iPad app update rejected due to iPad OS 16?

I have a weird problem with App Review. My iPad app, which has been in the store for years and regularly updated, needs another update to address a corrupt database issue. I'm on Xcode 14.0.1 and Mac OS 12.6. App compiles fine, nothing is wrong. But when I submitted it, App Review rejected it because of internal references to iPad OS 16.

These references apparently come from Xcode 14.0.1. I can't remove them, it's Apple's code! I don't include any objects, functions, or references to iPad OS 16 in my code. I target iPad OS 14.0 and above. I don't even have the beta installed on any device, yet because Xcode has it, my update is rejected

Am I supposed to install an older version of Xcode just for this one app? Why would Apple release developer software that can't be used, and call it the release version? And why is it that small developers like me always seem to get the short end of the stick when Apple starts marching around wrecking things?

This situation is ridiculous and I'm frustrated.

I have found, after much back and forth from App Review, that they are rejecting the app as the base sdk is set to iOS 16, and they equate that with iPad OS 16 and are saying it's prerelease and therefore forbidden. In Xcode there is no option for iPadOS as the base SDK, just iOS (which is equivalent to iphoneos) and that can't be changed. The targeted version is iOS 14.0, but since it's compiled against the iOS 16 sdk they are adamant about rejecting it.

I have asked if it's the official position of App Review that iPad apps compiled with Xcode 14.0.1 cannot be submitted for review. It seems the only option is to install Xcode 13, switch to it, and use that to compile the app. What a pain in the ****.

By the way you can't say "Tim" and "Cook" in a post...

iPad app update rejected due to iPad OS 16?
 
 
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