Apple explained to developers on Tuesday, apps being submitted to the App Store must be built with Xcode 13 as of April 25, 2022.
“Starting April 25, 2022, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS apps submitted to the App Store must be built with Xcode 13, which includes the SDKs for iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8,” explained the iPhone maker.
Apple says “make the most of the exciting features in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8 to offer even more intuitive and valuable user experiences. Improve your app’s performance by refactoring your code to take advantage of asynchronous functions in Swift. And with the latest updates to SwiftUI, you can enhance your apps with new features, such as improved list views, better search experiences, and support for control focus areas.”
As for iPhone and iPad apps, Apple says iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 offer “Safari web extensions, SharePlay and the Group Activities API, Focus, ShazamKit, Create ML, and more. You can also publish custom product pages and in-app events, and run product page optimization tests on the App Store on these platforms.”
As for Apple Watch apps, the company says watchOS 8 features include “Always-On Retina Display so your apps always stay visible, Bluetooth connections from complications, region-based user notifications, and more.”
Last spring, Apple set April 26 as the deadline for all iPhone, iPad and watchOS apps submitted to the App Store to be built with Xcode 12, iOS 14 SDK or later or watchOS 7 SDK or later. The requirement forces developers to stay up to date with App Store requirements and features.
