Launch Image in asset catalog only has spaces for 2x and R4

Question

I'm starting the design phase of an app and this is the first app I've ever built. The app is currently using iOS SDK 7.1 and has a Deployment Target of 7.0

Even after all of the research I have done so far here on stackoverflow and reading the iOS 7 design guidelines, I am still having trouble figuring this out.

When I go to my asset catalog, and click on LaunchImage, it only has two slots. One for 2x and one for R4. However, a lot of the screenshots I keep seeing online have more slots than that.

If I click on the + symbol and select New Launch Image, then this new LaunchImage has a ton of slots for iPhone and iPad, even for iOS 5, 6, and 7.

Am I correct in thinking that I am only supposed to use the default LaunchImage with slots for 2x and R4, because my app has a deployment target of iOS 7.0 and the only iPhone models that iOS 7 supports have retina displays?

EDIT: AppIcon in the asset catalog is similar. It only has 3 slots, and all of them have 2x underneath them.

Answer 1

The AppIcon and LaunchImage assets in asset catalog respond to your project configuration.

1. If you have iOS SDK 7.1 and deployment target of 7.0, you do not need any iOS 6 resources, because your project will not run on iOS 6 operating system. Why would you waste application size, when resources are not used ever?

2. Same goes for iPhone and iPad. You probably selected your project as iPhone only, so you do not need iPad resources.

3. If you selected deployment target 7.0, that means that the device needs at least iOS 7.0 installed for your application to run. Because iOS 7 only runs on Retina phones (iPhone 4 and newer), you do not need resources for anything else except Retina (which have the @2x in the name).

   You do need resources for normal devices, if you are running on the iPad, because iPad 2 and iPad Mini do not have Retina.

Hope this explains it.