At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday, June 5th, Apple CEO Tim Cook and friends gave us a full overview of iOS 11.

In case you are unsure what that means, iOS is the software that runs your iPhone.  It creates the user experience that you have when you turn your phone on and start using it, either as a phone or with any of the thousands of Apps that are available for the iPhone/iPad/iPod platforms.

Since Apple created the phone itself and the iOS software, we can expect that the two will operate flawlessly once you upgrade the software.

However, it’s a different story when it comes to the apps that you run on your phone.  These are created by third party developers that create their software so that it runs on the current version of iOS (Currently version 10.3.2 on my iPhone 6S Plus) as well as several of the past versions.

The problem with updating your iPhone to the new iOS when it comes out is that some of the apps that you use may not be compatible with the new iOS.  Currently, you may have noticed that some apps display a warning message when you run them stating that they are not compatible with iOS 11 and that they will have to be upgraded before they will work with the new operating system.  My immediate concern was with the Supra eKey software that we use to operate our lockboxes.  What would happen if you upgraded your phone and then discovered that you couldn’t open a lockbox?  Panic for sure.

So, I called Supra this morning and talked to tech support and asked them if the software was compatible with the new iOS.  The person I was talking to did not know so she contacted the next level of support.  Here is her answer:  Tech Support says that even though Apple will offer Beta Platforms so that Developers can get a head start on checking compatibility, Beta software often changes many times before the final version is released.  So Supra will probably not know if the current version of eKey is compatible until near the time that Apple release the new iOS.  They advise that you NOT upgrade your phone immediately after the release.

This makes good sense to me.  The last thing that you want to do to a business tool as important as your phone is to risk “breaking” it by an early update.  My advice is to wait at least a month after the new release is announced.  In the past Apple has released new iOS versions around the same time as they release the new phone models, typically in the September/October time frame.

Once the new iOS comes out and the app developers have had a chance to test compatibility, new app updates will appear.  And that is what Supra told me.  Wait and see.

So here is my advice.  Keep your apps updated but do not update your phone’s operating system until well after the release of the new system.  You’ll be happier in the long run.