Will I be able to build using Xcode8/iOS10 after iOS11 is out?

Question

As long as I can remember, after a new version of iOS and Xcode is out, we can continue to build apps with older versions of Xcode and submit to the AppStore.

Has this changed? A couple of my colleagues are saying they spoke with Apple reps that claim that after Xcode9/iOS11 is out, we won't be able to submit apps that are built using Xcode8. I can't find any information online to verify this. Could this be true?

Answer 1

Apple's usual policy is to permit the older tool to be used for a transition period, before requiring that the newer be used.

That being said, there's a much looser coupling of versions of Xcode and supported versions of iOS than your question implies. If you set your minimum deployment target to iOS 10 then the applications you build in Xcode 9 will run on iOS 10, provided you have used only iOS 10 APIs.

So the transition period is normally to allow developers not to have to update their tools during a development cycle and/or to correct any part of their pipeline that relies — whether deliberately or not — on a specific version of Xcode. It's completely distinct from the period for which they will accept applications that support the older OS.