Starting April 1, 2018, Apple will require all new iPhone and universal apps to support the iPhone X Super Retina display, as well as requiring new iOS apps to be built with iOS 11 SDK or later, and new Apple Watch apps to be built with the watchOS 4 SDK or later. Developers received notification of the new requirements in an email this afternoon from the Apple Developer Program.
While Apple’s requirements differentiate between new apps and ones already in the App Store, they’re designed to push all developers to more quickly adopt new features found in the latest operating system releases. Apple has frequently cited security and other under-the-hood improvements as reasons for customers to keep their devices up to date with the latest OS releases; continued compatibility with popular apps can also increase updates. Roughly 65% of iOS devices are currently running iOS 11.
Existing apps can continue to be built with some older versions of the iOS and watchOS SDKs, but Apple will stop accepting apps built with the watchOS 1 SDK on April 1, as well.
