How To Support Old iOS SDK’s in Xcode 5

OH NOES, APPLE REMOVED SUPPORT FOR IOS 6 IN XCODE 5 *FIST SHAKE* !!!!

This is a sentiment I’ve seen a on twitter an awful lot in the last few days, and it’s not exactly accurate. The truth is, Apple does tend to encourage developers to link their applications against the latest SDKs; however, it is possible, with a tiny amount of hoop jumping, to use the new Xcode while linking against an SDK older than iOS 7.0.

The solution is simply to copy the old SDKs from the old Xcode to Xcode 5. Restart Xcode 5, and be sure you’ve changed your base SDK from Latest iOS to the specific SDK you’d like to build against, and you’re all set!

The iOS SDKs live here:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs

The Mac SDKs here:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs

If you’ve already blasted your old Xcode in exchange for the shiny new Xcode 5, there’s no need to fret. As of now, Xcode 4.6.3 is still the version in the Mac App Store, and provides the iOS 6.1 SDK. Just go download it, and grab the SDKs out of it before reinstalling Xcode 5.

Update: @rekle points out that it’s possible to get older versions of Xcode from the Downloads area of the Apple Dev Center. Even once Xcode 5 hits the App Store, it should still be possible to get an old SDK version.

About Jerry Jones

Co-Founder of Spaceman Labs, Inc. Formerly of Mellmo, Inc. iOS Developer since 2007. You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and doing backflips on jet skis.
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