iOS Deprecated v Removed

[charmofmaking]

Please could someone explain Deprecated in iOS x.x to me?

I am using a few game kit methods that were deprecated in 5.0 but want to keep them to support 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0.

In the Apple docs I can find

A method identified as deprecated has been superseded and may become unsupported in the future.

Are there any methods that are actually unsupported in iOS 7.0?

 

[dantastic]

It means they have been marked for deletion. Sometimes this happens fast, sometimes not so fast. If something was marked as deprecated as of iOS5 I would probably feel it was fair enough if they dropped it any day now. But there is really no way of telling. There is no schedule as such.

If you check the deprecated definition if often mentions a replacement method though.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

There's deprecated and there's removed. Deprecated means that it may be removed in the future - it serves as your warning that, though it works in current versions, it may be removed in the very next version. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything specific that's been removed, but I know that Apple has definitely removed some things from OS X's SDK over the years.

Generally things are deprecated once there's something better available, but they'll generally kick around for several years in a deprecated state before actually being removed.

 

[charmofmaking]

Thank you, this makes more sense now.

There's deprecated and there's removed. Deprecated means that it may be removed in the future - it serves as your warning that, though it works in current versions, it may be removed in the very next version. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything specific that's been removed, but I know that Apple has definitely removed some things from OS X's SDK over the years.

Generally things are deprecated once there's something better available, but they'll generally kick around for several years in a deprecated state before actually being removed.

 

[dejo]

Are there any methods that are actually unsupported in iOS 7.0?

Yes, there are. For example, [UIDevice uniqueIdentifier] is no longer supported under iOS 7. Look through the iOS 6.1 to iOS 7.0 API Differences doc and search for the word "removed". You'll find plenty. Most are pretty minor, in my opinion.

 

[moonman239]

I am using a few game kit methods that were deprecated in 5.0 but want to keep them to support 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0.

Why would you use methods that are deprecated in 5.0 when you can use the Apple-supported methods that can do what you want them to do?

 

[charmofmaking]

Very good, so these would be flagged up by xcode as "removed". I will give it a try tonight.

Many thanks.

Yes, there are. For example, [UIDevice uniqueIdentifier] is no longer supported under iOS 7. Look through the iOS 6.1 to iOS 7.0 API Differences doc and search for the word "removed". You'll find plenty. Most are pretty minor, in my opinion.

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I want to support as far back as iOS 4.2

So for example reportAchievementWithCompletionHandler: is listed in the ref as

Availability
Available in iOS 4.1 and later.
Deprecated in iOS 7.0.

So if I understand this now, this will work on 4.2 5.0 6.0 7.0 until it changes from "deprecated" to "removed".

Why would you use methods that are deprecated in 5.0 when you can use the Apple-supported methods that can do what you want them to do?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Very good, so these would be flagged up by xcode as "removed". I will give it a try tonight.

Many thanks.



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I want to support as far back as iOS 4.2

So for example reportAchievementWithCompletionHandler: is listed in the ref as


So if I understand this now, this will work on 4.2 5.0 6.0 7.0 until it changes from "deprecated" to "removed".

It will always work on 4.2-7.0. It may be removed in 7.1, or 8.0, or anything else after 7.0, or it may never be removed at all. I know the program Apple uses to generate documentation actually allows them to have things like "deprecated from 4.2-7.0" and then unmark it as deprecated for later versions, if they decide that it's more important than they had previously thought - I can't think of anytime Apple has actually utilized that feature, though.