Confirmation Items Regarding the Mandatory UIScene Lifecycle Support in iOS 27

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Created 1w

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After reviewing the following Apple Technote, I have confirmed the statement below: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/technotes/tn3187-migrating-to-the-uikit-scene-based-life-cycle

In the next major release following iOS 26, UIScene lifecycle will be required when building with the latest SDK; otherwise, your app won’t launch. While supporting multiple scenes is encouraged, only adoption of scene life-cycle is required.

Based on the above, I would appreciate it if you could confirm the following points:

Is my understanding correct that the term “latest SDK” refers to Xcode 27?
Is it correct that an app built with the latest SDK (Xcode 27, assuming the above understanding is correct) will not launch without adopting the UIScene lifecycle, with no exceptions?
Is it correct that an app built with Xcode 26 without UIScene lifecycle support will still launch without issues on an iPhone updated to iOS 27?

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Answer 1

Frameworks Engineer OP

Apple

1w

A major release is a release that increments the major version number. iOS 18 and iOS 26 are major releases, iOS 18.1 and 26.1 are not.

With the next major iOS release, apps built against its SDK (which will be the "latest" SDK at the time of its release) will not launch if they do not adopt scene life cycle.

While we strive for binary compatibility between releases, we cannot guarantee there will be zero issues if your app is built against the iOS 26 SDK when launching on a future iOS version. We highly recommend adopting UIScene lifecycle as soon as possible to avoid future compatibility issues.

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Answer 2

take424 OP

5d

Thank you for your reply.

Assuming that the next major iOS release version is iOS 27, I understand that apps built with Xcode 27—which would be considered the “latest” at the time of release—will need to support the scene lifecycle.

Conversely, I understand that if an app is built with Xcode 26, it is not yet necessary to support the scene lifecycle.

Based on past years, it can be inferred that the deadline for supporting Xcode 27 will be around April 2027, so I am planning to complete the necessary changes by then.

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