How to limit my app to run only on OS 3.0 family (or earlier) and not on OS 4.0?

Question

Hi everyone,

Is there any way I can limit my app on the store to say that is only compatible with 3.0 os family and not with 4.0 ? I've been searching on the store and all the requirements are only in the form "iOS3.0 or later". Can anyone tell me if this is possible?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I just noticed that some apps on the store have a "ios4 verified" is there anyway for my app to say "ios4 not verified/tested"? I just want to optimize my app to ios4, but I just want to aware users about it.

Answer 1

You can't, and Apple would never let you (besides, the vast majority of users will have upgraded within a few months, so you'd be artificially limiting your target audience.)

Why do you want to?

Answer 2

There is a high possibility that Apple will reject the app if it fails to run on OS 4.0. If you target App Store, then your app must run on OS 4.0. This does not mean that you have to use OS 4.0 features, you can ignore them if you want. But the app must not fail to run on OS 4.0

Answer 3

I have an app approved and in the store.

I upgraded my phone to iOS4 and the dev app on the device stopped working - just crashed - a re-compile and install using the new SDK work fine (with a few changes that still need fixing).

This lead me to think I need to do what your suggesting - BUT:

A friend downloaded the same app (without upgrade) on his iOS4 phone and it works perfectly!

Seems Apple are making us think its totally broke so we fix it, without affecting the users experience (I guess through some sort of backwards simulation)

So, no sweat - just fix as soon as possible!