iOS 10.3 beta has brought with it a bunch of cool new features alongside an updated app compatibility warning which notifies users that 32-bit apps may no longer work with future iOS versions. In other words, iOS 11 and above will only support apps based on 64-bit architecture.
In line with its earlier notice to developers from June 2015, Apple is now prompting the third-party iOS app developers to push 64-bit support for all their apps, else risk their creations being removed from the App Store.
Ever since June 2015, the 32-bit apps in iOS 9 have been throwing a warning message stating that any 32-bit software on a 64-bit device could slow it down considerably, leading to severe performance issues.
However, Apple has now modified the notification in iOS 10.3 beta, which reads as follows:
This app will not work with future versions of iOS. The developer of this app needs to update it to improve its compatibility.
It must be noted that all iOS devices powered by Apple-designed A7 processor chip or newer are 64-bit compliant while those preceding iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPod Touch 6G models are 32-bit devices.
As the system uses different set of system frameworks (kernel, libraries and drivers) and separate memory resources for 32-bit and 64-bit apps, it is imperative to drop the older memory-system architecture or 32-bit support in order to conserve precious processing and memory resources.
"Because all of the built-in apps already support the 64-bit runtime, it is to everyone's benefit that all apps running on 64-bit devices be compiled for the 64-bit runtime, especially apps that support background processing," Apple told developers in 2015.
By enforcing 64-bit architecture, Apple is shrewdly pushing for less use of memory to enable faster app-loading times and provide seamless multitasking experience to the user.
The iPhone maker has also published a transition guide to developers with complete details on porting apps to 64-bit architecture.
