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How to tell (pre-purchase) if an app is 32 or 64bit?
With recent reports that several older, 32bit apps appear to be disappearing/purged from the app store, I'm trying to at least verify if an app is 64bit or not before I buy. Is there any way to tell?
I was thinking of nabbing a low-cost weekend app snack or two. Specifically Tachyon or Dot Melody. Both are fairly old apps but I think at least Dot Melody has had an update in the last few months. Is there a way to tell if these are now 64bit and thus somewhat protected from the "great purge"?
Comments
If the app in question was updated after June 2015, or if it was released after February 2015 the app it's 64 bit.
Why:
Apple stopped accepting new apps without 64 bit support in february 2015 and stopped accepting updates to existing apps without 64 bit support in June 2015.
Copy the ipa to disk in iTunes. (Transfer the purchase to your desktop).
Unzip it (it's just a zip file). Then descend down into the Payload directory and under there into the directory named after the app.
E.g. for Xenon - which I checked recently.
Unzip and cd into:
Payload/Xenon.app
If you have a Mac or a Linux machine, or something like Cygwin on Windoze you can then use the file command to tell you. (Sorry the output will wrap around here)
macbook15 $ file Xenon
Xenon: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures: [armv7: Mach-O armv7 executable, flags:<NOUNDEFS|DYLDLINK|TWOLEVEL|WEAK_DEFINES|BINDS_TO_WEAK|PIE>] [arm64]
macbook15 $
The "2 architectures" with one of them being [arm64] tells you that it's 64-bit.
Now, it's possible there might be some point-and-click tools that will tell you this. Certainly if you have Xcode, but I'm a CLI kinda guy so I unzip and use file
There also might be a much simpler way. This way however is reliable and doesn't depend on any popup message in iOS 10.
So in the case of Tachyon, it was released in 2012 and hasn't been updated since 2014, so this one is likely not 64bit and likely will get purged?
Dot Melody is an old app, but had an update in Nov 2016 so it's 64bit and safe from the purge I reckon.
@MusicInclusive that method is for apps you already own and can check. I was asking about apps I don't own, but might buy. If they are still available to purchase, like Tachyon, but appear to not likely be 64bit... that means it may be a waste to buy it now, correct?
Two things. First, I thought that if it was no 32bit, and you didn't own it, you couldn't see. But I ended up buying the Producers app, and it was 32 bit.
Second, if you do buy it and it's 32 bit, just ask for a refund. That's what I have done. If that's not grounds for a refund, I don't know what is. So grab them, if they're not, get your money back.
Only if a.) You are planning to update to iOS 11 which means b.) you have an iPad capable of running iOS 11 - i.e. a 64-bit iPad such as a mini 2 or above or an Air 1 or above.
Otherwise, if you have a 32-bit iPad you could buy and install it now and it would continue working until your iPad died. You could of course save the ipa to a computer and reinstall it on a new non-iOS 11 iPad too if you had one. You could also continue to run iOS 10 even on a 64-bit capable iPad and continue to use it that way. The problem would come if your 64-bit iPad died and you wanted to continue using it and the only "new" 64-bit iPad you could get was iOS 11+. Then you would be stuck.
Unless of course you purchased a 32-bit iPad from people unloading them by the millions because they find their apps disappearing from the app store when they want to reinstall them and because they haven't got local copies of the ipas. Then you could probably pick something up cheaply.
So, a bit of an educated guess about future proofing - or not
I've presently got an Air 2 and will most certainly update to 11 after I'm certain it doesn't break everything. Will also likely upgrade to the next iPad Pro that's announced next month. So, I'll want new app purchases to be somewhat compatible with the next iteration of iOS.
Fortunately, I've been fairly vigilant about mostly buying apps that have had fresh updates with active or at least attentive devs.
I haven't been I the music app game all that long compared to some of you, so I don't really have that many older apps that I'm precious about anyway. So, I'll likely only lose a small percentage of my current library. And of those, many are pretty unstable and buggy. I like weird old apps like Deregulator, but that app barely still works anyway. And when it fails it tends to make all output fail completely... needing a device restart. Apps like that won't really be all that missed.
Mostly paying closer attention on any new app purchases going forward.
Thanks for the info.
Email the dev and ask seems the safest bet.
How do you backup apps as an ipa package using itunes ?
I can create a complete backup, but must have missed something using iOS 10. Far as I understand ios10 don't support backup of ipa's.
It would be great if we could have a list of sorts for showing 64bit / 32bit apps.
I would do it if I had the time, it probably wouldn't make much difference to myself who has already purchased many apps but could be helpful to someone who hasn't.
There are some summaries here:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/17193/what-favorite-32-bit-music-apps-are-you-going-to-miss/p1
Open iTunes. Log in. Go to "Cuenta" (Account) / "Comprado" (Purchased).
Click on "Descargar todo" (Download all).
@fjcblanco
Aah, finally a solution to backup all my old apps without installing on the ipad first. Thanks a lot.
Thanks
A list that can be updated would be a lot better than scouring six pages!