In the official explanation, "deployment targets" refers to "the OS range supported by this version of Xcode for uploading apps to App Store Connect." On the Xcode Support page (https://developer.apple.com/support/xcode/), I can find the deployment targets supported by each Xcode version.
My question is: can I use a newer version of Xcode to build an IPA with an older deployment target that isn’t listed? For example, can I use Xcode 26 to build an iOS 12 IPA (just build, not debug)?
In my opinion, since the new SDKs still contain many old macros restricted to earlier iOS versions, it should be possible, but I’m not sure if that’s correct.
Thanks.
Hello,
you could build an app with a min target deployment of iOS 12 in Xcode 26, but that’s not recommended.
As you correctly noted, you won’t be able to test your app in the simulator or on a device with Xcode.
Is there a specific reason you want to target iOS 12?
According to https://developer.apple.com/support/app-store/ , the vast majority of users are running a more recent version of iOS.