How do I make my app universal? (3.5", 4", and iPad)

Question

I'm brand new in Xcode and have been able to scoot by with some fairly simple apps thanks to my previous programming experience, the Storyboard in Xcode, and most of all THIS WEBSITE.

One thing I haven't been able to figure out is how to make my app universal? The way I have my app set up is that it looks a lot like the iPhone home screen with pages and app icons. However, when I hit the little "Change to iPhone 5" button, 1) It only changes my FirstViewController and 2)My icons are all out of alignment.

Do I make another storyboard (If so, how?)? Do I make another view controller for each screen resolution? For either of those questions do I program a test to see which device I'm using and for it to choose the correct storyboard or ViewController? My app is currently set to universal, but I still haven't even been able to find the iPad resolution option for view controllers and stuff.

Please be as simplistic as you can. I have only been doing this for an extremely short time. Thanks for all your help both here and around this site!

If you google, you will get many links which talks about this. Even though you marked your code as universal, all UI alignment you need to take care. There are different options to handle this, one is if your UI is not complicated and initially you have designed your app using Storyboard or NIBs then its better to go with creating another storyboard or NIBs for iPhone5 and iPad, but if you are well versed in creating UI programmatically then I will suggest you to go with AutoLayout, which was introduced in iOS6. — Nuzhat Zari, Aug 16 '13 at 04:28

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 16 '13 at 04:38

To initialize storyboard:

CGSize iOSDeviceScreenSize = [[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds].size;
UIViewController *initialViewController;
if (iOSDeviceScreenSize.height == 480)
{
    // Instantiate a new storyboard object using the storyboard file named Storyboard_iPhone35
    UIStoryboard *iPhone35Storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"iPhone4" bundle:nil];

    // Instantiate the initial view controller object from the storyboard
       initialViewController  = [iPhone35Storyboard instantiateInitialViewController];
}

if (iOSDeviceScreenSize.height == 568)
{  
 // iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5th generation: 4 inch screen
    // Instantiate a new storyboard object using the storyboard file named Storyboard_iPhone4
    UIStoryboard *iPhone4Storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"iPhone5" bundle:nil];
    initialViewController  =  [iPhone4Storyboard instantiateInitialViewController];
}
    self.window.rootViewController  = initialViewController;
    [self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
return YES;

You should make it a bit more clear. I was a bit confused when I first saw it, especially with the `return YES;` at the bottom. — WolfLink, Aug 16 '13 at 04:53

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

So In order to get the iPad version working, follow these steps:

First go to your target settings, scroll down to "Deployment Info", and change it from iPhone to Universal Step 1

Next you will need to create a new Storyboard file. On the bar at the top go File>New>File and this thing should pop up: After you have selected iOS>User Interface>Storyboard as shown above, click next and it will ask iPhone or iPad. After selecting iPad, the new file will be ready to map your interface for iPad. However, you need to make sure the app uses it. So go back to your target settings and scroll back down to "Deployment Info" and switch to iPad: iPad Settings

Set the "Main Interface" option to the name of your new storyboard file.

As for preparing for iPhone 5, that part can get a bit annoying. I find that the additional space is too small for any major additions but too large to be ignored easily. How you deal with it will vary greatly depending on what you app does. From what you described, with app icons like the iPhone screen, you will probably want to have an additional row of icons, just like the iOS. To do this, you can either manage it programatically or you may want to have seperate storyboards for iPhone 4 vs iPhone 5. If you want the separate storyboards, this question will have your solution.

How do I make the iPad also support landscape? Does it do it automatically? — ThatVideoGuyTom, Aug 16 '13 at 22:16
It should do it automatically but if not, look at the checked Device Orientations in the target settings. — WolfLink, Aug 16 '13 at 22:30
You also will need to deal with the constraints, whether that's in interface builder or programmatically. — WolfLink, Aug 16 '13 at 22:30

How do I make my app universal? (3.5", 4", and iPad)

2 Answers2