Q: I've been using an app called "Minimalist To Do List" on my iPhone 6 for about four years and have put a lot of pretty valuable information in it. When I recently updated the phone to the new iOS 11 operating system, I discovered I had a few apps, including that one, that wouldn't work. Instead, I got a message that said that Minimalist To Do List "may slow down your iPhone. The developer of this app needs to update it to improve its compatibility." But I haven't been able to contact the developer, and I got no help from Apple or Verizon Wireless. Is there a way I can get my data back?
Chris Hoehn, Marysville, Ohio
A: No, the data is gone because your app won't run on iOS 11.
You and others who upgraded their phones to the newest iPhone operating system have permanently lost the use of some older iPhone apps that use what's called "32-bit computer architecture." They won't run on iOS 11 and Apple won't let you to "downgrade" your phone to an older version of iOS.
Unless you follow Apple's announcements closely, you could easily have missed its disclosure earlier this year that iOS 11 would abandon the use of 32-bit apps. But the impact was significant. When iOS 11 was introduced in September, the Apple App Store still contained more than 180,000 apps that were incompatible with it, including "Minimalist To Do List."
Minimalist" was created for iOS 4 and was last updated in 2012. The most recent information on its developer's website is two years old, which probably means the app will never be updated.
Technology and marketing influence Apple's changes.
Prior to the iPhone 5s, the iPhone used a 32-bit processor chip that stored data using memory addresses that were 32 characters. But it became clear that for iPhones to compute faster and store more data, the 32-bit processor chips and their software had to be replaced by 64-bit versions. When a 64-bit processor chip is paired with 64-bit software (memory addresses are 64 characters), it can run twice as fast and use 256 times more memory than a 32-bit chip.
