks David. I am developing a debuging App, which requires great backwards compatibilities, that's the reason I am targeting old iOS version. – Zhang Zhan Jul 24 '13 at 15:09
  • It looks like your hardware is not capable of running the latest Xcode? That may be your biggest hurdle. – Owen Hartnett Jul 24 '13 at 15:10
  • Hi Joachim, thanks for the link, does it mean I have to compile against iOS 6? there is no way to submit App compiled with iOS 3 anymore? – Zhang Zhan Jul 24 '13 at 15:12
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    I do not think (although I've not checked out the nitpicks) you can currently submit apps for older iOS than 4.3. – Joachim Isaksson Jul 24 '13 at 15:14
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    When it "requires great backwards compatibilities", why would this ever be needed for an OS that it very unlikely to be targeted by the person who is using that tool. Yes I'm making a massive assumption there, but it just seems a little pointless. Personally I don't bother going lower than when they introduced ARC although I could see 4.X being reasonable - although probably unlikely to be used. – ingh.am Jul 24 '13 at 15:21
  • According to [Apples own statistics](https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/checklist/) 99% of all iOS devices that visited the App Store in the 14 days before Mid june 2013 are running iOS 5 or iOS 6. (don't bother to click on this link until the developer center is running again) – Matthias Bauch Jul 24 '13 at 15:34
  • ok, thanks, I think the quickest solution is to borrow my friend's Mac over the weekend and compile the code in iOS 6.0 SDK with backwards support targeting iOS 4.3, and submit from there. Then I will think about weather to upgrade my old Mac machine for future iOS development. – Zhang Zhan Jul 24 '13 at 23:07

2 Answers2

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Sorry, but Xcode 3.2 is years old at this point. Apple simply doesn't support this. iOS 3.1.2 has such a negligible install base that there is almost no reason to target it any more. To support the latest features of iOS (e.g. iPhone 5 support) you need to be building apps with the latest SDK, and you will need to upgrade your development machines and Xcode. You have no choice.

Mike Weller
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  • Thanks Mike, I am surprised that apple is actually forcing everyone targeting iOS 6, not even 5. – Zhang Zhan Jul 24 '13 at 15:16
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    @ZhangZhan No, Apple is forcing everyone to support iOS 4.3 and later. Your Base SDK must be iOS 6 but you can still support back to 4.3 (for now anyway). With iOS 7 coming soon, Apple will raise the minimum again one of these days. – rmaddy Jul 24 '13 at 16:38
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Apple will not accept an app targeting an iOS version that old. I don't think they will accept anything less than 5.0 anymore (might be 4.3 but I doubt it).

ahwulf
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    iOS 4.3 is the oldest deployment target supported in the current Xcode version, so this version is of course still allowed. By supporting 4.3 you probably cover 99.9% of all iOS devices from people who still buy apps. http://iossupportmatrix.com tells me that the only devices that do not support iOS 4.3 are the first two iPhones and the first two iPod Touch – Matthias Bauch Jul 24 '13 at 15:16