Best way to programmatically detect iPad/iPhone hardware

Question

The reason I need to find out is that on an iPad, a UIPickerView has the same height in landscape orientation as it does in portrait. On an iPhone it is different. The iPad

Answer 1

My solution (works on 3.2+):

#define IS_IPHONE (!IS_IPAD)
#define IS_IPAD (UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() != UIUserInterfaceIdiomPhone)

then,

if (IS_IPAD)
    // do something

or

if (IS_IPHONE)
    // do something else

Answer 2

Checking at runtime (your first way) is completely different from #if at compile time. The preprocessor directives won't give you a universal app.

The preferred way is to use Apple's Macro:

if (UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPad)
{
     // The device is an iPad running iPhone 3.2 or later.
}
else
{
     // The device is an iPhone or iPod touch.
}

Use 3.2 as the base SDK (because the macro is not defined pre 3.2), you can target prior OS versions to get it running on the iPhone.

Answer 3

If you are using features that are not backwards compatible, I found the best way for me is to create a #define in the pre-compiled header. Example:

#if __IPHONE_OS_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED > __IPHONE_3_2
#define USING_4_X
#endif

Then in your code, you can do this:

BOOL exists = NO;
#ifdef USING_4_X        
exists = [SomeObject someMethod:[url lastPathComponent]];
#else
exists = [SomeObject someMethod:[[url path] lastPathComponent]];
#endif

Answer 4

If 1- you already have the app installed into your device, 2- you change its build settings to be a 'Universal' app, 3- install the app to your device on top of the pre-existing app (without deleting the previous one)

You might find that the solutions provided here to detect iPhone/iPad do not work. First, delete the app that was 'only' for iPad/iPhone and install it fresh to your device.