Can we just provide @2x images?

Question

We know that we should provide normal size image and @2x size image for a iphone/ipad app. But providing double size for one image is a boring thing.

I've do some test, if there is only the @2x image, if needed, system will automatically shrink the @2x image to normal size. So in this situation, the none retina iphone/ipad won't look weird.

I'm wondering can we just provide @2x images and let system shrink them to get smaller ones ? And is it allowed by apple?

Thanks.

Edit:

I've realized it will cause memory issue on old device.

Thanks again.

Answer 1

I don't think all Apple will reject your app. But it's not a good idea.

Since the non retina devices have less memory to work with, loading all these big images in memory could really make you app a memory hog. This could make your app crash on lowmemory warnings.

You can easily resize the @2x images to half there size with a simple automator script. There is no need to do it by hand if you really wan't to.

Answer 2

Apple says you have to provide both. On guessing under what circumstance it is acceptable or not we can spent days — at the end it is like reading the cards, and some random Apple guy will decide on how he interpreted the guidelines.

If the task of shrinking the images manually is too boring for you, why don't you create a tool/script to do it automatically for you.

Your statement, that there is no increase of usage can't be true. The image data is stored in memory as raw data. with up to four bytes per pixel. Retina version images must use about 4 time more memory.