The removal of iOS 5 support in Roomie 2.0 will be far more about iOS 7 than about iOS 5. Last August, we removed iOS 4 support. That meant losing the original iPhone 3G from the supported list. The intent is to support 2 iOS versions at any given time. So as of Roomie 2.0 that will be iOS 6 and 7.
We know how many users are on iOS 5 with Roomie. It's a very small number, and shrinking. We're talking about something that is about 4 months away. Anyone that needs to continue running iOS 5, which is iPad 1 users, can do so by copying the IPA file for Roomie 1.9.X out of their iTunes Media folder now or otherwise making a Time Machine backup for instance – in other words you can do this today if you anticipate that. You will then be able to restore that to your device indefinitely.
From a technical perspective, iOS 7 requires all hands on deck, it is a massive move. We are very excited about iOS 7, but it will need all of our resources and we will be updating things all the time to support iOS 7 that will not work on iOS 5. This is the classic conundrum that slows software development (multiple platforms being the real killer there). We effectively would need to rewrite portions of the app to work anew on iOS 5 in a way that also works on iOS 7 potentially making the iOS 7 implementation less great in order to suit the lowest common denominator of iOS 5.
What we would like to ensure is that those iPad 1 devices running iOS 5 with Roomie 1.9.X will still be able to work in a Roomie 2.0+ environment via Wi-Fi Synchronization, etc. As there will be at least one 1.9.X maintenance release, make sure if you fall into this category of iPad 1 users that you save the future IPA file as well.
Thank you.