Do I need to add armv6 support when limiting apps to iOS 4.0+?

Question

At the moment I'm compiling for both armv6 and armv7. I've also set the target iOS version as 4.0.

Am I right in saying that all devices capable of running iOS 4.0+ are armv7, and thus I can stop compiling for armv6?

Not a big deal, but it means that my app's binary will be quite a bit smaller if I can.

Godsey

You can not compile for armv6 as of Xcode 4.5 – Homocyclic

Answer 1

Sorry, but you aren't right. The iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G are able to run iOS 4 (barely) and they include a armv6 processor.

ARMv8 / ARM64 = iPhone 5s, iPad Air, Retina iPad Mini
ARMv7s = iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPad 4
ARMv7  = iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod 3G/4G/5G, iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad Mini  
ARMv6  = iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod 1G/2G

iOS 4.3+ requires ARMv7. If your Deployment Target is 4.3, you can exclude armv6 support.

As of XCode 4.5 you cannot build for armv6 @Paul de Lange

Nebulose

Thanks! I didn't realize the 3G was armv6. – Godsey

Henrik, is there an apple documentation which talks about this ? – Lipkin

By iPhone 2G, I assume you mean the original iPhone - is that right? – Say

Yes the original iPhone is often referred to as the iPhone 2G. – Anagoge

Toss ARMv7s = iPhone 5 into the mix. – Ochoa

And now the iPad 4 supports ARMv7s too (but not the iPad Mini, which has the same CPU as the iPad 2). Wikipedia has a great table showing every iOS device and what ARM version they support: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_iOS_devices#Features (scroll halfway down or search for armv7) – Isodimorphism

You can still support armv6 but you either need to have a previous version of xcode to build with, or you have to edit the project.pbxproj file directly. – Claw

You can add ARM64 = iPhone 5s – Fuddle

I have a question please: If in my project I just have armv7 in "Valid Architectures", does that mean it'll not work with iphone5, iphone5c and iphone5s ? Users with that phone will not find it in AppStore? Thank you. – Zipporah

@Zipporah arm7s is backward compatible with armv7, so you're armv7 compiled binary will work on future devices, too. – Nebulose

This is a great reference. Does Apple not have this lying around in their documentation somewhere? – Leban

Answer 2

You can safely drop armv6 support IF you set your deployment target to 4.3. This is because iOS 4 can be installed on armv6 devices only up to 4.2.

Romy

Thanks, good to know! In this case I think that will be too limiting though. 95% of iOS devices are running iOS 4.0+ (apparently, don't quote me on that!) which is not too bad - but removing support for iPhone 3G would then be cutting out an even larger section of potential users. – Godsey