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What is the meaning of "Base SDK" in the project settings? It confuses me. For instance, if I choose iOS 4.2 there, on which devices can my app run? Only on iPhone 4? This worries me, because iOS 4.2 is the only option I can choose in the latest Xcode 3.2.5.

I also want to know the meaning of "iOS Deployment Target" in the project settings. Because here I can choose iOS 4.1 say. What sense does it make to have a deployment target of 4.1 and base SDK of 4.2? Won't that mess things up? How are the two related?

Enchilada
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2 Answers2

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Basically it means that you're going to be able to use all the API that is public in 4.2 SDK. This has nothing to do with "Which phone your app can run on".

iOS deployment target on the other hand, is asking you which devices can this app run. This is quite a dangerous question, since you can then say from iOS 3.0 to 4.2 for example. This means that your app can be installed in any iPhones running iOS 3.0 to 4.2, no matter what the phone is. That means the original iPhone and iPhone 3G can run your app if they have at least iOS 3.0 installed. You should test your app carefully if you decide to do this. Apple does not provide any way to test on older OS. You'd have to devise that strategy yourself.

Enrico Susatyo
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  • Okay... I guess I'll just use the latest of everything. Besides anything older than 3G is just ancient. Most 3G and 3GS people have probably updated to 4.2, and if they haven't, they won't see my app on the App Store anyway, right? – Enchilada Feb 11 '11 at 00:52
  • No, they'll see your app on the app store, but when they click "Buy", they'll get a message "You must update your OS before buying this app", so the payment won't go through. I'd say supporting 4.0-4.2 is quite enough for now. – Enrico Susatyo Feb 11 '11 at 01:09
  • BTW, supporting 4.0-4.2 means you're supporting iPhone 3G as well. iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G are upgradeable to iOS 4.2 – Enrico Susatyo Feb 11 '11 at 01:23
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Please see my answer to this question.

Community
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fbrereto
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