iPhone 3GS, international roaming, global phone carrier

The most irritating part of new phone releases is knowing in the back of your mind that you’ll inevitably have to upgrade to a new phone in order to be able to continue using your favorite apps; your old device could stop functioning at any time.

Thankfully, it’s not as dire as all that, but it does happen, particularly in highly fragmented ecosystems. Apple has taken it upon itself to ensure that its users are not left disconnected from their apps by introducing a feature that allows users to install the last compatible version of any application and continue using that version.

So how does it work? Basically, the new feature, which first spotted on Reddit and discovered via Engadget, will alert you if you ever try to download the latest version of an application such as WhatsApp or Viber and it’s not listed as compatible with your current device firmware. It will then ask if you would like to install the last version known to be compatible and you can install the app from that point like normal.

Is it a definite fix to the aforementioned problem? Definitely not, as some compatible versions of apps for certain devices can be one year old or older, but it at least helps breathe new life into the iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch devices of yesteryear and could help you delay an upgrade for another year or so. Now if we could just get that built-in coffeemaker.

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By Josh Robert Nay

Josh Robert Nay is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TruTower. He has worked in the telecommunications industry since 2003 and specializes in GSM based technology. He also uses (too many) VoIP apps and is a long-time user of BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Phone. He adores anything having to do with space exploration and writing. In addition to the links below, he can be found on LinkedIn and can also be found on his website at http://www.joshrobertnay.com.