Apple to Drop 32-Bit App Support in iOS 11 Claims Developer

Starting this fall, all iOS apps will need to support 64-bit, as Apple is planning to make a drastic move: it will allegedly drop support entirely for 32-bit apps. That means a dead end for legacy apps.

According to well-known developer Steven Troughton-Smith (via 9to5Mac), this is one of the surprises Apple is planning. However, this shouldn’t be news for developers, as Apple has been preparing the ground for 64-bit apps for some time now.

Devs: I'm hearing very clearly iOS 11 won't have 32bit app support at all. Update legacy apps now if you want them to survive past September

— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) April 8, 2017

With iOS 10.3, if you open a 32-bit app on iOS, a pop-up notification alerts you that the developer needs to update the app, as otherwise it will not work with future versions of iOS. But before that, with iOS 9, Apple was alerting users about 32-bit apps, which may have slowed down the handset’s performance.

Smith’s little birdies even whispered to developers that Apple wouldn’t include 32-bit support in future processors, a move that could free up performance space for users and developers.

You may recall that Apple has announced that it is cracking down on abandoned apps in the App Store. The company’s app storefront has millions of apps, but now Apple wants to focus on quality instead of quantity.

Image credit: Zdnet