iPhone, iOS Upgradability, and App Supports
Computerworld has been keeping scores on Android smartphones since Android 9 on how major manufacturer is pushing out Android updates to their yesteryear’s products. Latest one came out on March 2025, and the score board is a blood bath. But this post is not about Android — how manufacturers are only interested in selling latest models but reluctant to support them afterward. It’s about iOS upgradability and the app compatibility with the latest OS.
Officially, the oldest iPhone to be supported is iPhone 11, released in 2019. Assuming Apple would drop support for the said device next year with upcoming iOS 27, it will have received 7 full years of software support. The problem I see isn’t so much so on the upgradeability of the operating system, but rather on the third party apps. Despite all the technological reluctance and conservatism, iOS 26 indeed broke some apps nonetheless.
iOS 26 was announced on June 9, and released on September 15. In about a quarter, or 14 weeks, developers had time to test if their apps are functional (i.e. no new features, just in working order) in the new major update. It’s not hard to imagine arbitrary time frame given by another company is not the most business-friendly, much less so when they are likely already preparing for something big of their own in-house, set to be released with the next OS.
Again, the problem is in app support, to be more precise, the way iOS and the apps are communicating with its users about the major upgrade. Apple likes to hype up the next major version, but it fails to add a simple feature to check if all the apps on the device are green-lit for the upgrade. Granted, bugs are bugs — some apps will still break even after the green lighting system. But for average users who only wish to keep the device “running”, Apple’s gatekeeping could go extra mile to make it happen.
As for the apps that do break, I am genuinely surprised the developers behind such apps don’t disclose it before the official release of the next major upgrade. In other words, they had 13 weeks to test out their existing build wouldn’t work. I would gather 13 weeks is enough time to write a simple email to the users, or even a notification to those who have installed it. There are legacy apps or abandoned apps that are getting removed from Apple, and though it was and still is a controversial policy, I think more proactive communications would be more informative than whatever Apple could provide on its end.