Save yourself the trouble and rent a mac. Running VSCode and the iOS simulator on a Mac feels just like developing on Windows. If you decide you need to rent a Mac then I suggest macincloud. I got access for 1 month at $20. At that price you get 3 hours of access per day which more time than I could endure per day đ . There are a few questions relating to this topic but nothing quite the same when it comes down to the details: We would like to use the iOS Simulator without installing the rest of XCode on a macbook. It is an in-house laptop, and will be used by employees, but not engineers.
There are some features of iOS apps that donât work from the iOS simulator. Maybe you want to test how your application works with the device camera or send an SMS message from your application. For these examples and more youâll need to test and debug your app using a real device.
This post will walk through how to run the Xcode simulator on your iPhone or other iOS device and show you how to fix some common errors youâll see along the way.
How to select your iPhone as the âSimulatorâ Device
Simulator is in quotes here since this will create an actual app on your phone; itâs no longer a simulation. Open up a project in Xcode and click on the device near the Run â¶ button at the top left of your Xcode screen.
Plug your iPhone into your computer. You can select your device from the top of the list.
Unlock your device and (âR) run the application. Youâll see Xcode install the app and then attach the debugger. The application should pop up on your phone.
Troubleshooting Common Errors
The first time I tried to connect my iPhone to Xcode it didnât work. According to my best friend, Stack Overflow, Iâm not the only one who has had issues. Letâs share the fixes to some common errors you might encounter.
âSigning Requires a Development Teamâ
Xcode requires that youâve connected a Team to your project in order to run the simulator on a device. You can do this from the âGeneralâ tab of your Project Settings. As of Xcode 7 this can be any Apple ID.
Open the Team menu that currently says âNoneâ and select your team. If you donât have a team, select âAdd an Account...â and create one with your Apple ID.
Xcode claims your device is locked when it isnât
This fun bug has been happening since at least Xcode 6. There are a lot of potential solutions in this Stack Overflow post. Hereâs what worked for me:
- Unplug your iPhone
Reset Location & Privacyon your iPhone. Found underSettings >> General >> Reset- Plug in your iPhone
- Hit
Trustwhen prompted toTrust This Computer
You can learn more about how trusting computers works from Appleâs support.
âiPhone is Busyâ
The unsatisfying answer for this one is to just wait.
If you donât have a sword fighting partner, you can try the following:
- Unplug your device
- Restart both Xcode and your iPhone
- Plug in your device
That worked for me, but a lot of folks had luck with âSolution #3â from this Stack Overflow post.
Activate your Debugging Superpowers
The Jasonette docs FAQ has some more tips if you have other related issues. Now that youâve got your application running on a device you can make the most of your testing and debugging experience with these tips:
If you have any questions or run into any other issues, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @kelleyrobinson.

Many a time, you would be developing an IOS app without Xcode. It generally happens with a hybrid app where the app is developed using React Native or Flutter, where you need to write code in VS code Editor and launch ios simulator from the command line.
Take advantage of the all-screen design of the 11-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation) by building your app with the iOS 12.1 SDK or later and making sure it appears correctly with the displayâs rounded corners and home indicator. Run and Test in Simulator. You may connect a real device to your Mac using a cable, or for iOS or tvOS apps, connect it over WiFi after you pair it with Xcode. For macOS apps, choose a scheme, then click the Run button in the toolbar. You can also run SwiftUI apps in the simulator or on a device using the controls in the preview.
Or you may be a tester and would need to launch an IOS simulator without Xcode. This guide will help you out to achieve it.
In any case, After following the steps in this guide, the development set up would launch the IOS simulator directly without the need to open XCode SDK.
How to launch IOS simulator for mac without Xcode?
As a pre-requisite, you should install the XCode App from the Apple app store Because XCode is not a built-in application for mac.
You will also need to download the IOS Simulator from the App Store. IOS simulator is bundled with Xcode SDK. The simulator comes along with the Xcode SDK.
Once you have installed the XCode App and the IOS Simulator from the App Store, itâs quite simple to launch IOS simulator for mac without Xcode. Follow the below two-step process to achieve it easily:
- Experience Mac to the fullest with a refined new design. Enjoy the biggest Safari update ever. Discover new features for Maps and Messages. Electric vehicle routing requires an iPhone running iOS 14 and a compatible vehicle. The improved retouch tool in Photos requires MacBook Pro (15-inch and 16-inch models) introduced in 2016 or later.
- Moreover, simulator runs on your Mac and it behaves exactly like a standard Mac app while simulating an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, as well as Apple TV environment. Hence, iOS simulator allows developers to run apps and experiences on simulated versions of the companyâs devices. It also utilizes the resources of the machine on which it is.
2-Step process to Launch IOS simulator for mac without Xcode
Iphone Simulator Mac
- Go the Spotlight Search (cmd + space) and type in âSimulatorâ to launch the default simulator. You could alternatively go to the Applications tab in the finder Window and select Simulator from the list of applications.
Ios Simulator For Mac
- Next, you can launch the ios simulator from the command line to deploy the app and test the application directly in the IOS simulator.
Note: Unlike old hacks, you donât need to go inside the Xcode.app package contents and creating a shortcut. This approach is no longer necessary because the new version of MAC OS can access the simulator Via Spotlight Search.
In Conclusion
I hope this article has helped you to open ios simulator for mac without Xcode. If you are a tester, this process would surely help, but if you need to select a different device, you need to open XCode. If you face any problem while opening the simulator, leave a comment, we will surely help you out.
Important:The information in this document is deprecated in Xcode 9. For Xcode 9 and later, see Simulator Help by choosing Help > Simulator Help in Simulator.
Important The information in this document is deprecated in Xcode 9. For Xcode 9 and later, see Simulator Help by choosing Help > Simulator Help in Simulator.
Iphone Simulator Mac Without Xcode Free
Simulator allows you to rapidly prototype and test builds of your app during the development process. Installed as part of the Xcode tools, Simulator runs on your Mac and behaves like a standard Mac app while simulating an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Apple TV environment. Think of the simulator as a preliminary testing tool to use before testing your app on an actual device.
Simulator enables you to simulate iOS, watchOS, and tvOS devices running current and some legacy operating systems. Each combination of a simulated device and software version is considered its own simulation environment, independent of the others, with its own settings and files. These settings and files exist on every device you test within a simulation environment.
At a Glance
By simulating the operation of your app in Simulator, you can:
Find major problems in your app during design and early testing
Test your app using developer tools that are available only for Simulator
Learn about the Xcode development experience and the iOS development environment before becoming a member of the iOS Developer Program
This guide walks you through Simulator, starting with the basics of how to use it and moving on to the tools found within the simulator that can assist you in testing and debugging your apps.
Organization of This Document
Read the following chapters to learn how to use Simulator:
Getting Started in Simulator, to understand the functionality of Simulator, and gain a working knowledge of the various ways to launch it
Interacting with Simulator, to learn about the various ways of interacting with Simulator, including taking screenshots and changing the scale of simulated devices
Interacting with iOS and watchOS, to learn about the specific ways of interacting with simulated iOS and watchOS devices, including gestures and hardware manipulation
Interacting with tvOS, to learn about the specific ways of interacting with tvOS, including using the focus-based user interface and using external remotes with Simulator
Testing and Debugging in Simulator, to understand the tools available within Simulator to assist you with testing and debugging your apps
Customizing Your Simulator Experience with Xcode Schemes, to learn about additional ways to customize your Simulator experience through Xcode schemes
Install App On Simulator
See Also
Apple provides these related documents that you may find helpful:
Ios Simulator In Xcode
To learn the basics of developing iOS apps, see Start Developing iOS Apps (Swift).
To learn about the basics of developing watchOS apps, see App Programming Guide for watchOS.
To learn more about how you can customize your development experience within Xcode, see Xcode Overview.
As mentioned above, it's impossible to directly download Amazon Prime video to PC or Mac because of the DRM protection. In order to enjoy Amazon Prime videos on computer, you can use a professional video recorder like TuneFab Screen Recorder to record Amazon Prime. To download Prime Video titles for offline viewing, you need a Fire tablet, or the Prime Video app for iOS, Android or Windows 10. To download Prime Video titles, open the Prime Video app on your device, and find the title you want to download. Amazon prime download episodes mac.
To learn about the process of testing your app on a device, submitting it to the App Store, and distributing it, see App Distribution Quick Start.
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