Support for DPS Apps in iOS 7 and iOS 5

Let’s start with a quick summary.

• Any DPS app created with v24 and earlier fails to work properly in devices that run iOS 7. For one thing, landscape folios just don’t appear. If you have a v24 or earlier DPS app in the App Store, you should update it.
• DPS apps built with either v27 or v28 work well on iOS 7 devices. DPS apps built with v25 or v26 have a few known issues, but nothing as serious as v24 and earlier apps.
• DPS apps built with v28 and later do not work on iOS 5 devices. Apple does not allow the iPad 1 to update to iOS 6 or later, so DPS apps built with v28 or later cannot be installed on iPad 1 devices. Note that if you have a v27 or earlier app in the store and update it to v28 or later, Apple allows iPad 1 users to download the older version of the app.

Updating v24 Apps

If you have an app in the store that’s v24 or earlier, it’s not going to look right on iOS 7 devices. You should update your app.

If you used a Single Edition license to build your app, the easiest solution is to subscribe to the full version of the Creative Cloud (if you haven’t done so already), update your apps, and then decide whether you want to continue your subscription. If that approach doesn’t work for you, contact an Adobe representative (or leave a message in the DPS forum [1] ) to help you with update options.

Issues with v25/v26 Apps in iOS 7

The following issues affect v26 and earlier DPS apps displayed in iOS 7. These issues have been resolved in v27 and later.

• The offline entitlement banner may not display properly after switching off network connection on device running iOS 7.
• Tthe sign in dialog box close control appears as an “X” in iOS 7.
• On iOS 7, a pinch and zoom gesture over a vector slideshow or scrollable frame may cause the application to crash.
• On iOS 7, tapping on an article from browse view may cause a partial view of the adjacent article to appear.
• On iOS 7, vector slideshow and scrollable frame overlays may disappear after rotating the device.

For best results, build a v27 or later app to address these issues.

Building Apps That Support iOS 7

Apps you build with v28 or later are designed to work with the new iOS 7 interface. Consider the following iOS 7 requirements when designing and building your apps:

• iOS 7 requires the system bar to be displayed in apps. When you build a v28 app, the 20- or 40-pixel system status bar now appears above the top navigation bar in all views, including folio view. When users tap to display the navigation bars, more of your design area is covered. Make necessary adjustments to your article layouts.
• For iOS 7, additional app icon sizes are required: 152×152 (iPad HD), 76×76 (iPad SD), and 120×120 (iPhone). These new icon files are required when you build either a v27 or v28 app in DPS App Builder.
• DPS viewers include several UI changes for iOS 7. For example, the library background is much lighter than in previous versions, so check your cover images for appropriate contrast. If your app includes an article that describes how to use the app, you’ll likely want to update this help content.
• (Enterprise only) With iOS 7, the custom icons in the bottom Navigation toolbar (Enterprise only) work differently. When you build a v28 app with custom toolbar icons, you no longer provide three separate icons for Up, Down, and Disabled states. Instead, you provide a single PNG file with a transparent background, and iOS 7 changes the color of the display state automatically. (These files are 30×30 and 60×60 pixels.) You no longer need to embed the text label in the navigation icon. Instead, specify text in the Icon Label field in DPS App Builder, which appears below the custom icons. If your app supports multiple languages, you can localize this text. These new icons appear in the Navigation bar only if the icon is actionable. For example, the “Viewer” button does not appear until a folio is downloaded. If enabled, the Navigation toolbar is a few pixels taller than the Navigation toolbar in previous apps (12 pixels on SD iPads, 24 pixels on HD iPads). Again, make the necessary adjustments to your layouts. For more information about these icons, see Creating DPS apps for the iPad and iPhone .

For more information about creating apps that take advantage of iOS 7 features, see the iOS 7 Support in v28 DPS Viewer [2] article or watch this video about DPS and iOS 7 [3] .

Providing Support for iPad 1 (iOS 5) Users

For Single Edition apps, any app you build from now on works only on devices with iOS 6 or later. You cannot create an app that works on iPad 1 devices. If you have a v27 or earlier version of your app in the store, iPad 1 users are prompted to install your older version. For details, see Adobe DPS Apps: Impact of iOS5 End of Life [4] .

For Professional and Enterprise publishers, how you approach the lack of support for iOS 5 devices depends on several factors, including your level of commitment to iPad 1 users and the type of content you create.

My recommendation is to submit a v27 app to the store, and then update your app to v28 (or later) to take advantage of iOS 7. In DPS App Builder, you can select either the current or previous viewer version. That means that you have until the v29 release (November??) to get a v27 app in the store.

When you update your app to v28 or later, continue to publish your folios in v27 format (or earlier to match whatever version you have in the store). That way, your iPad 1 users can continue using the older app version to download and view folios. With the v28 (and likely the v29) release, you can update the app to take advantage of new features without needing to update the folio version. At some point, when new features are added that require an updated folio format, you’ll need to decide whether you want to update the folio format. When you do so, your iPad 1 customers will not be able to download the newer folio; they’ll need to obtain a device that Apple continues to support. Or, if you’re really concerned, you can create a special v27 version of the folio, but I haven’t heard of anyone planning to do that.

Again, keep in mind that there is a difference between the app version and the folio version. For example, a v28 app is required to use the Camera API feature, but only a v25 folio version is required. (That’s when the “Allow Access” option was added.) Here’s a table that shows which app version and folio version is required for these features added within the last year or so.

	 Required App Version	 Required Folio Version
Free article preview without Metered	v26 or later	v26 or later
Free article preview with Metered	v27 or later	v26 or later
Social sharing â€" FB, Twitter,   Copy, Email	v20 or later	any
Social sharing â€" Pinterest	v27 or later	any
Conditional HTML (Digital blow-in)	v25 or later	v25 or later
Device GPS integration	v27 or later	v25 or later
Camera API	v28 or later	v25 or later
Social sharing without Free support	v20 or later	v20 or later
Social sharing with Free support	v27 or later	v26 or later
Embedded web viewer	v26 or later	any
Full iPhone 5 support	v26 or later	v26 or later
First folio free	v25 or later	any
goto:// navigation	v25 or later	any
Sections	v24 or later	v24 or later
Multi-rendition articles	v23 or later	v23 or later
Background audio	v23 or later	v23 or later
Video stop on last frame	v23 or later	v23 or later
Smooth Scrolling articles in   PDF	v23 or later	v23 or later
Library filters	v22 or later	v22 or later
Embedded overlays	v19 or later	v19 or later
PDF pinch & zoom	v18 or later	v18 or later

Let me know if you have any questions.

Links

1. ^{^} DPS forum (forums.adobe.com)
2. ^{^} iOS 7 Support in v28 DPS Viewer (www.adobe.com)
3. ^{^} video about DPS and iOS 7 (tv.adobe.com)
4. ^{^} Adobe DPS Apps: Impact of iOS5 End of Life (wwwimages.adobe.com)

source: blogs.adobe.com