Is the iOS SDK deadline on the Upcoming Requirements page?

The rule that applies today is, but the next one is not. On 21 October 2026 every one of the twenty entries on Apple's Upcoming Requirements page was dated with the word Since, meaning all of them had already taken effect. The word 2027 did not appear on it once, and neither did iOS 27. The next deadline is published somewhere else, on the App Store Submitting page, which says that starting April 2027 apps uploaded to App Store Connect must be built with the iOS and iPadOS 27 SDK or later and target iOS 15 or later.

What is the difference between building with an SDK and targeting an iOS version?

The SDK is the toolchain you compile against and it sets the newest APIs you can call. The deployment target is the oldest iOS you tell Apple your app will run on, and it decides which phones can install it. Apple gates them separately and on separate dates. Building with the iOS 26 SDK has been required since 28 April 2026. Targeting iOS 13 or later has been required since 9 September 2026. Raising the SDK does not raise your target, and an app can build with the iOS 26 SDK while still supporting iOS 13.

Can I still target iOS 13, given Apple says iOS 13 or later?

Not in practice, and two Apple pages pull in different directions here. The Upcoming Requirements page says iOS and iPadOS apps uploaded to App Store Connect must target iOS 13 or later, in force since 9 September 2026. Apple's SDK and system requirements page, read on 21 October 2026, lists the deployment target range for Xcode 26 and for every Xcode 27 release as starting at iOS 15. Because the same rules make you build with Xcode 26 or later, the lowest target you can actually produce is iOS 15. The policy number is 13 and the number that binds is 15. That also makes the April 2027 move to target iOS 15 a non-event for anyone already on Xcode 26.

What happens if I upload a build made with an older Xcode?

Apple words the requirement as a condition on uploads, not on review: apps uploaded to App Store Connect must be built with Xcode 26 or later. That puts the check before a human sees the build, so an old toolchain costs you the upload rather than a rejection days later. TestFlight builds travel through the same upload, so a beta does not get a different floor. The same page shows Apple has used this gate before, with approved reasons for APIs required to upload a new or updated app since 1 May 2024.

Does the SDK requirement apply to app updates too?

Yes. Apple's wording covers apps uploaded to App Store Connect, with no carve-out for an app that is already on sale. An app that shipped in 2024 and has not been touched since stays on the store, because the requirement is about uploading, not about staying published. The moment you want to change anything that needs a new binary, you are building with Xcode 26 or later. The App Store Submitting page uses the same framing for April 2027, saying apps and games uploaded to App Store Connect need to meet the minimum requirements.

When is the next iOS SDK deadline after iOS 26?

April 2027, and Apple names only the month. The App Store Submitting page, read on 21 October 2026, says that starting April 2027 iOS and iPadOS apps must be built with the iOS and iPadOS 27 SDK or later and target iOS 15 or later, with matching 27 SDK floors for tvOS, visionOS and watchOS. The two rules in force today were announced with exact days, 28 April 2026 and 9 September 2026, so expect a day to be attached to the April 2027 one closer to the time.

Does a React Native or Expo app need anything different for this?

No, the rule is about the Xcode that compiled the binary, so it applies the same way. What differs is that a managed build picks the toolchain for you. Expo's build server infrastructure page, last modified 8 October 2026, lists one image per Xcode version, and it still offers an image running Xcode 16.4 described as recommended for SDK 54 if you do not want to use Xcode 26. Xcode 16.4 is not Xcode 26 or later, so a build from that image cannot satisfy the requirement. Check which image your build used before you blame the project.

Articles · GuidesUpdated October 2026

The iOS SDK deadline you are under right now is Xcode 26 and the iOS 26 SDK.

Apps uploaded to App Store Connect must be built with Xcode 26 or later, using an SDK for iOS 26, and that has been in force since 28 April 2026. So it is a rule you are already living under, with a deadline that went by six months ago. A second rule sits beside it with its own date: since 9 September 2026, iOS and iPadOS apps uploaded to App Store Connect must target iOS 13 or later. Both figures were read from Apple's own pages on 21 October 2026. Most people meet this while publishing to the App Store for the first time, which is the worst moment to learn it.

There is one more thing worth knowing before you plan around any of it. The page called Upcoming Requirements has nothing upcoming on it. The next deadline, April 2027, is published on a different Apple page altogether.

Check whether your build uploads

The short version

Which iOS SDK does Apple require today?

The iOS 26 SDK, built with Xcode 26 or later. Apple states it under the heading SDK minimum requirements, and the entry carries its own date: Since April 28, 2026. The same sentence sets the same floor for iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26 and watchOS 26, so a watch app or a TV app is held to the matching number rather than to a different one.

Two words in that sentence do the work. Uploaded, because the check happens when the binary arrives rather than when a reviewer opens it. And later, because Xcode 27 is fine and is in fact what Apple now tells you to download. The floor only ever stops you for being under it, so being ahead of it costs you nothing.

Why is the current deadline on a page called Upcoming Requirements?

Because that page is a log, not a diary. Apple posts a requirement there before it lands, then leaves the entry in place afterwards and changes the date line from a future tense to the word Since. Over time the whole list drifts into the past. On 21 October 2026 all twenty entries on it read Since, the newest being 9 September 2026. Nothing on the page was still ahead of us.

That is worth saying plainly, because the page name invites you to treat it as a list of what is coming. If you had opened it that day to plan your next year of releases, you would have come away thinking there was nothing to plan for. The word 2027 did not appear on it. Neither did iOS 27, even though Xcode 27 and the iOS 27 SDK were both out and Apple was telling developers to download them.

The history on the same page is the useful part. The Xcode 15 entry says apps had to be built with Xcode 15 for iOS 17 starting 29 April 2024. The iOS 26 entry lands on 28 April 2026. Two Aprils, a day apart on the calendar, each demanding the SDK that shipped the previous autumn. April 2027 fits that shape. Worth noting, though, that the page carries no April 2025 entry at all, so the list of these gates is not a complete year by year record of them.

Apple, Upcoming Requirements, read 21 October 2026

Check yours

Would this build upload?

Pick the Xcode you build with and the lowest iOS your app says it supports. Both halves have to pass, and they have separate dates.

Built with

Deployment target

Uploading today

Meets the rule in force since 28 April 2026

Clears both halves of the rule.

From April 2027

Needs work before April 2027

Blocked: built with Xcode 26, not 27.

Floors read from Apple's own pages on 21 October 2026, including the SDK and system requirements page for the deployment target ranges. Apple names a day for the rules already in force and only a month for the next one.

What is the difference between the SDK and the version you target?

The SDK is what you compile against. It decides the newest Apple API your code is allowed to call. The deployment target is the oldest iOS you declare your app supports, and it decides which phones can install it from the store. They move independently. An app built with the iOS 26 SDK can still run on an iPhone from several years ago, as long as you guard the new calls.

Apple gates the two separately, and that is why there are two dates instead of one. The SDK floor arrived on 28 April 2026. The target floor arrived on 9 September 2026 and it is lower than people assume: iOS 13 or later. Go and read your own value rather than assuming, because the target is the one figure here you set yourself.

There is a catch in that number, and it is the most useful thing on this page. Apple's SDK and system requirements page, read on 21 October 2026, lists a deployment target range against every Xcode release. For Xcode 26 and every Xcode 27 release, the iOS range starts at iOS 15. So the policy says you may target iOS 13, and the only toolchain you are allowed to build with will not let you go below 15. Where the two disagree, the toolchain wins, because it is the thing doing the compiling. Fifteen is the number that binds.

Then April 2027 moves both. Apple's App Store Submitting page, read on 21 October 2026, says apps uploaded from that month must be built with the iOS and iPadOS 27 SDK or later and target iOS 15 or later, with the same 27 floor for tvOS, visionOS and watchOS. Read it beside the paragraph above and the target half is a non-event: anyone already building with Xcode 26 is at 15 or higher because nothing else was possible. The SDK half is the one that costs you work. Note also what is missing. Apple gives the month and not the day, where both rules already in force came with an exact date, so expect a day to be attached nearer the time.

Google runs the same two dials with different numbers and a different rhythm, so a project that ships to both stores has four figures to watch rather than two. The android target sdk deadline works through Google's side, which runs on its own calendar and treats an app already published differently again.

Apple, App Store Submitting, read 21 October 2026

What happens if you upload a build made with an older Xcode?

You lose the upload. Apple writes the requirement as a condition on uploading, not on review: apps uploaded to App Store Connect must be built with Xcode 26 or later. A condition on the upload is checked by a machine in the minute after you press send, which is better news than it sounds. You find out immediately instead of two days into a review queue with a launch date behind it.

TestFlight does not get an easier floor. Builds go to testers through the same upload to App Store Connect, so the same sentence covers them. If an old toolchain blocks your release build, it also blocks the beta you were going to hand your testers while you fixed it.

Apple has used this gate before, and the other things living behind it are worth knowing about together. The same Upcoming Requirements page records that since 1 May 2024 you need approved reasons for the listed APIs used by your app's code, including from third-party SDKs, in order to upload a new or updated app. That is a second upload-time check on the same pipe, and the required reason api rules are the ones most likely to stop a React Native build, since the declaration has to cover code you did not write.

One relief. None of this touches an app already on sale. The requirement is about uploading, so an app that shipped in 2024 and has not been rebuilt since is still downloadable today. The floor applies the moment you want to change something that needs a new binary. Which is the real cost: a project left alone for eighteen months now needs a toolchain upgrade before it can ship a one line bug fix.

Apple, Upcoming Requirements, read 21 October 2026

The four figures, and which Apple page carries each one

Which dial	In force	What it says	Apple page	Exact day given
SDK you build with	Since 28 April 2026	Xcode 26 or later, using an SDK for iOS 26	Upcoming Requirements	Yes
Version you target	Since 9 September 2026	iOS and iPadOS apps must target iOS 13 or later	Upcoming Requirements	Yes
SDK you build with	From April 2027	iOS and iPadOS 27 SDK or later	App Store, Submitting	Month only
Version you target	From April 2027	Target iOS 15 or later	App Store, Submitting	Month only

Read on 21 October 2026. The top two rows come from the page Apple titles Upcoming Requirements, where both are already past. The bottom two come from the App Store Submitting page, which is the only one of the two carrying the next deadline: Apple, App Store Submitting

Where this lands if a builder generated your app

The rule is about the toolchain that compiled the binary, so an AI having written the code changes nothing. What changes is that you are no longer the one choosing the toolchain. A managed build service picks a machine image, and the Xcode on that image is what decides whether your upload is accepted.

That is where the trap is. Expo's build server infrastructure page, last modified 8 October 2026, lists one image per Xcode version and still offers one running Xcode 16.4, labelled as recommended for SDK 54 if you do not want to use Xcode 26. Xcode 16.4 is not Xcode 26 or later, so a build from that image cannot clear Apple's floor. The same page says a build with no image set uses the auto alias, chosen from your project configuration, Expo SDK version and React Native version. So the toolchain can be decided by how old your Expo SDK is, without anyone making a decision about it.

Newly is an AI app builder. You describe an app in plain English and it writes a real React Native and Expo project you own, with two-way GitHub sync, so the Xcode and SDK settings are in a repository you control rather than inside somebody's black box. It uploads iOS builds to TestFlight and publishes to Google Play internal testing, and it builds a standalone Android APK. Pricing starts at $25 a month, with no free plan.

The honest limit: Newly does not submit to the App Store for you, because App Review Guideline 4.2.6 requires the provider of the app's content to submit it. You press the button, so you are the one who meets the SDK floor on the day. If the app is also going to Google Play, the google play data safety form is the other store task that blocks a release until it is answered, and it is worth clearing in the same sitting.

Questions people ask about the iOS SDK deadline

Apple's Upcoming Requirements page, read on 21 October 2026, states it under the heading SDK minimum requirements, dated Since April 28, 2026: apps uploaded to App Store Connect must be built with Xcode 26 or later using an SDK for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26, or watchOS 26. So the current floor is Xcode 26 and the iOS 26 SDK, and it has been in force since 28 April 2026 rather than being a date still to come.

Check the Xcode on the build, not the date on the calendar

Open your last build log, find the Xcode version, and compare it with two numbers: 26 to upload today, 27 before April 2027. That is a five minute job now and a lost release later.

Start building