Zwift to cease support of older hardware, operating systems as of August 1
This article originally appeared on Velo News
Zwift announced Thursday via an online discussion forum that as of August 1 it would cease support of older hardware and operating systems.
"Starting August 1st we will begin deprecating certain operating systems based on industry standard minimums for both the Zwift game client and the Zwift Companion app," read the post.
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What does this mean for you? Owners and users of old devices and/or operating systems will either need to upgrade their hardware, their software, or both.
As of the first of August, the following devices and operating systems will no longer support the game:
* Android 7, 8
* iOS 12
* MacOS 10.12, 10.13
Additionally, users of the Zwift Companion will need to move to more recent hardware and operating systems, which are newer than the following:
* Android 7, 8
* iOS 11, 12
Zwift’s messaging indicates users who currently use the listed hardware or OS’s will be presented with in-game messaging, and also should receive email notifications.
Why is Zwift dropping support for older devices? To provide users with an optimal game experience, as well as divert development resources away from hardware and software that is no longer supported by the respective manufacturers. To be sure, Zwift does not want to devote valuable and expensive resources to continue to support hardware and software that’s in some cases a decade old.
Eric Schlange of Zwift Insider highlighted the age of some of the most common devices on the deprecated list, and noted their release and on-sale dates, to indicate their relative age.
Device/On-sale date:
iPhone 6 / September 19, 2014
iPad Air / November 1, 2013
iPad Mini 3 / October 22, 2014
iPad Gen 4 / November 2, 2012
macOS 10.12 / September 20, 2016
macOS 10.13 / September 25, 2017
Android 7 / August 22, 2016
Android 8 / August 21, 2017
Users of the following hardware should still be able to continue using Zwift and the Zwift Companion.
iPhone 6S or newer
Any iPad Pro
iPad Gen 5 or newer
iPad Air 2 or newer
iPad Mini 4 or newer
Zwift maintains a chart of compatible devices and OS’s, so you can verify if your current setup will run the virtual cycling environment.
Don’t say "we didn’t see this coming" or "we were not warned" as Zwift made it known its development path would exclude dated devices, known as "potatoes" in the gaming world.
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