Are we still able to target Apps for iPad 1?

Question

I am stating a new Universal App, but want it to also work on an iPad 1 (people like myself still have one).

I am developing on Xcode 4.5.2 which defaults to IOS6, but when I set the Target to IOS5 and run, it crashes (black screen).

Any suggestions on how to target IOS5 while developing on a later IOS version ?

Answer 1

Your question really should be: "Can apps still support iOS 5". The iPad part is largely irrelevant. It's just that the iPad 1 can't be upgraded past iOS 5.

The short answer is "yes".

However, you must use Xcode 5 because your app must fully support iOS 7 and this requires Xcode 5.

With Xcode 5 you can set your project's "Deployment Target" all the way back to iOS 4.3. Though there is little point to that. If you want to support iOS 5 then set the deployment target to iOS 5.

Of course you need to avoid many things such as auto-layout and you must do proper checks to avoid using classes or methods that don't exist in those earlier versions.