Yeah, I was thinking that as a web/java developer I don't understand what this m...

smweber · on Dec 18, 2013

"iOS 7 Optimized" is Apple's way of saying "built with the iOS 7 SDK".

Apps that are built for iOS 7 get the new shiny keyboard and some different behaviour when run on iOS 7, but can still run fine on older versions of iOS if the app developer is willing to support older versions of iOS. This is done by setting an option called "deployment target" to an older iOS version when building in Xcode (and testing a ton on older versions of iOS, and not calling newer APIs on versions of iOS that don't support them).

So this announcement means Apple is dropping support for older versions of Xcode (with older iOS SDKs), but older versions of iOS are still technically supported as long as you're building with the iOS 7 SDK.

tonyhb · on Dec 18, 2013

Ah OK – thanks for the information!

drp4929 · on Dec 18, 2013

No, it does not mean only build for iOS onwards.

It means give primary focus to iOS7 in terms of performance, UI, design idioms, usage of underlying technologies etc….

It means don't build apps targeting prior iOS and just reply upon backward compatibility of iOS7. Use iOS7 as your main target OS.