iOS 11: Marking the end of 32-bit Apps

[WMGroomAK]

With all the news that came out of Apple's WWDC this week, I haven't seen too much mentioned about iOS 11 yet.  With the release of iOS 11 though, Apple is doing away with their support for the older 32-bit only processors on the iPhones and iPads, meaning that only the iPhone 5S and later devices will be able to receive this update.  This also means that Apps running only in 32-bit mode will not be available in the iOS 11 App Store.  

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40172019

Quote

The iPhone 5S and newer devices will receive the upgrade but some older apps will no longer work afterwards.

The news is the result of Apple's decision to end support for devices and apps using 32-bit processors.

Apple has been making devices with 64-bit processors rather than 32-bit processors since 2013, when it introduced them with the iPhone 5S and the iPad Air.

Apps that only run in 32-bit will not show up in search results in the new version of the App Store, or be available from the Purchased tab if they have been downloaded previously.

 

A 64-bit processor can handle vastly more data at once - four billion times as much - as a 32-bit processor, which can help make it faster in use.

"Apple has been warning of this migration to its 64-bit hardware for a number of years, but this news will still undoubtedly blindside a number of its customers, " Ernest Doku, a telecoms expert at uSwitch.com told the BBC.

"Most apps from the last four years or so should be compatible, unless they haven't been updated since 2015."

https://arstechnica.com/apple/2017/06/goodbye-32-bit-ios-11-ends-support-for-the-iphone-5-and-the-ipad-4/

 

Some other iOS 11 improvements include:

• iMessage:  redesigned app drawer for iMesage apps and stickers, automatically sync messages to iCloud, Apple Pay integration to pay people through iMessage and use TouchID to confirm payments.
• Siri:  On-device learning about user pertinent features, translation beta, male voice option.
• Photos & Memories: Better low-light photos, machine learning to identify 'memories'
• HomeKit & Control Center: added speaker category to HomeKit to control smart speakers using AirPlay 2, Multi-Room Audio Support
• Maps & Carplay: Apple Maps has detailed floorplans & directories for malls and detailed airport information, maps will show speed limits and lane guidance, Do Not Disturb while Driving Mode
• Apple Music:  Social feature to see what friends are listening to, MusicKit API to build Apple Music into Apps.
• App Store: Today tab for popular apps on a daily basis, new overhauled look with larger images, shorter app review time for developers, phased release of apps by developers.

https://arstechnica.com/apple/2017/06/ios-11-will-bring-big-updates-to-siri-imessages-apple-pay-and-more/

 

Overall, these seem like good incremental improvements to iOS, however I think that the direction of dropping support for 32-bit will definitely have an impact and will probably make the 64-bit apps run a lot faster.  Not sure if this will require them to boost the on board RAM of future iOS devices and if some of the older supported iOS devices will have RAM limitations issues in the future, but it still seems like a good move in the long run...

 

[ProjectBox153]

Whatever you do, don't use the beta for quite a while. It's got some major bugginess for me. Just thought I'd put that out there. 

[AvocadosGuac]

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Whatever you do, don't use the beta for quite a while. It's got some major bugginess for me. Just thought I'd put that out there. 

Guess what.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, Jrock said:

Guess what.

What?

[AvocadosGuac]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

What?

Im updating to iOS 11 on my iphone right now.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, Jrock said:

Im updating to iOS 11 on my iphone right now.

Be prepared for a slow journey when using it. My phone takes about a full second and a half to load the settings app. Not cool. 

[AvocadosGuac]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

Be prepared for a slow journey when using it. My phone takes about a full second and a half to load the settings app. Not cool. 

RIP. lmao idc though. Been doing this since ios 9.

[SilverMight]

Eh, seems like it's about time for it to happen considering their newer phones all use it

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, WMGroomAK said:

however I think that the direction of dropping support for 32-bit will definitely have an impact and will probably make the 64-bit apps run a lot faster.

Someone has to do it

[HelplmChoking]

Lol a local news outlet has run a story on the outrage of forced upgrades, since the iPhone 5/5c won't be able to upgrade. Forgetting to mention that these Five year old phones don't even support 64bit, and will still run for years anyway.

 

But I think this is great, trim away obsolete features so we don't have a huge, bloated OS trying to support a decade of devices. This is one of those cases where Apple's willingness to make older devices "obsolete" is actually a good thing, otherwise you end up with something like Windows which has to try and support all kinds of legacy junk while still attempting to provide modern features.

[Valentyn]

1 hour ago, Rangaman42 said:

Lol a local news outlet has run a story on the outrage of forced upgrades, since the iPhone 5/5c won't be able to upgrade. Forgetting to mention that these Five year old phones don't even support 64bit, and will still run for years anyway.

 

But I think this is great, trim away obsolete features so we don't have a huge, bloated OS trying to support a decade of devices. This is one of those cases where Apple's willingness to make older devices "obsolete" is actually a good thing, otherwise you end up with something like Windows which has to try and support all kinds of legacy junk while still attempting to provide modern features.

I wholeheartedly agree. Some older devices that can manage to run the new OS will just be too told to run it well. It'll be slow and annoying to use. 

 

I still have an iPad2, it can't update to iOS 10, and I really don't want it to. It's not fast enough and doesn't have enough RAM to handle it. 

 

It already chugs at times, and you can only imagine how bad it would be trying to shove the latest iOS11 on here or those older phones. 

 

The devices have been supported for a very long time, far more than most competing ones. Time to move on.

[themctipers]

I have an iPhone 6s+, and hopefully it will stay on 9.3.3 for the longest time possible, and then 10.2, or if there's a new jailbreak soon.

 

I have a lot of games that I enjoy playing from the iOS 4 days, and they haven't been updated to support 64 bit yet. Won't be updating to iOS 11 anytime soon, as I really like playing them. Even some of them aren't on the app store or on my 'purchased' section anymore, and the only way to install them is to sideload them.. 

[Trixanity]

Interesting move.

I was under the impression that 64 bit isn't unanimously better. In fact some workloads end up being slower.

I recall Microsoft saying they won't make a 64 bit version of Visual Studio as overall performance will degrade.

[LAwLz]

2 hours ago, Trixanity said:

Interesting move.

I was under the impression that 64 bit isn't unanimously better. In fact some workloads end up being slower.

I recall Microsoft saying they won't make a 64 bit version of Visual Studio as overall performance will degrade.

On ARM, the move to 64bit was a massive leap forward in terms of performance. We're talking like a free 20% performance increase.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/4

[captain cactus]

1 minute ago, LAwLz said:

On ARM, the move to 64bit was a massive leap forward in terms of performance. We're talking like a free 20% performance increase.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/4

Yup. When Apple introduced the A7 back in 2013 it shook the industry, caught sleeping Qualcomm management off-guard and gave iPhone 5S users basically free performance. Now everybody's on 64-bit CPUs.

[yian88]

phones being more advanced than PC's they already start ditching 32 bit, while windows has a ton of 32bit bloatware, i want a native 64 bit windows with no 32 bit compatibility and no 32 bit files/binaries/libraries just pure 64 bit

[Trixanity]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

On ARM, the move to 64bit was a massive leap forward in terms of performance. We're talking like a free 20% performance increase.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/4

Some of those gains are from moving to ARMv8 and not necessarily 64 bit. Also, there are some regressions.

 

With that being said: the advantages seem to far outweigh the disadvantages.

 

They might be able to do things differently on the hardware side by eliminating the 32 bit instructions that improve costs and/or die area. Their chips are fairly big after all.

[Master Disaster]

Just another way Apple can force obsolescence onto hardware that otherwise is perfectly fine.

[Cheezdoodlez]

12 hours ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Whatever you do, don't use the beta for quite a while. It's got some major bugginess for me. Just thought I'd put that out there. 

One could always just restore back to iOS 10 if it's too buggy..  I'm installing it right now..

[79wjd]

26 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Just another way Apple can force obsolescence onto hardware that otherwise is perfectly fine.

Yeah, fuck Apple for not supporting a five year old phone (or a four year old 'budget' phone that was basically a cheaper version of that five year old device). 

 

Meanwhile, everyone else:

[LAwLz]

7 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

Some of those gains are from moving to ARMv8 and not necessarily 64 bit.

Both Aarch32 and Aarch64 are ARMv8. Just that one is 32bit mode and one is 64bit mode.

From what I understand, Apple is removing support for Aarch32.

 

Anyhow, 64bit on ARM is a completely different thing from x86-64.

 

 

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Just another way Apple can force obsolescence onto hardware that otherwise is perfectly fine.

I honestly don't think this is a very big deal. Support for the 32-bit phones were going to end soon anyway, and they have been supported for a pretty long time (for smartphone standards).

I think the biggest losses will be some old games or apps that have been abandoned.

[ResidentRad]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Just another way Apple can force obsolescence onto hardware that otherwise is perfectly fine.

Forced obsolescence? 

 

Its 5 year old hardware, not using a 64 bit CPU. Its time has come, move on. 

 

Remind me again, how many 5 year old Android devices got 5 OS updates straight from Google or their manufacturer. Ill wait. 

[Coaxialgamer]

Quote

A 64-bit processor can handle vastly more data at once - four billion times as much - as a 32-bit processor, which can help make it faster in use.

This is wrong in so many ways... 

 

Thanks bbc. 

[The Sloth]

5 hours ago, ResidentRad said:

Forced obsolescence? 

 

Its 5 year old hardware, not using a 64 bit CPU. Its time has come, move on. 

 

Remind me again, how many 5 year old Android devices got 5 OS updates straight from Google or their manufacturer. Ill wait. 

you don't have to with Android, sideloading a ROM is easy, this is a galaxy s2 from 2011 running Android 7.1.

 

[The Sloth]

6 hours ago, djdwosk97 said:

Yeah, fuck Apple for not supporting a five year old phone (or a four year old 'budget' phone that was basically a cheaper version of that five year old device). 

 

Meanwhile, everyone else:

 

3

you can still install ROMs on the Galaxy s3, getting Android 7.1, is very easy.