Updates planned for Apple’s operating system could soon render some of your favourite apps obsolete.
A warning found in the beta-testing version of iOS 10.3 may mean the end of the road for some of the oldest and best-loved software available for the smartphone.
Apps and games from indie developers, like Ocarina and Great Lightsaber, are likely to be hardest hit by the move.
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Updates planned for the Apple’s operating system could soon render some of your favourite apps obsolete
Tens of thousands of apps could be affected.
The introduction of increasingly powerful 64-bit processors has meant that programmers have to update older apps to be fully compatible.
Apple has been encouraging developers to make the adjustments necessary, but has maintained support for the older 32-bit software until now.
The previous version of the iPhone operating system warned 32-bit apps ‘may slow down your iPhone’.
But a new warning in the iOS 10.3 beta reads: ‘This app will not work with future versions of iOS. The developer of this app needs to update it to improve its compatability.’
The 64-bit infrastructure was brought in with the launch of iPhone 5s in September 2013.
Developers have been able to launch 64-bit apps since February 2015 and update existing apps since June 2015.
But Apple appears to be forcing the hands of software engineers who are yet to update their coding.
The finished version of iOS 10.3 is expected be released to the public in March or April 2017.
While the changes rolled out are unlikely to remove 32-bit support immediately, it seems likely it will be removed for the launch of iOS 11 at the latest.
One Twitter user has even predicted that ‘the App Store soon will be the greatest apps graveyard.’
In October 2016 Apple removed more than 47,000 apps, which had not received an update in the past two years or more, from the App Store.
That’s an increase of 238 per cent, according to Tech Crunch.
Apple has not previously rolled out new operating systems to its older devices so these are unlikely to be affected.
But consumers using compatible handsets and tablets will need to update their apps once they have installed iOS 11.
[Source:-Daily Mail]
