Impact of Xcode build options “Enable bitcode” Yes/No

Yesterday I recognized a ton of warnings regarding the parse.com library:

URGENT: all bitcode will be dropped because ‘[path]/Parse.framework/Parse(PFAnalytics.o)’ was built without bitcode. You must rebuild it with bitcode enabled (Xcode setting ENABLE_BITCODE), obtain an updated library from the vendor, or disable bitcode for this target. Note: This will be an error in the future.

I am aware of the fact that I can remove those warning with this answer but am now wondering if it will have any negative impact in regards to AppStore submission and / or actual performance of my app.

Xcode informs you regarding bitcode

Activating this setting indicates that the target or project should generate bitcode during compilation for platforms and architectures which support it. For Archive builds, bitcode will be generated in the linked binary for submission to the app store. For other builds, the compiler and linker will check whether the code complies with the requirements for bitcode generation, but will not generate actual bitcode. [ENABLE_BITCODE]

But I am not getting any really useful information out of this text.

  • Can I use the linked answer to circumvent the issue without any negative impact and without compromising a future AppStore submission?
  • What does the ENABLE_BITCODE actually do, will it be a non-optional requirement in the future?
  • Are there any performance impacts if I enable / disable it?

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