Use SF Symbols in iOS 12

Hey guys,


I am designing an app that will be available on both iOS. Unfortunatly, I cannot go iOS13-only and will still have to support iOS12. So I have a question regarding the licensing of SF Symbols:


1. Is it allowed to export the Symbols I use in iOS 13 as SVGs through the official "SF Symbols" app, convert them to PDFs in e.g. Sketch and then import them as an asset in XCode to be used on devices that run iOS < 13?


Cheers,


Sebastian

Replies

1.) No


Apple says this about that:"You can use SF Symbols in apps running in iOS 13 and later, watchOS 6 and later, and tvOS 13 and later."

If you are using the symbol (or the derived work from it) generated with the SF Symbols app in and application running in Apple’s iOS, iPadOS, macOS and tvOS operating systems, then it is allowed. Your request is specifically about your app running in iOS <13 so it qualifies. However, you cannot use the symbol or derived work in another platform, web application, etc. as your app is/may no longer be running in the operating systems previously mentioned.

Note however that you lose a lot of functionality when using a pdf/png in iOS <13. The system won’t automatically align your image, use the appropriate scale, adapt to bold text or dynamic type. You will have to do all of this manually. Finally, all symbols were re-designed for iOS 13. Depending on the use, it may not fit very well with the rest of the OS.