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But it isn't always clear which devices each app works with. If we click on the standard - that is to say, iPhone and iPod touch - version of Kingdom Rush Frontiers, there isn't much indication that it's only for those devices. Unlike Stellar Wanderer (further down in this article) there isn't a label saying 'This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad' below the price; but the Compatibility section claims it is "Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch". Compatible with: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5 and iPod 3,4 and 5 Generation. Buy Kingdom Rush Frontiers HD instead! This version is designed for iPhone/iPod devices. This is confusing, but the Compatibility section is technically correct: even 'iPhone-only' games can be run on an iPad, as we'll see later. It's just that you won't be getting the improved graphics the developers will have added to the iPad version, which is why they've added that note in the Description. If we click on the HD version we see that the Compatibility field only lists the iPad (and, by implication, the iPad mini).
This is a hint that it's much harder to get iPad-only apps to work on an iPhone that the other way around. Phone-only apps and games: Increasingly rare. This is an app that was designed for iPhone (and will also work on iPod touch) and for one reason or another never got adapted for the iPad screen. Sometimes this will be the case because the developers simply haven't got around to making an iPad version. Other times they just prefer the iPhone experience, or don't think it would be worth their time and money to create an iPad-optimised version. Here's an example: the venerable free RPG Undercroft (a nice little Eye Of The Beholder-esque retro number). It was last updated at the start of 2011 so it's little surprise that they haven't got round to doing an iPad version. A search for 'undercroft' on iTunes reveals only an iPhone app.
We can still run Undercroft on the iPad, however, as we'll see later. This is a more serious restriction, and if an app is designed only for iPad, you won't be able to play it on iPhone - not without jailbreaking, anyway. We talk about that at the end of the article. An example of this is Fingle - a cheeky party game where you and a partner have to put your fingers on moving spots on the screen. It's understandable that this wouldn't work on iPhone: being a little cramped for space is part of the fun, but trying to get all those fingers on an iPhone screen would be impossible. How can I tell which models of iPad, iPhone and iPod touch an app or game will run on, As an example, above is a new iOS game called Stellar Wanderer, which we're looking at on the App Store on a Mac. On the left, just below the price and Buy button we can see that "This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad". It's a Universal app.
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