Mobile OS Support Schedule

Legend:

iOS

_{† All devices that can run iOS 13.x and iOS 14.x, can also run iOS 15.x, so Apple does not maintain iOS 13 and iOS 14 anymore.}

Android^††

_{†† As of 15 June 2021, GBG's policy for supported Android versions increased from 3 years to 4 years, provided Google also supports that version.  As of 15 October 2021, Google still maintains Android 8.1.x.}

Support Standards

Please see the "Mobile OS Support Schedule" above for specific dates.

iOS Devices and OS Version Support

• greenID mobile will only support iPhone devices supported by Apple after the release announcement of new device(s) and/or iOS versions. 
  
• greenID mobile will only support the last 3 major iOS versions released by Apple (this generally provides up to 2 years of support)
• In all instances, if Apple or Google no longer supports a version of an operating system, then neither will greenID mobile.

Xcode Version Support 

• greenID mobile will only be supported when using the latest non-beta version of Xcode to compile an application.

Android Version Support

• greenID mobile will only support major Android versions released up to 4 years ago, provided Google still provides security updates for it.
  
• greenID mobile for Android is supported when:
  
  • compiled in the latest stable version of Android Studio and
  • built using the latest version of Gradle that is bundled with Android Studio

Communication

GBG will inform clients for the 3 months prior to a release of the greenID Mobile SDK, of the impending dropping of support, and new lowest-supported mobile OS version that will be supported on a specific date.

Rationale

Both Apple and Google drop official support for older versions of their respective mobile operating systems after several years of release.  The dropping of support almost always coincides with the release of a newer version.  Dropping of support generally equates to: no more feature updates, no more security updates, and no more bugfixes will be rolled out for that operating system.  Both Apple and Google always requires a user update their device to the latest supported version of its operating system that is available.

Due to the above policies from Google and Apple, GBG will follow the same policies as these suppliers.

Apple releases a new iOS version roughly every 12 months, and only support up to the previous release, which generally equates to an effective 2 year support cycle.

Google releases a new Android version roughly every 12 months as well, but their support cycle does not seem to be directly linked with the release of a new version.  See Android version history for current effective support status from Google.

Apple dropped support for 32-bit applications in iOS 11.x.  The iPhone 6S is the oldest device that has full support in iOS 12.x, thus GBG will currently support the iPhone 6S and later, running the latest version of a supported iOS version.

Any device that can run the first major version of an iOS version (9.0, 10.0 etc) can also run the latest version of that major release, thus there will be limited/no support for any version older than the latest version of a major release branch.

This support policy will be revisited from time to time to ensure that it still makes sense to follow a similar support policy to Google and Apple.

As of June 2021, Google still supports Android 8.1.x, even though it is older than 3 years, and so will GBG support our SDK on Android 8.1.x, until Google drops their support for it.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_version_history

https://source.android.com/setup/start/build-numbers