Apple acknowledges new problem with iOS 9

The problems with the newly released iOS 9 seem to be endless. Earlier reports emerged that some users faced installation problems. Then there were reports that the new operating system is locking up users’ iPhones, iPads and iPod touches when they are asked to ‘Slide to Upgrade’.

Now the tech giant has announced that App Slicing is unavailable for iOS 9 app at present due to an issue affecting iCloud backups created from iOS where some apps from the App Store would only restore to the same model of iOS device.

“When a customer downloads your iOS 9 app, they will get the Universal version of your app, rather than the variant specific for their device type. TestFlight will continue to deliver variants for your internal testers. App slicing will be reenabled with a future software update. No action is needed by you at this time”, the announcement read.

Slicing, as defined by Apple, is the process of creating and delivering variants of the app bundle for different target devices. A variant contains only the executable architecture and resources that are needed for the target device.

As app developers continue to develop and upload full versions of their app to iTunes Connect, the App Store will create and deliver different variants based on the devices the app supports. Image resources are sliced according to their resolution and device family. GPU resources are sliced according to device capabilities. When the user installs an app, a variant for the user’s device is downloaded and installed.

Xcode simulates slicing during development so that app developers can create and test variants locally. Xcode slices the app when it is build and run on a device. When an archive is created, Xcode includes the full version of the app but allows exporting variants from the archive.