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So I've been developing my app and decided to include Game Center this time around since we got the Tier 1 commands recently.

I found that there was an issue with logging into Game Center via an AppGameKit app if the user was running iOS 5 or lower and cancelled the initial log in attempt. Upgrading to iOS 6 solved this problem completely.

Later I discovered another issue if a user was using iOS 5, intermittently returning from the Game Center overlay would cause a white screen on the AppGameKit app which would persist until the app was shutdown via the task manager and then restarted.

EDIT: I wanted to note that this only happened on an iPod Touch 4th Gen but not an iPad 2. So it could have been memory related since the iPod has 256mb of ram and the iPad has 512mb.

However, once again, upgrading to iOS 6 solved this problem completely, so whether it was the ram or not, the upgrade solved it.

Not only did the upgrade to iOS 6 solve the above issues, but it also updated the actual Game Center interface so that calls to leader boards or achievements now had cross accessibility between screens, unlike iOS 5. This was a great change because you could now get away with one button to call up Game Center features, instead of two, in areas of your interface where space might be limited.

So, what I'm getting at here, is that for anyone else making a Tier 1 app for iOS, that may be planning to use Game Center, changing the deployment target OS for your app to 6.0 or higher might be a good idea. I've been reading up on statistics of iOS 6 adoption by users and the majority of devices have already upgraded to it.

I really can't see a downside to leaving support for older versions of the OS behind, since it solves the problem of potential Game Center bugs with AppGameKit as well as adding new features and a better interface.

For these reasons my upcoming app will require iOS 6 as a minimum. I just thought I would post the issues I ran into and how iOS 6 fixed them in case anyone else might be interested.

You will need to make sure that you specify that your app works on iOS 6 or better in your App Store text. Otherwise, if someone hasn't upgraded and they install your app and have problems, you could get some pretty bad reviews.

I believe this is where the "Deployment Target" setting comes into play within XCode. Simply set your deployment target as iOS 6 and XCode and the App Store handle the rest.

For instance my first app was released as a universal app with a deployment target of iOS 4.2 and in the app store it says...

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later.

So it shouldn't be necessary to specify anything extra, as the App Store should do it automatically. If I had to wager I would bet it probably informs users when they can't use an app if they try to download it as well.

That is correct, Jedi. The app will only be downloadable on devices that meet the minimum deployment target you set, so making it 6.0 would do the trick. I have a habit of trying to keep the deployment target as low as possible but am finding it is often more hassle than it's worth.

The adoption rate of new iOS versions seems very rapid with Apple users, and the way Apple itself continues to phase out support for older SDKs and deployment targets aids this initiative. It can also be a pain to test older targets because if you upgrade once, there is no way to downgrade back to the previous version.

The one drawback to requiring iOS 6 over iOS 5 that I can see is that iOS 6 will not work on the original iPad or iPod Touch 3.

Android, of course, still has many users on older OS versions.