Apple Offering "Last Compatible Version" App Store Downloads

Engadget:

With iOS 7 arriving tomorrow, Apple is extending some love to the owners of older iOS devices that have been left behind. New compatibility features, first spotted on Reddit, will now kick into action if you attempt to download an app that is not supported by your current firmware. Instead, the company now asks if you’d like to install the last compatible version, which, for some apps, can be over a year old. We’ve successfully installed an older version of Instagram to an iPhone 3GS with iOS 4.3.3 and Twitter to an iPhone 3G running iOS 4.2.1. Although Instagram was “out of date,” the last compatible version of Twitter (featured above) was version 4.3.2, and hit the App Store back on August 18th, 2012. If you’re feeling nostalgic and you’ve got an aging iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that could use a bit of exercise, Apple’s latest tweak might teach your old device some new tricks.

Apple should have mentioned this at WWDC, so developers could better plan their iOS 7 transition strategy. Forewarning of this feature would have pushed more developers to go iOS 7 only for their new updates.