The Modern Architect #2 - Add iOS 15 Support

Stack: Mobile

With iOS 15 coming out tomorrow here are some things to consider to ensure your current applications work fine with the new OS.  The same techniques will also apply to iPad OS, tvOS and watchOS.

Ensure your existing mobile apps work as is on iOS 15, you can do this by installing your iOS 14 compatible app on a device running iOS 15, make sure you obtain your app, pre-built from the Public App Store or your Enterprise App Store, do not rebuild the app using Xcode 13 at this stage.

As iOS 15 release approaches and a release candidate version of Xcode 13 appears (usually after the iPhone event) the next step is to make sure your app runs fine using new device screen sizes (new iPhone/iPad/Watch variants) using Xcode 12 & iOS 15 simulators using the technique described in this Github Gist by Peter Steinberger.

By using the above two techniques you will be able to fix any iOS 15 compatibility bugs without needing to upgrade your codebaseto Xcode 13.  Upgrading your codebase to the latest Xcode version is not trivial task and could be very time consuming.

I hope these tips can you help your teams upgrade your apps smoothly and cleanly, let me know your thoughts.