Hi everyone,
I'm building an app in Xcode 16.4 with a minimum deployment target of iOS 12.
The last time I built with this configuration was November 2025 — that build worked perfectly fine. I'm aware that builds from Xcode 16.4 will no longer be accepted by Apple after April 28, 2026, so I decided to push one final update before that deadline.
Here's what I did:
- Built the app with no changes to build settings
- Uploaded to TestFlight
- Tested on iOS 12, iOS 26, and a few other versions — everything looked good
- Passed App Review
- Published to the App Store
Now users on iOS 12 are reporting that the app crashes immediately on launch. Users on iOS 13-26 are unaffected.
We've effectively lost a significant portion of our users overnight. We'd really like to restore functionality for them before April 28 — after that we plan to raise the minimum deployment target anyway.
There are no crash logs available, as the app appears to never reach application code at all. Below are the relevant logs from Console.app:
default 16:33:49.012231+0400 SpringBoard Bootstrapping MY_BUNDLE_ID with intent foreground-interactive
error 16:33:49.021533+0400 SpringBoard [MY_BUNDLE_ID] Bootstrap failed with error: <NSError: 0x280f59aa0; domain: BKSProcessErrorDomain; code: 1 (bootstrap-failed); reason: "Failed to start job">
error 16:33:49.021748+0400 SpringBoard Bootstrapping failed for <FBApplicationProcess: 0x101cb4070; MY_BUNDLE_ID; pid: -1> with error: Error Domain=BKSProcessErrorDomain Code=1 "Unable to bootstrap process with bundleID MY_BUNDLE_ID" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Unable to bootstrap process with bundleID MY_BUNDLE_ID, BKSProcessExitReason=0, NSLocalizedFailureReason=Failed to start job, NSUnderlyingError=0x280f58780 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=3 "No such process" UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailureReason=The process failed to exec, NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=Consult /var/log/com.apple.xpc.launchd/launchd.log for more information, NSLocalizedDescription=Unable to get valid task name port right for pid 241}}, BSErrorCodeDescription=bootstrap-failed}
default 16:33:49.021934+0400 SpringBoard Adding: <FBApplicationProcess: 0x101cb4070; MY_BUNDLE_ID; pid: -1>
default 16:33:49.022111+0400 SpringBoard <FBApplicationProcess: 0x101cb4070; MY_BUNDLE_ID; pid: -1> exited.
default 16:33:49.023325+0400 SpringBoard Removing: <FBApplicationProcess: 0x101cb4070; MY_BUNDLE_ID; pid: -1>
default 16:33:49.039576+0400 assertiond Submitting new job for "MY_BUNDLE_ID" on behalf of <BKProcess: 0x100d119f0; SpringBoard; com.apple.springboard; pid: 48; agency: SystemShell; visibility: foreground; task: running>
default 16:33:49.039982+0400 assertiond Submitted job with label: UIKitApplication:MY_BUNDLE_ID[0xed03][58]
error 16:33:49.040128+0400 assertiond Unable to obtain a task name port right for pid 241: (os/kern) failure (0x5)
error 16:33:49.040286+0400 assertiond Failed to start job with error <NSError: 0x100c3f180; domain: NSPOSIXErrorDomain; code: 3; reason: "The process failed to exec"> {
description = "Unable to get valid task name port right for pid 241";
failureReason = "The process failed to exec";
recoverySuggestion = "Consult /var/log/com.apple.xpc.launchd/launchd.log for more information";
Has anyone encountered this recently? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. I tried rebuilding from scratch without any code changes and uploading a fresh build to TestFlight — but now it won't even launch from TestFlight on iOS 12.
Distribution through the App Store requires a minimum deployment target of iOS 15. For future reference, you can find this information listed on the Xcode Support webpage.
