(Not bug, questions) The problem of maintaining support for new iOS devices

[andypoly]

SPECIFIC ISSUE ENCOUNTERED

The short issue is this: we have an older project still on Unity 2019 due to a Unity bug and need to update it to support iPhone 14 devices.
The secondary issue is having to update the SDK for every new iOS device every year or so seems less than ideal. Could there be an option to get device specs from a URL or inject them into the API another way than needing to update the API version?

In any case, is my only option to do a custom build of the SDK? as you say in release [v1.17.0] that 2019 support is (not surprisingly) dropped, although I do not know yet what changes in the API occurred around this.

SMARTPHONE (please complete the following information):

• Device: [e.g. iPhone 6]
• OS
  • Android
  • [X ] iOS
• OS version [e.g. 12]

STEPS TO REPRODUCE THE ISSUE

EXPECTED BEHAVIOR

VERSIONS USED

If you are using Cardboard XR Plugin:
2019.4 LTS

[arilow]

Thanks @andypoly for reaching out to us. The issue your are having is having to update the SDK version every year when a new iOS device is related. Right?

Bear in mind that you can patch specs table from screen_params.mm so you don't have to update the SDK version. Would this solve your issue?

Thanks!

[andypoly]

Hi issues are

1. Updating SDK on each new iPhone release seems less than ideal yes (presume iPhone 15 update soon?) - I am not sure how I patch the mm file but might be easier. If we had an iOS native developer around I guess we might consider grabbing screen params from a URL for long term support without new releases (as current app has no regular update schedule) - has this ever been discussed?
2. FIXED: Supporting old Unity version 2019, but it seems your plugin still works on that despite release notes so fine. (I understand why you would drop old LTS releases though!)

thanks

[arilow]

Regarding your suggestion on item one, do you know if there’s an official apple URL where to get the params from?

There are currently no plans to apply such a change, but this may be considered in the future if there is an official and supported way to get the parameters (either via a URL or an iOS API).

[LEMPeter]

Thanks @andypoly for reaching out to us. The issue your are having is having to update the SDK version every year when a new iOS device is related. Right?

Bear in mind that you can patch specs table from screen_params.mm so you don't have to update the SDK version. Would this solve your issue?

Thanks!

Hi, is there any chance on getting instructions for how to update this for the Unity plugin? (Maybe posted in the readme and not hidden in issues) I can't find that file anywhere in the package in a project.

[arilow]

Thanks for reaching out @LEMPeter and sorry for the long delay.

In order to update the parameters in screen_params.mm for the Cardboard XR Plugin you have to re-build GfxPluginCardboard.a. Instructions to do that can be found in generate_gfx_plugin_cardboard_a.md.

So the steps would be:

1. Clone the Cardboard SDK repo (this repository).
2. Checkout to the version of the XR Plugin you are currently using (Both the Cardboard SDK and Cardboard XR Plugin versions need to match).
3. Update screen_params.mm.
4. Follow the instructions from generate_gfx_plugin_cardboard_a.md.

[LEMPeter]

@arilow is there any chance of being proactive this year, and getting the new iPhones in the screen_params.mm before release?

I'd rather keep our projects pointing at the official git package, rather than update the screen_params.mm myself, do a new build, change the projects to use this and not a package... then change it back to using the official package when any updates occur.

Cheers!

[LEMPeter]

@xinyunh0929 @chaosemer @jballoffet @fredsa @agalbachicar-gg @arilow

Sorry to ping so many, but this is a frustrating situation to be in yearly and to have no idea of when (or even if) the required update is coming.

Again we await an update with the new iPhone devices added. The 16 has been out 17 days, there was a new release last week - was it not possible to add the new devices then?

[arilow]

Thank for you comment an sorry for the delay @LEMPeter.

The screen parameters for the new iOS devices have been internally submitted and will be included in v1.27.0.

In case you need them in the short time, please follow Instructions to add the screen params of new iOS devices to the Cardboard SDK.

We already took the necessary precautions so that the screen params are updated on time next year.

[LEMPeter]

@arilow

Thank you, and happy to hear about the updates for next year. Is there an eta on v1.27.0 ?

[arilow]

LEMPeter if everything goes well, we expect to have one more release before the end of the year.