At a loss here. I have to test an app on iphone 4 devices as well as newer ones. Can anyone advise me as to how to set Xcode 9 up to support ios 7 as a deployment target as well as up to the newer versions of ios? So that I can use iphone 4 simulator and later test on the iphone 4 device?
3 Answers
Using latest xcode, you do not need to worry about supporting latest iOS version even if you choose lower deployment target which determines the app's backward compatibility.
It is a good idea to support the backward compatibility as far as your code is not depending on latest APIs and frameworks. The only reason for backward compatibility is to maximize the user base as not everyone (specially elders) update their iOS version regularly.
WARNING: If you choose lowest possible deployment target (8.0), some newer features and frameworks won't be able to behave as expected which increases the chances of app crashes in older iOS versions.
Currently, we are using Xcode 10.1. AND Xcode 10.1 supports iPhone4s.
(Please don’t confuse Xcode version (10.1) with the (iOS 10.1).
Xcode is an IDE which can have backward iOS SDK support.
The latest iOS we updated on our iPhone4s is 9.3.5
To test your code on device, you can simply connect an iPhone4s or you can download a simulator with iPhone4s support (9.0 or so)
To download additional simulators you can go to xcode > preferences > components Once the simulator is installed, the option for iPhone 4s would be available for testing.
TIP: We have been using Deploymate for maximum backward compatibility and support. It warns us about deprecated methods and this is where you start modifying your code to support the lowest iOS version with confidence.
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