Submitted by Fred Straker on
The word is out: iOS 11 does not support 32-bit apps. According to Business Insider, some prominent apps such as Infinity Blade and YouTube Capture are 32-bit apps. In fact, roughly 187,000 apps in the App Store are not 64-bit compatible. So what does it all mean?
Ever since 2015 Apple has required 64-bit compatibility for apps to be approved in the App Store. This means apps that have not been adapted for 64-bit architecture are woefully out of date. Although this sounds like an incredible number of apps, in reality this represents around eight percent of the 2.4 million apps in the App Store. Over 38,000 of the 32-bit apps are games.
Apple first took the plunge into 64-bit architecture in 2013, with the launch of the iPhone 5s. It's likely Apple will soon remove 32-bit apps from the App Store on 64-bit devices. These include the iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, iPad mini 2 and later, and the 6th-generation iPod touch. Devices pre-dating these models run on 32-bit architecture, and will need continued access to 32-bit apps.
With the release of iOS 10.3, Apple began identifying 32-bit apps on modern devices and delivering warnings to users. You may have seen a popup window stating that an app may "slow down your iPhone" and to contact the app developer for an update. The hammer will finally drop on backward compatibility in iOS 11. The latest firmware is expected to launch in mid-September alongside the iPhone 7s and 10th-anniversary edition iPhone 8.
Luckily, there's an easy way to check if you have any 32-bit apps on your iPhone, right in the iOS Settings.