Confusion on universal app/iPad target

Question

There are many similar questions, but I haven't really found the answer for this.

I'm making an iPad version of a large iPhone app. Which is the best way to go when distributing? I understand that when turning the app into a "Universal" app, all resources (images etc) for the iPad version are also downloaded to iPhones.

This is probably not desired, so to me it sounds better to use the built-in XCode function to duplicate the target into an iPad target. (This is nice since it will generate iPad-specific versions of all the NIB-files)

However, I'm afraid that this will split the app into two versions on the app store. I want to make it look like a universal app on app store, with the little "+"-sign. Is it possible to make it look like a universal app, when it's actually two different targets?

Answer 1

In a Universal app there is only one binary.

If you create to targets you can compile for either iPhone or iPad, but then you'll have two different apps.

So, no it is not possible to make two apps look and behave like an universal app.

Answer 2

I don't think that the images etc being present in both versions are such a serious problem.
They get compressed and can mostly be used for both versions.

I would prefer having a universal app that syncs via iCloud on all my devices than having to download two versions of the app... Apple does it too, e.g. in iBooks.