Coming 5.0 release and iOS compatibility

Apple has introduced some new restrictions regarding apps submitted to the store. The Mag+ 5.0 update—coming January 29, 2014—is designed to address these changes. Please read the following important information to make sure your app is serving as many customers as possible!

 

As of February 1, 2014, Apple requires that all apps and updates submitted to the App Store be built on the iOS7 native SDK. For Mag+, only v5.0 apps—which can be built starting on Jan 29, 2014—meet that requirement. Look at this channel for more detail on the 5.0 release on Jan 29. 

• This does not affect your current live app. This only applies to new apps and app updates submitted on or after Feb. 1.
• All Mag+ apps built prior to January 29, 2014 will continue to run on iOS 5.1.1 and above, however, no updates to these apps will be allowed by Apple after February 1, 2014. Any app updates after this date will require Mag+ 5.0 and above to conform to Apple’s guidelines. 
• All Mag+ apps built on or after January 29, 2014 will only run on iOS7 devices. All other users will get a warning that they need to update their OS in order to install this app. 
• If you have an enterprise app and need to support iOS5 and iOS6 devices, you can continue to build 4.4 apps.
•  iPad 1 devices cannot update beyond iOS5.1.1 as Apple no longer officially supports those devices. All other devices can update to iOS7. Apple’s latest statistics show that 78% of its users are on iOS7. 
•  When you submit an app update after Feb 1, Apple will allow you to keep a previous version live to serve those existing customers not on iOS7. Those customers simply will not see any future app updates and their version cannot be updated, but they will be able to read future issues, even those with a higher version MIB (they will receive an error message but the MIB will open).
• Because those customers cannot update their apps, there are aspects of those 4.4 apps you cannot change in the future. 

Cannot be changed:

• Any visual customizations
• Embedded Help MIBs
• Any options under Build Options
• Any uploaded certificates

Can still be changed via the 4.4 app tab in Publish:

• Any settings under Live Options
• Store banners
• Analytics settings

Can be changed but all changes will apply to both 4.4 and 5.0 apps:

• Any changes made to in-app purchases, issues or subscriptions
• Any changes to your subscription API settings

• Users who have a v4.4 or earlier app will be able to continue to receive new issues, even if the MIB version is 5.0 or later. They will simply get a notification that this MIB is built on a later Mag+ version and that some features may not work. 
• If you update to 5.0, NEW customers after Feb 1 who are not on iOS7 will not be able to install your app.

In brief:

 

- If you currently have a live Mag+ app but you have not submitted an update since Nov 19, 2013, we strongly recommend you build and submit an app update prior to January 29, 2014. This will take your app to v4.4, the last Mag+ version that will run on iOS5.1.1 and later. After Feb 1, Apple will not accept a Mag+ 4.4 or earlier app build. (If you have submitted a 4.4 app prior to Feb 1, but it has not been approved by Feb 1, Apple will still approve it. You just can’t submit a 4.4 app after Feb 1.) There are critical bug fixes in v4.4, so building and submitting an update now will ensure that all your non-iOS7 customers have the latest code version. 

Here is a tutorial on updating your iOS app.

 

- If you are about to launch an app for the first time, we recommend if at all possible you build and submit a Mag+ v4.4 app prior to Feb 1, 2014, then build and submit a 5.0 update after Feb 1. This will allow you to serve as many customers as possible with your app. If your app is only 5.0 or later, anyone not on iOS7 will not be able to install and use it. 

- We also recommend continuing to produce 4.4 MIBs for a couple of months, until a number of your iOS5 and iOS6 users have upgraded to iOS7. Using either Flurry (under Technical > Firmware versions) or Localytics (under Usage > OS version) analytics, you can see what OS your users are using.