Apple has been slowly removing outdated or abandoned iOS apps from its digital marketplace for some time, but a new notification seems to indicate that an update could soon kill support for those apps completely.
The 10.3 iOS firmware update brought with it a new warning that displays whenever opening an older, 32-bit app that states it will not work with future versions of iOS without compatibility updates.
If devs don't or are unable to update those apps to 64-bit, they're likely to see their creations become unplayable in the near future.
While the new warning itself doesn’t specifically mention iOS 11 as the ‘future version’ in question, Eurogamer and other sources seem to believe that next big update will be the 32-bit killer.
Prior to the recent 10.3 update, a text prompt merely warned players that an older app “may slow down your iPhone”.
But now the warning reads as follows: “This app will not work with future versions of iOS. The developer of this app needs to update it to improve its compatibility.”
It’s worth noting that Apple has required 64-bit for app submissions since early 2015, so only apps that were both created before that cutoff and haven’t since been updated to 64-bit are at risk. But if the developers behind those older apps are no longer around themselves or choose not to update, future versions of iOS will render those games unplayable.