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iphoneios7ios8app-store

Will an old iOS 7 App still be available in AppStore after App was updated to iOS 8 only?

We currently have an iOS 7 App in the AppStore that works on iOS 7 and iOS 8 devices. Now we implemented some iOS 8 only features and will publish this App as an update for the current iOS 7 App. I know that iOS 7 devices will not update to the new version but:

Will iOS 7 users still find and be able to install the older iOS 7 App?

Solution

  • Yes, but this comes with a tradeoff:

    There are only 3 possibilities to install the old iOS 7 app on an iOS 7 device:

    1. You already own the app and can install the old app on your iOS 7 device.
    2. If you don’t own the app you have to download it once on an iOS 8 device. After this, the app will be available on your iOS 7 device (assumed you use the same account).
    3. If you don’t own the app you can use iTunes to download/buy the app. After this, the app will be available on the iOS 7 device (assumed you use the same account).

    Unfortunately the most common usecase to just download the app in the iOS AppStore for the first time will not work.