hi gang, I'm coding way tonight (on BT Core for iOS v3.0) and juggling between liking or dreading the new look / feel of iOS 7. I've been tinkering with it for awhile but the public release yesterday created all sorts of interesting discussions online. This one in especially important... http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/ios-7-apps/ Not all of us are design buffs but all of us need to get our heads around Apple's new approach. We started the 3.0 project for iOS quite sometime ago but it sure feels different now that everything is real. How many million iOS 7 installs happened yesterday? Anyone know? Like it or not, this newer look is here to stay. The good news is that iOS 7 and Android are coming closer and closer together in their designs (somebody made that predication quite sometime ago, wink) patterns like this should make it much easier for you if you're interested in supporting both platforms. Changes provide opportunities for all of us and this change is no different. Think about your app, think about it's purpose. Does it really need all those colors? Do you really want some screens to have status bars and others without? More on status bars and changes to iOS and Android in another post. More than anything I encourage you to have a look at your app as it compares to the most popular mobile apps. When BT Core for iOS v3.0 comes out you'll notice some significant changes in the way it looks, especially in the top-bar area. This is good. This is by design. Of course you can hack-it-up if you want but we're strongly suggesting sticking with the standards, it's always better. Like the big Android rollout (still isolating some minor gotcha's in that package) this too will require some significant changes to some plugins. We're already on this and have been for awhile. The plan is to begin rolling out the v3.0 core of iOS BEFORE all the plugins are done so folks can get their hands on it. This is the same thing we did with Android. We will then update all the plugins so none of them cause compiler issues. Lastly: When we release this the download screen will still have the "get old project" option. Not sure why you'de want to do that but it will remain. The new project WILL REQUIRE THE LATEST VERSION OF XCODE TO COMPILE. Start the download now if you want, it's large as usual. d.

Thanks David for your update. Just updated to IOS7, all my apps seem to work just fine for now. Farcat

Waiting for the new iOS core eagerly... Hope i update my os and xcode to suit the purpose in time. Thanks as usual for working on the new core.

Thanks for the update! I guess I may as well embrace the horror (iOS 7), lol! Cheers! -- Smug

Loads to think about.

Thanks David. Can't wait. Cheers.

Thanks David. Great post and great article. Appreciate you efforts.

Thank you David, I need to become a member soon. Just running into a few some challenges

I've seen the question: "Why would I want to download the previous version" asked. Here's one reason... -Xcode 5 requires OSX 10.8.4 (Mountain Lion). Depending on how old your compiling machine is, your hardware may not support ML. There are a few Macbook Pro's, a LOT of Macbooks, and a few iMac/Mac mini's that won't run it. Although its always ideal to stay up to date with current hardware, we realize its not always a reality for some. This is we decided to put the option in, while at the same time strongly recommending to use the most recent version when possible.

It's probably just me - but in the techcrunch article, I really prefer the way the older versions look. I haven't updated to iOS 7, so I can't make a comparison in features/functionality. Like all updates, I'm certain it will grow on me. The flat look is rather sleek, but I love the chrome, depth and button navigation of past. True confession: I'm totally stuck in 2011 and don't want to leave. In regards to submissions, if we send an app for approval, now that iOS is up & running, do you think our apps designed for versions below iOS 7 will have a larger chance of being rejected?

I think they will have less change of being features, but no of being rejected. At least for now. But the users do like new makeups, once in a while.

Maybe a good reason for "Get old project" Option? http://m.cnet.com.au/apple-allows-developers-to-offer-multiple-app-versions-339345494.htm?redir=1

Thank you Red Dog & MadRod - great stuff to know. (Today's theme song: Bob Dylan chorus echoing over & over)

Thats a good reason. Was unaware of that. Cheers.

Thank you David. Mike

Thanks David @buzztouch! I upgraded my phone to IOS 7 last night and I see a close resemblance to Android! LA

Good post David- I'm more annoyed with the multiple phone/device sizes Apple has now than another new OS. Sure there will be some depreciated code in iOS7 - but those fixes are pretty well documented. What is not simple is designing a custom plugin screens and graphic elements that are perfectly sized for an iPhone 4. Just when you get the screen laid out and working - you test it on a iPhone 5 or a mini and you can't see this, that is cut off, etc... and then you rotate the screen and it gets worse... Instead of spending time learning code, devouring API's and SDK's, I'm concentrating more on iOS layouts now. When I started with BT there were not XIB files so you learned how to move elements in code. Then David added XIB to the mix - but the BT core plug-ins still don't use them. So these screen layouts have to be manipulated in code if you wan to mod them and have differences between large/small devices or want to tinker with rotation. All that nested code to check for device size and do this or do that gets insane. Layouts are much easier/efficient in IB with Auto Layout and Constraints - but one needs to learn a hybrid approach to mod some of Davids awesome code/screens I still want to use. and +20 points for the Dylan reference. Bob is The MAN. "As the present now will later be past"

Thanks David! I think in the long run iOS 7 will be a better change for all developers... I just continue to hope our projects will remain backwards compatible with other versions (specifically iOS 6). In other thoughts it would be incredibly wise to explore xcassets folder (maybe include in a future version) as it would allow much easier image customization and automation in the control panel. (The files are all referenced in the project.pbxproj and then organized using JSON).

Thanks for the info and thanks for making it so easy for us - updating all my apps is going to be a bit of a project, but I'm excited about the changes