Can I prevent installation of my iOS8 app onto an iPhone 4s?

Question

I'm in the process of developing a visually complex app targeted for iOS8 that also requires some CPU/GPU horsepower. It's going fine, and I've tested on iPhone 5 and 6/plus, but developing the autolayout for an iPhone 4S will be very difficult and I don't want to have to create separate NIBs for every screen to support the small form factor 4S. Additionally, the 4S running iOS8 (which it doesn't run well) would provide a poor user experience for this app.

Regarding App Store submission & distribution, does anyone know of a hardware feature available in iPhone 5 and up that would allow me to select against installation on the 4S, so that I don't need to create a UI specifically to support it?

Answer 1

it is not possible to select which devices you want to support through Xcode, iTunes Connect, or any other means.The only thing that can be configured via Xcode is the minimum OS that you will support ( like iOS7 or iOS8), and since 4s still supports iOS8 , You will have to bear it.

What you can do is give recommendation in description that what devices are recommended for their app but there's little chance that users will see this 'warning'.

With all of the advancements of Auto Layout, it might be best to find a creative way to support your UI using the screen size of the 4S.

Answer 2

Your best bet is to check what model of iPhone you app is running on and if its an iPhone 4S or below just throw up a message thats non-dismissible that this application is not supported on the device.

Here is how to detect iPhone model

Detect the specific iPhone/iPod touch model