5 Reasons: Why to Upgrade Apps for iOS 11

In the Apple Special Event, 2017 it was announced that iOS 11 is coming to phones on 19th September and we are more thrilled than ever. With so many add-ons, features and updates iOS 11 has become the hottest topic of discussion. If you own an app then these new upgrades can really help you get more traction to your app and even earn more through in-app purchases. The new App Store comes with improved discoverability for apps. The iOS 11 also enables support for ARKit- an augmented reality toolkit that empowers developers to create AR apps. But that's not all, there are many other features that can help your app provide a richer user experience. But all of this comes at a cost. To tap the potential of all these features you need to upgrade your app for iOS 11. Here are some reasons to upgrade apps for iOS 11:

1. Push Notifications:

iOS 10 came with many exciting notification features like the ability to create a custom UI for notification (such as Calendar or iMessage) and even prepare content for download and display, such as tweet attachment previews. This really helped in creating a better user experience for notifications. Though all this was a genius there is something that iOS 11 could really improve on and that was privacy. The new iOS 11 has dramatically improved on ensuring privacy. The content of push notifications is very personal to the users and it was the need of the hour to add the feature of hiding notification content.

With iOS 11 your app will automatically hide this content but it will display a generic text instead like for messaging app it will simply show app name like “iMessage”. By upgrading your app to iOS 11 you can display customized text like ‘new update’ or ‘new achievement’. Thus, by supporting this feature you can respect user privacy and at the same time improve upon the experience.

2. Drag and Drop:

The iOS 11 comes with a new drag and drop interface, something that was being craved since a long time. By using drag and drop you can transfer text, links, photos, files, etc. between apps with simple drag gestures. It also supports multitouch, which enables much more options and tricks that you can try. You can finally try things like pulling a link from Safari, opening Messages, and sending the link directly to a friend. Combined with a new Files app, this add-on makes managing files, incredibly easy.

Drag and drop can provide a very rich user experience provided you upgrade your app for iOS 11. This feature added to the iPad can be leveraged by many apps to gain a competitive edge but support for this needs to be added in apps. Productivity apps like sticky notes can especially benefit from this as this would allow the user to quickly and easily access them and make notes.

3. Changed HIG Guidelines:

Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) are pieces of advice that help developers create a consistent user interface for their application. These guidelines are issued as common norms or standard practices that would help ensure a unified user experience throughout the phone. HIG includes guidelines for icons, gestures, dialog boxes etc. Having an app consistent with the native UI of the device ensures that your app provides a seamless user experience which increases its usability and effectiveness.

Apple has changed the HIG guidelines, for the iOS11. So if you want your app's design to be consistent with the iOS 11 native apps UI, there will need to be some changes in the code. This will eventually pay off as you will be able to improve the UI/UX of the app and in turn improve the number of loyal app users.

4. In-app purchases:

iOS 11 comes with a revamped app store. The new Apple App Store allows users to have a very thorough overview of the app in the app store itself. While in-app purchases are not new there is one new feature in the app store that can create a huge impact. Now users can make in-app purchases while downloading the application from the app store itself. This will allow users to make purchases easily and might result in increased revenues.

Since users can now initiate in-app purchases from within the App Store, apps will need changes in the code to support this. If your app includes in-app purchases then this shall come as a huge incentive as you will probably earn more through your app.

5. Good bye 32-Bit:

While Apple first initiated the 64-bit processor with A7 in 2013, it now seems to put its entire focus on 64-bit. With iOS 11, Apple has cut down support for 32-bit apps so you are left with no choice, either to upgrade to better 64-bit architecture or lose your audience. Since sufficient time has been given to developers and warnings have been issued for a long time, this move shouldn’t come as a surprise.

On the brighter side, the 64-bit apps are more efficient in terms of memory usage and performance so users should have a better overall experience on the iPhone. If you haven’t upgraded your apps till now then there is no point of waiting any longer. You should upgrade them ASAP.

The latest iOS11 is coming with many new features and add-ons. A major change is in the way new apps will be rolled out. Now you can release your app in stages by using phased releases for automatic updates. In case of phased releases, your app update will be distributed to your existing users over a period of 7 days. This will allow you to monitor any changes and pause the release in case you recognize a bug. While this does not need any code changes, it will affect how apps are beta tested and even released to a larger audience.

Here we discussed five reasons why to upgrade for iOS 11. At NewGenApps we have deep expertise in developing mobile apps for both iOS and Android platform. We can help you upgrade your apps to support all the iOS 11 features in no time. If you need assistance to upgrade your apps for iOS 11, then feel free to contact us.