Apple demands ipv6 support for apps on iOS 9

Apple requires developers to build ipv6 support into their apps if they want their apps to be approved for the App Store. The obligation will come into effect with the release of iOS 9 later this year. Many developers probably don’t need to do anything for this.

Apple wants all iOS developers to build apps that run on IPv6 networks, Sebastien Marineau, Apple’s vice president of Core OS, announced during the Platform State Of The Union at WWDC 2015. The group therefore makes ipv6 support mandatory when submitting apps for the App Store.

Marineau points out that the ipv4 addresses are running out and providers are about to roll out ipv6-only. “If your apps don’t handle ipv6 well, they simply won’t work well on those networks, for those carriers, and for those customers,” he said. Apple says developers should take three steps: use the network frameworks like NSURLSession, avoid APIs that specifically work with ipv4, and don’t use hard-coded addresses.

Since many developers are already using these best practices, nothing will likely change for them, writes InternetSociety. If you nevertheless want to make sure that your app can handle ipv6, you can set up a hotspot with the ‘ipv6-only’ option in the upcoming OS X version, El Capitan. If the connection of the app is successful, it supports ipv6.

OS X supports ipv6 since version 10.1 and iOS since version 4.0.