Apple offers older app versions to older iPhone owners

People who own older versions of Apple's iDevices are being offered a chance to grab the most recent version compatible with their operating system.

When iOS 7 launches, it's going to leave anything earlier than the iPhone 4, the iPad 2 and the iPod Touch 5 behind. In preparation for the launch, many apps are updating, but those updates will be incompatible with older devices.

Now, though, Apple is offering owners of those devices a chance to download the "last compatible version"; the most recent version of the app that is compatible with the older OS being run on the device.

As spotted in a Reddit post, when the user attempts to update an older app, a pop-up notification will advise the user that the new version of the app requires a later version of the OS and offer the option to download the "last compatible version".

iOS 7 will be the biggest rewrite of the operating system since the launch of the iPhone in 2007.