How to confirm App Store will respect my minimum iOS version?

Question

We have set the minimum version of our App to iOS 10 in the Deployment Target setting in its build target in Xcode. I want to confirm that someone running iOS 9 cannot download the app. The app is on the App Store already.

I have a device which I would like to load iOS 9 on in order to test this. I checked Xcode and I can only download iOS10 on the simulator. There are sites all over the place with .ipsw files I can download, however they are for jailbroken phones - they are not signed by Apple. I do not want to jailbreak the device. Anyway I think that would not even work as I couldn't get to the App Store anyway.

Answer 1

There are a few iOS device models where the maximum iOS version supported is iOS 9, such as the iPhone 4s, and equivalent vintage iPad. Apple still signs iOS re-installs on such devices. You might be able to borrow or buy a used one fairly cheaply, and use that for Deployment target testing.

Answer 2

There is nothing to confirm. An app with a deployment target of iOS 10 cannot under any circumstances run on iOS 9. It won't be downloaded to an iOS 9 device. But you cannot prevent the downloading of the app in some other way (though it still cannot run on an iOS 9 device). So just believe in reality and move on.