The iOS App Store has been silently updated on Apple’s end to allow users running older versions of iOS to install legacy versions of apps that are no longer supported by their software. In the screenshot above, for example, an iPhone 5 running iOS 6.0.2 is prompted to install the “last compatible version” of Weatherbug, which normally requires iOS 6.1. Choosing to download the last compatible version grabs the most recent version of the app that supported 6.0.2 and installs it on the device.
This is especially good news for users on old hardware, such as the iPhone 3G which only supports iOS 4.2.1, or original iPhone which doesn’t support anything beyond version 3.1.3. Users of those apps will now be able to run apps that they ordinarily would have been unable to install due to their outdated OS. Also benefiting from this change are iPhone 3GS owners who cannot upgrade to iOS 7, or users of newer devices who choose not to update to Apple’s latest OS.
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Can’t believe,
It took them just 5 years to make it))))
Good for the end user, a nightmare for the developer. Suppose we don’t want to support an older version of an app?
Ummmm, don’t do it? Not being a developer I don’t know if it is MANDATORY that you support older hardware. And consumers can then move to apps that are receiving continued support if that matters to them.
Your old version of your app is already out there. When you released the app you knew that there would be multiple versions on devices, as an iOS app isn’t a centralized web service.
The life of my iPhone 4 has just been extended :-)
I still have an original iPhone running 3.1.3, so this looked promising until I tried installing an app.
http://i.imgur.com/lR5oVxP.jpg
Perhaps that app wasn’t developed prior to iOS 6?
I tried this with iPhone OS 3.1.3 on the first generation iPod touch.
It doesn’t work. And thats really a shame, since there are almost no Apps left in the store, that are compatible to that version, while perfectly good older versions probably linger somewhere in Apples storage facilities. May try again in a few weeks.
It’s not that it doesn’t work, it’s that it only works from today onward. Perhaps Apple has archives of old versions of apps and will make this backwards-compatible but I sincerely doubt it.
This worked today with my son’s 3G and iOS4.2. Unfortunately the Instagram version he downloaded is not supported by Instagram anymore and he cannot register :-(
But developers can’t submit apps for outdated hardware and outdated iOS version on the App Store anymore.
So only old versions that Apple itself made unavailable before and old apps would be available now for old devices.
Wow, I am speechless…yes this should have been there from day one, but this is great. Finally my 1st gen iPad that is stuck on iOS 5 can at least download older versions of apps now.
Yep, it works at least from 4.2.1 and beyond – tested on an iPad 1st Gen with iOS 4.3.3, with iOS 3.1.3 on my iPhone 2G unfortunately it doesn’t work (I’ve tried with apps that for sure where available on iOS 3.1.3)
Odd, I tried this on 2 devices – a 2nd gen ipod touch… worked fine, but an iphone 3G failed to offer the option. Both are iOS 4.2.1.
I know, took them long enough, but not all apps have backwards compatibility,
For example: TinyTower/Fruit Ninja does not support iOS 3, even though I already had it installed, but most of the free apps do.
This works! My friend gave me an old iPhone 3G, And it runs iOS 4.2.1, Thanks for the info! I can get apps on this old phone!
I do not get this option when I try. Does anyone have any link to an official notice by Apple that this is really true?
I don’t understand this at all. I think it’s great, but how are people trying it based on the information in this article? Obviously they are, as the comments attest, but HOW? The page doesn’t tell you what apps to try it on. I have tried everything imaginable to get apps on my 3G 4.2.1 and I get flat NADA.
Where do you find a list of apps that this works on? Because I have looked and looked and looked and looked and…
Not true, it doesn’t work on my iPhone 3GS running 3.1.3. Complete CRAP.
working only for us store
for all other store still dont work
still need cydia and other to install old apps
Look I’m an up to date Apple user, but my elder parents are not, so to even let them try these new fangled gadgets, it helps to start with older or less expensive model. So will someone please tell me how to put Facebook back on an original iPad! Or I just wasted a hundred bucks and APPLE just lost another NEW USER! GEEZ! I tried!
I have iphone 4 ios 5.1.1 and this doesnt appear in the appstore.please help.
I hope there will be an older version of Twitter available