Xcode 4.5 with iOs 6 issue in iOs 4.3

Question

I was developing iPhone/iPad apps using XCode 4.2. With the recent update, I upgraded my XCode to 4.5 with iOs6. And I developed an iPhone app with this. But the issue when I run the app in iPhone 3GS with iOs 4.3, it crashes some times. I couldn't find any specific or common reason for this crashes. It happens randomly, not when doing a specific action. But it happens very rarely in iPhone with iOs 5 and iOs 6. I tried to track the issue using Instruments, but still I couldn't find any reason. Some memory leaks are there, but it wasn't the issue.

So, I have some guesses, may be it is happening due to the device is 3GS? Or because, some codes that come with iOs 6 not supporting in iPhone 3GS or iOs 4.3. In the Xcode it is not showing any warning.

So, I am not sure, is there any possibilities for my guess??

Also, I would like to know, now we have iOs 6, so when we develop new app, should we still support iOs < 5? Or can we specify it needs iOs 5 or above as requirement?

Please give me some suggestions.

Answer 1

Regarding your first question - "App crashing randomly". You have mentioned that your app crashes on all the iOS versions - rarely on 5 & 6 but frequently on 4.3. If this is the case, then as per my experience, this issue is mainly related to "Low Memory". To verify this, debug your app on device and check your Debugger giving you "Low Memory Warning". This is the way you will find your issue.

Now regarding your second question - "which iOS to support". Answer to this would be iOS 5.0 and above - YES . Not all the iPhone/ iPad users have updated their devices to iOS 6. Also some of the users can't because of device issues. So you must provide support for iOS 5.0 at least. As per the latest stats iOS device users are hardly using iOS 4.x but iOS 5.x users are plenty enough. A lot of apps in App Store don't provide support for below iOS 5.0. So go for iOS 5.0 and above. Rest it depends on your requirements like if the app is pretty simple enough then providing support for below iOS 5.0 is not a headache.