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If for managerial reasons I'm am developing an app that has not been designed with iOS7 in mind(the notion of supporting iOS7 wasn't apparent until I upgraded to XCode5 and tested the app in the simulator running iOS7), can I restrict my app to devices not running iOS7?

I know it's possible to change the app to support iOS 7 but we're already in the testing phase and it's not my decision how the app is made.

paulvs
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    Your app must work on devices running iOS 7. It doesn't have to use iOS 7 features but you can't prevent installations on iOS 7 devices. BTW - how did you not know iOS 7 was coming? Apple has put out a new version of iOS every year since 2008. The iOS 7 beta was out for months prior to going live last month. – rmaddy Oct 15 '13 at 18:46
  • I thought the app would "just work", of course not taking advantage of the new iOS7 features, sort of like the compatibility mode mentioned in @jszumski's post. – paulvs Oct 15 '13 at 18:51
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    @paul In theory, an app with a Base SDK of 6.x using Xcode 4.x will work "as-is" under iOS 7. But many apps don't. You need to test. – rmaddy Oct 15 '13 at 18:54

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You can compile your application using Xcode 4, which will mark the binary to run in a compatibility mode on an iOS 7 device.

I'm assuming you want the app to still work on an iOS 7 device, just not with an iOS 7 user interface.

jszumski
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    Note that eventually this approach won't work and Apple will not allow the app to be submitted (and we don't know when that will be). – Wain Oct 15 '13 at 18:39
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    It's not the Xcode version but the base SDK used. If you build your app against the iOS 6.1 SDK (using Xcode 5 if you want) the app will mostly look like running under iOS 6. – Nikolai Ruhe Oct 15 '13 at 18:55
  • Good points Wain and Nikolai Ruhe. For other readers, see this question to install the iOS 6 SDK with Xcode 5: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18423896/is-it-possible-to-install-ios-6-sdk-on-xcode-5 – jszumski Oct 15 '13 at 19:40
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No, you can not restrict your app to devices not running iOS7.

You could check if the device is running with iOS 7 and through some kinde of exception or show an error message. Of course you won't get it through apples revision.

But it might work if you only deliver it to local devices.

user1567896
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