Apple’s new iOS 11 software is obviously one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the year. It’ll bring tons of hot new features and refinements to millions upon millions of iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch handhelds when it’s released in the coming months. And since iOS updates are available instantly to all compatible iOS devices, hundreds of millions of people will install iOS 11 once it’s made available. Then, of course, there are tens or even hundreds of thousands of end users who won’t bother to wait that long for iOS 11. Instead, they’ll install the public beta that’s set to be released sometime this month. Some people might even install the developer beta, since it’s easy to install without a developer account or even a computer.
We’ve told you about the most exciting new features coming to your iPhone or iPad in iOS 11, but there’s one “feature” that many users are going to be upset about: Some of your apps, possibly including apps you use every day, will stop working.
In a nutshell, currently available versions of iOS support both older 32-bit apps and newer 64-bit apps. Beginning with iOS 11, however, Apple’s mobile devices will only support 64-bit applications. This isn’t a problem for apps that are maintained by developers and updated regularly, but there are thousands upon thousands of older apps in the App Store that haven’t been updated to 64-bit.
Personally, I have seven apps on my iPhone right now that are older 32-bit apps, and they’ll stop working as soon as I update my iPhone to iOS 11. If you’re wondering how I know that there are exactly seven, don’t worry because it couldn’t be easier to check as long as you’re running iOS 10 or later.
- Open the Settings app
- Tap General
- Tap About
- Tap Applications
On this page, you’ll see exactly which apps on your phone are 32-bit apps. As soon as you update your device to iOS 11, whether it’s a beta version soon or the release version in September, those apps will stop working. Here’s a picture from Reddit to show you what the screen looks like:
What can you do now that you know which apps will stop working? Sadly, not much. Your only options are to contact each developer to see if there are any plans to update the app in question (at this point, the chances are slim), or to uninstall the apps.
