CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iphonexcodeipadapp-store
copenndthagen
copenndthagen

Reputation: 50722

iPhone app submission software requirements

I wanted to understand the things involved in iPhone app submission in terms of software requirements (not the steps to submit it on Apple iTunes Connect)

  1. When we download the IOS SDK, is XCode included in that ? If yes, what are the latest versions and approx size of them?
  2. When we develop the app and are ready to submit (say as of today), is it necassary to have a particluar (or rather the latest) version of IOS SDK or XCode installed on our system ?
  3. Are there any specific OS X requirements (I mean if Snow Leopard and above is fine) ?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 573

Answers (2)

AliSoftware
AliSoftware

Reputation: 32681

Everything is detailed on the iOS Dev Center (you may need to log in to have the details):

  • When you download Xcode (or more precisely the "Developer Tools" package), it includes Xcode and a lot of other tools (Instruments, gcc, gdb, llvm, lldb, the iOS Simulator, ...) and also the latest version of the MacOS and iOS SDKs too.
  • The version and size are mentionned on the download page too (version of Xcode, of the iOS SDK, of the Mac SDK,... everything). Right now (oct. '11) it is Xcode 4.2, iOS 5.0 SDK and OSX 10.7 SDK. Everything come in one package (1.65Go for the latest version as of today) except the documentation, which is downloaded automatically by Xcode itself (unless disabled) in the background.
  • For the requirements, it is also described in the iOS Dev Center: Xcode4 is available for both Snow Leopard (on the iOS Dev Center) and Lion (via the Mac AppStore) right now.
  • When you submit your app, you normally should always submit it using the latest SDK (1). [EDIT after @progrmr comment] except of course for beta versions of the SDK. Alsways submit with the latest "release"/public SDK version]

Note that using the latest SDK does not mean that you need to stop supporting and testing for previous iOS versions. You can use the iOS 5.0 SDK and publish an app that is running on iOS4.x for example (and of course it is better if it still works on iOS5.x too); ascendant compatibility is generally guaranteed, unless specified for specific methods (see the "SDK Compatibility Programming Guide" in the Apple Doc for more info).

(1) It is generally accepted if you submit with the SDK version just before the latest if it is not too old, Apple let you some time to migrate, but this is generally just a transition phase. It is advised and a good practice to migrate to the latest SDK when it is available -- or not too late after that.

Upvotes: 3

Spyder
Spyder

Reputation: 1902

  1. XCode 4.2 is about 1.8gb, and that doesn't include documentation - when you first load XCode it tries to download something like 2-2.5gb of docs in the background. You have to both cancel the download and the auto update check to avoid that (but auto updating docs is cool).
  2. I don't recall any requirement to use the latest and greatest, you can still download XCode 3 with iOS SDK 4.3 from the archives. But I can't say for sure, I always run the latest (I find upgrading to new XCode releases is generally a good idea).
  3. XCode is available for Snow Leopard once you buy the $99/yr iOS developer subscription, the mac app store has it but only for Lion. The advantage of the MAS version is you can play with the SDK and making basic apps for free, just not run code on your iOS device.

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions