Install Iphone Simulator On Mac

Question or issue on macOS:

I have an iphone simulator running on my Mac.

I have a .ipa file, can you please tell me how can I install it on the simulator?

How to solve this problem?

Solution no. 1:

You can’t. If it was downloaded via the iTunes store it was built for a different processor and won’t work in the simulator.

It is not possible to install the iOS Simulator on any operating system except macOS; if you want to develop an app for iOS from a Windows machine then you will need to use a physical iOS device. Step 1: Install Xcode This step is very easy but it takes a while. The iPhone Simulator (available from Xcode) is not an emulator and can't run ARM code, which means that it has to run a specific version of iOS 7 designed for OS X, and is not able to run iOS apps that have not been designed to run on this version of iOS 7 (i.e. IPAs from the App Store). Connect the device to your Mac, and choose the device in the run destination menu. For macOS versions of an iPad app, choose My Mac (the Mac running Xcode) as the device. If you choose a real device, add your Apple ID in Accounts preferences and assign the project to a team on the Signing & Capabilities pane of the project editor. Apple's Xcode development tools include an iOS simulator (iPhone and iPad) which will run your iOS code. I suppose that you could call it a virtual machine, but it doesn't run native in VMware. Xcode is free to all Mac users.

Solution no. 2:

I found an .ipa file that I wanted using iTunes and copied it over to my desktop.

After that I changed the extension to .zip and extracted it.

Next I found the Payload folder and moved the application inside to my desktop.

Finally I moved that application to my iPhone simulators applications folder found at:

HD
> Applications
> Xcode.app (right click – Show Package Contents)
> Contents
> Developer
> Platforms
> iPhoneSimulator.platform
> SDKs
> iPhoneSimulator6.0.sdk
> Applications

Hope this helps!
(Note: Some apps crash more often than others.)

Solution no. 3:

In Xcode 6+ and iOS8+ you can do the simple steps below

Paste .app file on desktop.
Open terminal and paste the commands below:
cd desktop
xcrun simctl install booted xyz.app
Open iPhone simulator and click on app and use

For versions below iOS 8, do the following simple steps.

Note: You’ll want to make sure that your app is built for all architectures, the Simulator is x386 in the Build Settings and Build Active Architecture Only set to No.

Path: Library->Application Support->iPhone Simulator->7.1 (or another version if you need it)->Applications
Create a new folder with the name of the app
Go inside the folder and place the .app file here.

Solution no. 4:

Update for Xcode 9.4.1+

Hope my answer is getting seen down here as this took me a while to figure out but I just got it working.

First of all you need to build and run the App on your simulator. Then you open the Activity Monitor. Double click the name of your App to find its content.

In the next screen open the Open Files and Ports tab and find the line with MyAppName.app/MyAppName.

Copy the link but make sure to stop at the MyAppName.app. Do not copy the path following it.

Control click onto the finder icon and select Go to folder.

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Install Iphone Simulator On Mac Os

Paste the path and click enter. You will see your MyAppName.app file.
Copy it to the Desktop and zip it. Move it to your desired 2nd computer and unzip the file. Build a random project to have a simulator open.

Lastly: Literally drag and drop the App from your Desktop into your Simulator. You will see the install and the App opens and does not crash.

Iphone Emulator For Macbook

Solution no. 5:

You cannot run an ipa file in the simulator because the ipa file is compiled for a phone’s ARM architecture, not the simulator’s x86 architecture.

However, you can extract an app installed in a local simulator, send it to someone else, and have them copy it to the simulator on their machine.

In terminal, type:

This will open all the applications folders of all the simulators you have installed. Each of the applications will be in a folder with a random hexadecimal name. You can work out which is your application by looking inside each of them. Once you have found out which one you want, right click it and choose “Compress …” and it will make a zip file that you can easily copy to another computer and unzip to a similar location.

Solution no. 6:

UPDATE: For Xcode 8.0+ you need to follow below Steps:

Download application from iTunes
Select downloaded app, right click show in finder
Copy .ipa file to Desktop, rename it to .zip file
Extract that .zip file and you will get directory with application name
Check that directory you will find app file in Payload folder, copy this app file
Go to ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices

FYI: Library folder is hidden by default in mac, you can see hidden file using below command.

Now here you’ll see many directories with long hexadecimal names, these all are simulators.

To find your desired simulator, sort these directories using “Arranged By > Date Modified”.

Select that simulator file and go to below location.

<HEXADECIMAL-SIMULATOR-STRING>/data/Containers/Bundle/Application/
Create new folder name with <download-app-name> and paste app file in that folder
Open Terminal and run below command to install this application

Example <APP_FILE_PATH> will be looks like below:

Solution no. 7:

First of all, IPAs usually only have ARM slices because the App Store does not currently accept Simulator slices in uploads.

Secondly, as of Xcode 8.3 you can drag & drop a .app bundle into the Simulator window and it will be installed. You can find the app in your build products directory ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/projectname-xyzzyabcdefg/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator if you want to save it or distribute it to other people.

To install from the command line use xcrun simctl install <device> <path>.

device can be the device UUID, its name, or booted which means the currently booted device.

Solution no. 8:

You can run the application file of project in simulator – not .ipa file.

You can get it from:

Libraries-->Applicationsupport-->iphone simulator-->4.3(its ur simulator version)-->applications-->then u can see many files like 0CD04F.... find out your application file through open it.

You can copy the file to your system(which system simulator u need run ) location Libraries-->Applicationsupport-->iphone simulator-->4.3(its your simulator version)-->applications-->

Then open the simulator 4.3 (its your simulator version where you pasted). You can see the application installed there.

Getting from other people:

Please tell them to find out Libraries-->Applicationsupport-->iphone simulator-->4.3(its ur simulator version)-->applications-->then you can see many files like 0CD04F.... from their system and receive that file from them.

After they have got the file, please copy and paste the file in to your system `Libraries–>Applicationsupport–>iphone simulator–>4.3(its your simulator version)–>applications–>(paste the file here).

Ios Simulator For Mac

Then you can see the app is installed in your system simulator and you can run it after clicking the file.

Solution no. 9:

Copy From Here:
– Run the application in the Xcode.
– Select Finder go to Go and click on select Library Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/7.0.3-64/Applications
– Select 32 bit folder Copy your application.

Paste To Here:
– /Applications/Xcode-Beta.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhone Simulator. SDK/Applications
– Paste here and run the simulator.

Solution no. 10:

For Xcode 10, here’s an easy way that worked for me for a debug IPA (development profiles)

Unzip the IPA to get the Payload folder.
Within the Payload folder is the app executable.
Drag and drop the app to an open simulator. (You might see a green add button when you drag it over the simulator)

It should install that app on that simulator.

Hope this helps!

Matt Cone January 1, 2013 TutorialsMacDeveloper

Web developers know it’s important to test their websites on every web browser and device possible. And with the growing popularity of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, it’s only natural that they’ll also want to test their websites on all of those devices. But short of stocking up on a bunch of Apple products, how can developers preview their websites in iOS?

Actually, it’s easy. Anybody can do it by installing Apple’s iOS simulator on their Mac for free. This functional demo, complete with the mobile Safari web browser, allows you to preview your website or web application in iOS. It looks exactly the same as it does on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

There are limitations to the simulator. You can’t install apps from the App Store in the simulator, so forget about playing Need for Speed: Most Wanted. And many of the apps that come preinstalled on iOS devices are not available in the simulator. Here’s the bottom line: This stripped-down simulator is great for testing websites, but not much else.

Install Iphone Simulator On Mac Free

Installing the iOS Simulator on Your Mac

Ready to get started? The first step is downloading Xcode and installing the iOS simulator on your Mac. Here’s how to install the iOS simulator on your Mac:

Download and install Xcode from the Mac App Store. It’s free!
Right click on the Xcode icon in the Applications folder and select Show Package Contents, as shown below.
Open the iPhone Simulator application. You can find the alias in Contents → Applications, as shown below.
For easy access to the iOS simulator in the future, drag and drop the iOS Simulator alias on to your Desktop or the Applications folder.
The iOS simulator is now installed and running on your Mac, as shown below.

As mentioned earlier, you’ll notice that the simulator is missing a lot of the applications and settings that come with every iOS device.

Rotating the Simulator

Every iOS device has a gyroscope that keeps track of the screen’s orientation. For example, if you turn the device horizontally, iOS will automatically rotate the screen if you’re using an app that supports the feature. The simulator can rotate, too! It can be a useful tool when you’re developing a responsive website or web app.

Here’s how to rotate the simulator:

Open the iOS simulator, if it’s not already open.
Open the Safari app in the simulator.
From the Hardware menu, select Rotate Left or Rotate Right. The simulator will rotate, as shown below.

To rotate the simulator back again, select a rotation option from the Hardware menu.

Simulating Different iOS Devices

What good would an iOS simulator be without the ability to switch between the different dimensions of the iPhone 4, iPhone 5, and the different versions of the iPad? The simulator lets you use them all on your Mac. Here’s how to simulate a different iOS device with the iOS simulator:

Open the iOS simulator, if it’s not already open.
From the Hardware menu, select Device, and then select the type of device you want to simulate.
The simulator window will change to match the dimensions of the device you selected.

To restore the original window with the iPhone case as a border, select iPhone.

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