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I'm in the process of developing a visually complex app targeted for iOS8 that also requires some CPU/GPU horsepower. It's going fine, and I've tested on iPhone 5 and 6/plus, but developing the autolayout for an iPhone 4S will be very difficult and I don't want to have to create separate NIBs for every screen to support the small form factor 4S. Additionally, the 4S running iOS8 (which it doesn't run well) would provide a poor user experience for this app.

Regarding App Store submission & distribution, does anyone know of a hardware feature available in iPhone 5 and up that would allow me to select against installation on the 4S, so that I don't need to create a UI specifically to support it?

Nostradamus
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  • Well you could build only armv7s and arm64 architecture I suppose :D – borrrden Apr 16 '15 at 14:15
  • there is nice compatibility table in this answer http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21422447/what-iphone-devices-will-run-on-armv7s-and-arm64 – Jakub Vano Apr 16 '15 at 14:17
  • You have to support the iPhone 4S screen size because that is what will be used when a user runs your iPhone app on an iPad. – rmaddy Apr 16 '15 at 14:43
  • Thanks rmaddy, I wasn't aware of this. – Nostradamus Apr 16 '15 at 14:48
  • I should have made that clearer. What I said is true if your app is an iPhone-only app. If you make it a universal app then of course the iPad will use your iPad sized screen layouts. – rmaddy Apr 16 '15 at 14:53
  • No, I understood what you meant: if not a universal app, then when running the iPhone version on an iPad is utilizes the same UI as for the 4S. Which begs the question, what happens to iPhone apps running on iPads when iOS9 is released in September and the 4S form factor no longer needs to be supported? – Nostradamus Apr 16 '15 at 14:56

2 Answers2

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it is not possible to select which devices you want to support through Xcode, iTunes Connect, or any other means.The only thing that can be configured via Xcode is the minimum OS that you will support ( like iOS7 or iOS8), and since 4s still supports iOS8, You will have to bear it.

What you can do is give recommendation in description that what devices are recommended for their app but there's little chance that users will see this 'warning'.

With all of the advancements of Auto Layout, it might be best to find a creative way to support your UI using the screen size of the 4S.

Keshav
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  • Thanks, appreciated. I guess if I waited until September to release (which I won't) I could target iOS9 and support iPhone 5 upwards. – Nostradamus Apr 16 '15 at 14:50
  • Is it okay to add texts like that in the description, let's say I don't want my app to install in iPhone4s, can add the same in the text " saying that Please use phones iPhone 5 and above" – anoop4real Mar 23 '16 at 12:38
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Your best bet is to check what model of iPhone you app is running on and if its an iPhone 4S or below just throw up a message thats non-dismissible that this application is not supported on the device.

Here is how to detect iPhone model

Detect the specific iPhone/iPod touch model

Community
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Adam Hoffman
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    This wouldn't get past app submission screening, would it? – Nostradamus Apr 16 '15 at 14:32
  • I actually saw it in an app by comcast or another big cable company. The app would let you watch TV on your phone and models that weren't supported would just display a splash screen that this model wasn't supported. – Adam Hoffman Apr 16 '15 at 15:04
  • That's interesting, I wonder if Apple bothers testing for 4S compatibility. – Nostradamus Apr 16 '15 at 15:17