The most popular apps are an example of success in the mobile market, because they offer a unique function to their users. However,
Mobile operating system manufacturers are also on a constant search for new features. that they can improve their platforms. This may mean that
An application that offers a unique benefit to its target audience finds itself in the situation where, following an operating system update, it has become obsolete because its functionality has been incorporated into the core of the system. Let's look at some examples.
3 examples of apps that became obsolete after an Android update
3G Watcher
3G Watchdog is an application released during 2010 that tracks the amount of data consumed by the user's mobile Internet connection The app was configured based on the monthly data plan the user purchased. 3G Watchdog provided a detailed log of the amount of data consumed during the month and the amount of data consumed by Internet-accessible apps.
This app became obsolete when Android incorporated a mobile data usage meter . It is located in Settings > Wireless & networks > Data usage
Swype Keyboard App
The Swype keyboard app was a very successful software that helped smartphone users type faster . Instead of typing, the app allowed users to slide their finger across the keyboard – the app guessed the word the user was trying to type through a dictionary. The app was so successful that It began to be imitated by other applications and even by Google. : The Android manufacturer incorporated this feature into its free GBoard keyboard. Swype's market shrank so much that in February 2018, Nuance, the company that owns Swype, publicly announced that it was discontinuing the app and it would no longer be available for download from the App Store or Google Play.
Cerberus Anti-Theft App
Cerberus is an application to locate a lost or stolen phone To do this, the application obtains the position of the device by connecting to a Wi-Fi network, mobile data and/or GPS. Cerberus It is an obsolete application because since a previous update Android brings Find My Device (previously called Android Device Manager) to help the user locate the device.
What about iOS?
Apple's new operating system, iOS 11 promises a whole host of new features , from new voices for its Siri assistant, to augmented reality applications and a redesigned App Store. However, will make a good number of 32-bit applications or those that use older components obsolete.
And it is that The new mobile platform will only work on phones and tablets with 64-bit architecture , which will also leave some models like the iPhone 5 behind. According to Apple, iOS 11 is “a giant step for iPhone and a monumental leap for iPad.” The company has been advising developers to create 64-bit apps for years to take advantage of its new processor, which is much faster than the old one. Until now, those that didn’t support the new system could still run them, even if they were slower. But that will no longer be the case.
The company has developed a feature that lets you know which apps you have on your phone that will no longer work with iOS 11.
Apple's handling of the issue, which has said it's relatively easy for app makers to create compatible versions of their products, has drawn some criticism. "Two years is a very short period of time to become obsolete, even when everything moves so fast in the technology world," said Alan Woodward, a professor of computer science at the University of Surrey in the U.K. "What most vendors have done, and Microsoft is a great example of this, is keep as many things compatible for as long as possible." "It wouldn't have been too much work for iOS 11 to have continued to support 32-bit, so it's not hard to conclude that iOS 11 is going to be a good place to start." Apple is really trying to pick up the pace and get people to follow it “. In March of last year, There were about 200,000 apps that were unusable with iOS 11, according to data from mobile app monitoring tool Sensor Tower. In August, the number was still high: more than 180,000 are incompatible with 64-bit. The vast majority are games.
What to do if an iOS or Android update makes my app obsolete?
If an update to these operating systems includes a feature that your app offers, you may experience issues. It is difficult, but not impossible, to convince your target audience to stay loyal to your app, as long as you can offer New features and content that add a lot of value to the user.
There is also another possibility to avoid this threat, and that is for your company to develop and operate not just one, but several. Or use the data captured by one of the applications in the development of others. The best example to consider is Nuance, the developer of Swype. This company withdrew from the keyboard application market to focus on voice recognition and text-to-speech technologies for two specific markets: the automotive industry and healthcare workers. To successfully recognize and predict what the user is saying, Nuance has a valuable database of people who have been using Swype for at least 7 years. 
English 
Español 
Português do Brasil 
Français 
Italiano 
Deutsch 
Русский 
العربية 
हिन्दी 
Bahasa Indonesia 
Nederlands 
日本語 
简体中文 
Polski