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I am stating a new Universal App, but want it to also work on an iPad 1 (people like myself still have one).

I am developing on Xcode 4.5.2 which defaults to IOS6, but when I set the Target to IOS5 and run, it crashes (black screen).

Any suggestions on how to target IOS5 while developing on a later IOS version ?

André
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  • I [can't upgrade my iPad 1 to IOS6](https://discussions.apple.com/message/22430417#22430417). Does that answer your question? – Robert Harvey May 15 '14 at 01:24
  • No, my question was related to developing Apps and not about my iPad – André May 15 '14 at 01:28
  • You mean you don't want it to work on an iPad 1 after all, even though that's what you said you wanted in the question? – Robert Harvey May 15 '14 at 01:31
  • What @RobertHarvey wants to say is that you can't make the binary compatible since the hardware itself is incompatible. – OFRBG May 15 '14 at 02:58
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    @Fiire There is no reason why an app can't support the iPad 1. Even with Xcode 5. – rmaddy May 15 '14 at 03:03

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Your question really should be: "Can apps still support iOS 5". The iPad part is largely irrelevant. It's just that the iPad 1 can't be upgraded past iOS 5.

The short answer is "yes".

However, you must use Xcode 5 because your app must fully support iOS 7 and this requires Xcode 5.

With Xcode 5 you can set your project's "Deployment Target" all the way back to iOS 4.3. Though there is little point to that. If you want to support iOS 5 then set the deployment target to iOS 5.

Of course you need to avoid many things such as auto-layout and you must do proper checks to avoid using classes or methods that don't exist in those earlier versions.

rmaddy
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  • Yes. And plan to upgrade to Xcode 5.5 or 6.0 soon when the iOS 8 beta comes out next month and goes live in the September or October (just guessing). Also keep in mind that Apple could stop accepting apps that support iOS 5 at some point in the future. But it's fine at the moment. – rmaddy May 15 '14 at 03:12
  • Downloaded Xcode 5.1.1 and tried it out, like it a lot and thanks for the tip about avoiding Auto Layout. Unchecked it and works like a charm, hoping to upgrade my previous Apps to be optimised for IOS7. – André May 15 '14 at 04:40
  • "you must do proper checks to avoid using classes or methods that don't exist in those earlier versions". Too bad there is no proper tooling for that. One would think setting the deployment target low does that automatically. I suppose Apple is not really interested in helping anyone keep supporting older systems. – Thilo May 15 '14 at 05:47