Survey: 95% of iOS developers will update their apps to work on iOS 7

A survey conducted of 575 iOS developers reveals that 95% of them will update their current apps to run on iOS 7. The survey was conducted by Craig Hockenberry who developed Twitterrific and if his experience speaks for most developers, you can understand why such a large majority will be updating their work. He called the current version of his app as "feeling old and clunky," but changed his characterization of the app to "stunning" after revising the UI of the app to reflect the changes coming to iOS 7.

Jony Ive's redesigned iOS 7 removes the bright glossy colors with a flatter pastel look. And the skeumorphic icons favored by Scott Forstall and the late Steve Jobs are gone.

While 95% of developers surveyed are going to offer an updated iOS 7 version of their apps, 52% of the same group say that they will update their app so that that it works only on iOS 7. That might end up with some iPhone owners making a tough decision if they don't like iOS 7, but an app that they use often requires it. The problem is that "the depth and breadth of the changes in iOS 7 makes it difficult to support older versions of the OS," according to Hockenberry. On the other hand, if a particular app only runs on iOS 7, those with an older iOS device might have to start to consider upgrading to a new version of the device.


With 94% of iOS users currently running iOS 6, a similarly quick and successful result for iOS 7 is expected. The newest build of Apple's mobile OS will give developers the chance to use AirDrop for wireless content sharing, support for apps using low energy Bluetooth, high frame rate video capture, Inter-App Audio for streaming audio between music apps, and a new Map Kit for navigation. The iOS 7 update will come pre-installed on new iterations of Apple's iOS devices and can be updated on devices as far back as 2010's Apple iPhone 4 and the following year's Apple iPad 2.


source: AppleInsider