iOS 11 Is Out Today, Here's How to Check if All Your Apps Will Work Before Installing the Update

Apple will begin rolling out iOS 11, the newest version of its mobile operating system, on Tuesday to a range of iPhone and iPad models. iOS 11 brings with it a host of new features and improvements such as a new Dock for the iPad and support for augmented reality. But before you go ahead with downloading the new software update - which will show up on your iPhone and iPad in a few hours - you should take into consideration one big thing.

Many apps that you have installed on your iPhone and iPad might stop working altogether as soon as you have updated your device to iOS 11. This is because iOS 11 supports 64-bit apps only. Over the months Apple has given developers ample of time to update their apps, but there is a good chance that not all of the apps on the App Store have been optimised for iOS 11.

11 Best Features of iOS 11

From early this year, users started to see warnings when they opened select apps such as popular title Flappy Bird that were designed with 32-bit architecture. When a user tried opening any such 32-bit app, they saw an error which said the developer of that particular app must update it to improve compatibility with future version of iOS.

20 Hidden iOS 11 Features You Need to Know About

This might appear as a trivial issue to consumers like you and me, but consider this: As of early this year, there were more than 180,000 32-bit apps that failed to match iOS 11's guidelines, according to app analytics firm Sensor Tower. Some of these apps included Flappy Bird, YouTube Capture, and iSpadez. Apple has already stopped showing these apps on the App Store when a user searches for it, and it has been confirmed that customers won't be able to restore these incompatible apps from the Purchased tab.

So before you hit the update button on your iPhone or iPad, you should probably ensure that all the apps you rely on for music, entertainment, travelling and work will continue to function once you have updated your iPhone and iPad to iOS 11. You can check whether apps installed on your iPhone or iPad will work with iOS 11 by performing the following steps.

1. Head over to Settings > General > About > Applications on your iPhone or iPad.

1. Tap the Applications section.

If there is any app that is incompatible with iOS 11, it will appear when you tap the Applications section. If all the apps on your iOS 10-powered iPad or iPhone will work with iOS 11, tapping the Applications section will not prompt any window or changes.

If there is any app - or more than one app - that you rely on for work that won't be compatible with iOS 11, you should consider not updating to iOS 11 for a few days. In the meantime, do check out the app developer's website (you can find it through an app's App Store listing) and their social media profiles on Twitter and Facebook to see whether they have any plans to update their app. You can also consider reaching out to the developer directly by emailing them or making a phone call, if they have shared such contact information on their website. If the developer hasn't shared any intention of updating their app to support iOS 11, perhaps you should start looking for alternative apps that offer the same features. 

In a brief test, we found several of popular apps in India including Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal, Fasos, Swiggy, Foodpanda, Zomato, Saavn, and Gaana were compatible with iOS 11.