Apple warns developers that App Store submissions must be built using Xcode 13 from April 25

App Store icon (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple has told developers that they will soon need to submit apps built using the latest Xcode 13 development tool.
All apps submitted from April 25 will need to be built using Xcode 13.
The Xcode 13 tool allows apps to be built for the latest releases including iOS 15.

Apple has told developers that they must submit apps built with Xcode 13 from April 13. The Xcode 13 development tool includes support for all of Apple's latest software releases.

The new requirement was confirmed via the Apple developer website (opens in new tab) and it shouldn't come as a big surprise — Apple does like developers to move to the latest version of Xcode as soon as possible and they still have a number of weeks before the requirement kicks in.

The switch to Xcode 13 will allow developers to create apps targeting iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8.

Make the most of the exciting features in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8 to offer even more intuitive and valuable user experiences. Improve your app's performance by refactoring your code to take advantage of asynchronous functions in Swift. And with the latest updates to SwiftUI, you can enhance your apps with new features, such as improved list views, better search experiences, and support for control focus areas.

Developers wishing to learn more about the new requirements can do so in the announcement update (opens in new tab) and should probably add April 25 to their calendars sooner rather than later.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.