Twitter is ending support for iOS 9 devices and older. The latest update of the app includes a message confirming the change.
Moving forward, only users running iOS 10 or higher can use the official Twitter app for iOS. Twitter says it cut off support because it wants to streamline app development for all clients, and maintaining iOS 9 in its list of priorities probably kept it from doing as such.
Twitter Is Ending iOS 9 Support
"We are streamlining our app development for all clients," said Twitter. "As a result, devices on iOS 9 or older will no longer receive updates from Twitter. To get the latest feature updates, performance improvements and bug fixes, please update to iOS 10+."
While this news is bad for iOS 9 holdouts, snipping off older operating systems from an app's support list gives developers more leeway when it comes to rolling out updates and new features. They can take advantage of the benefits provided by the latest frameworks without having to worry about how to support older users at the same time.
Twitter is not the only company that does this, though. For instance, both LinkedIn and Snapchat only support iOS 10 or higher. Facebook is one of the only remaining major apps that still extend support to iOS 9 alongside YouTube.
It is much riskier to cut off support for older operating systems on Android than it is on iOS. However, since Android adaptation is very fragmented — meaning at any given time, the overall Android user base is split among Pie, Oreo, Nougat, and Marshmallow.
Some are even still running Lollipop or KitKat. By contrast, majority of iOS users have upgraded to the latest version, so Twitter isn't worried about losing users. In fact, according to Apple, only 5 percent of its users are still on iOS 9 or below.
Twitter Will Still Work On Your iOS 9 Device
It should be noted that the official Twitter app will still work on devices running iOS 9. Twitter simply will stop providing any further updates moving forward.
iOS 9 was launched in 2015, but it has since been overshadowed by iOS 10 and 11. In addition to that, Apple is also expected to roll out iOS 12 this fall. The iPhone 4s and its older siblings can't run anything past iOS 9, so anyone still using those phones will have to upgrade to get the latest Twitter updates.
Bummed about Twitter cutting iOS 9 support? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
