Question or issue on macOS:
I have an iphone simulator running on my Mac.
Here’s how to install the iOS simulator on your Mac: Download and install Xcode from the Mac App Store. From Xcode, launch the iOS simulator: 3. Verify that the desired device is selected, in this case I am using the iPhone 7 device as shown below. If the App that you plan to install is already installed, you should delete it. Then proceed with installing the updated release. 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.
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.
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.
]
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.
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 thisapp
fileGo 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 pasteapp
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:
Install Iphone Simulator On Mac
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).
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)
Iphone Simulator For Windows
- 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)
Emulate Iphone On Mac
It should install that app on that simulator.