Iphone 4 won't upgrade App

[theslaz]

I having an older Iphone 4 that has the latest IOS 7.1.2. I have a the NHL app installed. This app was working until a day ago. Last night I tried to use this app; a dialogue box popped up asking me to upgrade to the latest NHL app. I said okay and went through the usual routine of downloading the app and installing. This is where it stopped and indicated that it could not install the app as I needed the latest IOS 8. I tried upgrading to IOS 8; and I got the error message that my phone had the latest IOS 7.1.2. The NHL app update request gave me two choices. One to cancel the upgrade or to upgrade. Being that I couldn't upgrade; I selected cancel. Now my old NHL app won't work as it keeps asking me to upgrade.
What can I do to get this app to work again. I don't care if I got the upgraded app. I just want one that works.

 

[bbrks]

Try this:

1. 
   To download an earlier version of an app, follow these steps:
   1. Open the App Store or Mac App Store.
   2. Go to the Purchased screen on your iOS device or the Purchases tab on your Mac.
   3. Find the app and choose Download. You'll see a message telling you if a compatible version is available. Tap Confirm to install this version.
   Install the latest compatible version of an app on an earlier ...
   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201377

 

[theslaz]

Thanks for your prompt reply. I'll try what you suggest. Hopefully that will work. However; I still have the old version on my phone. Trying it; gives me the error message.

 

[bbrks]

Delete and reinstall as described above.

 

[BrettApple]

Sounds to me like they just straight up dropped support for your iPhone 4 and iOS 7. Instagram did that some number of years ago when they dropped support for an older version of their app that worked on older iOS versions. Since you can't go past iOS 7, you're just stuck. Or get a new phone. But it's on their end.

The iPhone 4 is from 2010 after all.

 

[theslaz]

I'll try what was suggested. I get the impression; this is Apple's way of forcing people to get a new phone.

 

[bbrks]

Could be, but lets face it....6 years old phone.....it is about time to change it, don't you think?....you can still use it...but things just get to complicated if we are talking about app support from developers....in any case Apple does it way better than other....I am not gonna name them

 

[theslaz]

Could be, but lets face it....6 years old phone.....it is about time to change it, don't you think?....you can still use it...but things just get to complicated if we are talking about app support from developers....in any case Apple does it way better than other....I am not gonna name them

I hear what you're saying. Just bought a Iphone 6 plus for my wife for xmas. I only need my phone for the basics. At this point and time it's all I need. If the NHL app won't work; I'll just use another eg TSN or thescore. Tried them and they both work.
[doublepost=1452877778][/doublepost]

Try this:

1. 
   To download an earlier version of an app, follow these steps:
   1. Open the App Store or Mac App Store.
   2. Go to the Purchased screen on your iOS device or the Purchases tab on your Mac.
   3. Find the app and choose Download. You'll see a message telling you if a compatible version is available. Tap Confirm to install this version.
   Install the latest compatible version of an app on an earlier ...
   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201377

Nope; don't work. It clearly states that the new app is for IOS 8; and there is not an app available for 7.1.2. What bothers me; is that this old app work yesterday with IOS 7.1.2. Now it doesn't give me that choice; as you either got to "cancel" or "Upgrade"!

 

[bbrks]

Well, unfortunately the version for 7.1.2 was probably pulled out from App Store forever...

 

[iOSUser7]

Happened to me before for the Apple Store app, it was working perfectly on iOS 7 and one day when I launched it, it asked me to update to iOS 8. Shame.

By the way, I absolutely understand you, I don't see why you would need a newer phone if all you do is basics tasks. And it's not like you are asking to run a new app, your app was working perfectly before, this is clearly a way to force people to upgrade their devices.

 

[theslaz]

Happened to me before for the Apple Store app, it was working perfectly on iOS 7 and one day when I launched it, it asked me to update to iOS 8. Shame.

By the way, I absolutely understand you, I don't see why you would need a newer phone if all you do is basics tasks. And it's not like you are asking to run a new app, your app was working perfectly before, this is clearly a way to force people to upgrade their devices.

Thanks. I'm a finish carpenter; and I can't see me taking a $1000.00 phone to work with me. My Iphone 4 is just right!

 

[JamesMB]

I'll try what was suggested. I get the impression; this is Apple's way of forcing people to get a new phone.

Apple has nothing to do with the iOS version that an app developer chooses to support. There are many, many apps that do not support iOS 7. I have seen some apps that still support 6 and below, but many apps that involve connecting online for info, as I bet that NHL app does, are not going to support older iOS versions, because the far end software is written to support the newer versions, and since you got the dialog popup from within the app, it appears that you have one of those apps.

Blame the developer.....

 

[theslaz]

I basically agree with you. But Apple does have control over what they write into their new IOS. If at all possible; it should not have something to do with disabling older apps. Very annoying. I really don't care; and me thinks; they really don't care! I was just wondering if there was a way to get around this problem.

 

[chrfr]

I basically agree with you. But Apple does have control over what they write into their new IOS. If at all possible; it should not have something to do with disabling older apps. Very annoying. I really don't care; and me thinks; they really don't care! I was just wondering if there was a way to get around this problem.

As the post above yours says, this is the developer's choice. If the app developer decides not to include support for older apps, you're out of luck, and this isn't something Apple has control over. A developer could just as easily have 2 versions of apps that run in iOS 9.2, but if one uses some protocol to connect to a service that's no longer supported by the developer, the newer version of the app would be required. The developer could just as easily make this a paid upgrade. None of this is Apple's doing.
iOS 7 and earlier are only 7% of devices now, so it's rarely worth a developer's effort to keep maintaining support for those older operating systems. Source: https://developer.apple.com/support/app-store/

 

[JamesMB]

I basically agree with you. But Apple does have control over what they write into their new IOS. If at all possible; it should not have something to do with disabling older apps. Very annoying. I really don't care; and me thinks; they really don't care! I was just wondering if there was a way to get around this problem.

iOS has nothing to do with "disabling" older apps! Sure, Apple has control over what they write in their iOS, but as I said, The iOS has nothing to do with wether it is supported by a certain app or developer. That is up to the app developer....App developers are in the business to make money, and using resources (time and money) to support hardware and software for less than 7% of the target, is just not worth their time or money.

The same principal applies to Apple and it's iOS....They aren't going to dumb down iOS 8 or 9 to support less than 7% of the hardware. In fact, many people will tell you that iOS 6 performs much better on an iPhone 4 than iOS 7, yet Apple still made 7 available for the iPhone 4. Your hardware (iPhone 4) is almost 6 years old, and that is ancient in this day and age.

You could pick up a cheap iPhone 5, and that would solve your problem, but there is a good chance that iPhone 5 is not going to support iOS 10, and that will be released sometime this year (September probably), along with new hardware, and many people will tell you that iPhone 5 already has issues on iOS 9.