I am attempting to run the iOS simulator from the command line. I have found the location where the iPhone Simulator can be run from. My question is whether or not it can receive parameters to specify which device should be launched and what app it should run.
$ ./Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone Simulator.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhone\ Simulator
Does anyone know if there are tricks to this. Knowing more about this would really help with our Continuous Integration process.
We now use WaxSim to automate our iOS applications during CI Builds
Use the -SimulateApplication argument to run your executable in the simulator (executable inside the .app bundle)
(you could also compile the project from the command-line like this:)
xcodebuild -project Test.xcodeproj -arch i386 -sdk iphonesimulator
Then for example:
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone\ Simulator.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhone\ Simulator -SimulateApplication Test.app/Test
or
./Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone Simulator.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhone\ Simulator -SimulateApplication Test.app/Test
To launch a specific device you can do:
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone\ Simulator.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhone\ Simulator -SimulateDevice "iPhone Retina (3.5-inch)"
Try this in your shell for Xcode 6
osascript -e 'activate application "iOS Simulator"'
For Xcode 7
osascript -e 'activate application "Simulator"'
If you want to open Simulator with specific app installed then you can use some of the ready utility to launch simulator. This way it is easy to install the app and run on the simulator. This are the command line utilities that can be run from Terminal Window.
iPhoneSim
ios-sim
Other are same as above two.
And main thing is all uses same approach to open simulator. (see the project for more details)
Other way (not recommended by me) use script file to run from command.
You can use xcrun simctl to list available simulators, launch applications, etc. This tool is present in both Xcode 7 and Xcode 8. If you don't give it a command it will print command line help.
xcrun simctl launch <UUID> <bundle id of app> will start the application.
With my iPhone connected to my mac via 30-pin connector (standard apple/iphone cable) I of course test and run my app with Xcode building it to run on the device.
For some reason though, when I build and run, it installs on my device but doesn't go further than the loading screen of the app with Default.png showing.
Then if I stop the build in Xcode it quit the application, then I run in manually on my device and the new build is there for me to test, but I just don't know why I have to do that and it doesn't just run past the loading screen when building?
This happened to me once after I added some certificates. I removed the build directory (MyApp/build/) and then did a clean and then build again, and everything miraculously worked. You might try that.
I have a problem with my iPhone simulator. Since yesterday when I press Build and run.
Xcode builds the project
Simulator closes the running app
Simulator opens the running app in same state as it closed (multitasking?)
The old build keeps running, I have to quit the simulator before i can run the new build.
I tried cleaning the project, tested with a new project. Same problem. Rebooted everything.
Running Xcode 3.2.4 / 4.1 SDK.
I was going crazy with the same problem. It seems that some people have this problem and some don't. Somehow I stumbled onto this: http://openradar.appspot.com/8915498
Basically, it says that if you're running the iPhone simulator on a different volume than the xCode app, there is some problem with updating the simulator and you have to restart each time.
I almost ignored the fix because I only use one volume, but I DO use filevault for my home folder. Since the Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator was in my /Users/[me] directory, I guess it's a different volume.
So, what I did was:
1) Go to /Users/[Me]/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator and renamed to "old-iPhone Simulator" (just to get it out of the way without deleting)
2) Go to /Library/Application Support and create a new folder called "iPhone Developer"
3) Open Terminal and enter: ln -s "/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator" "/Users/[Me]/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator"
Viola! Worked like a charm for me! Now iPhone simulator shows me the changes I make every time I push "Build and Run" without any other hassles! Yay!
3)
I added a Run Script to my target to work arround the issue
killall -9 "iPhone Simulator"
Not a proper fix, but works for now.
Is there way to build iphone app on the command line with xcodebuild, then automatically deploy the app to a USB-connected iphone device and run some unit testing on device?
Right now, I can do this under xCode with "Build and Run", but I'm looking for solution to do this outside of the xCode GUI environment.
Thanks
You can script Xcode using Applescript, and run Applescript scripts from the command line.
There more on how to script Xcode in this answer.
I have a mySample.app file - an iPhone application developed by xcode.
How do I run this (only mySample.app file) application using my xcode?
Please note: this answer is obsolete, the functionality was removed from iOS simulator.
I have just found that you don't need to copy the mobile application bundle to the iPhone Simulator's folder to start it on the simulator, as described in the forum. That way you need to click on the app to get it started, not confortable when you want to do testing and start the app numerous times.
There are undocumented command line parameters for the iOS Simulator, which can be used for such purposes. The one you are looking for is: -SimulateApplication
An example command line starting up YourFavouriteApp:
/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone\ Simulator.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhone\ Simulator -SimulateApplication path_to_your_app/YourFavouriteApp.app/YourFavouriteApp
This will start up your application without any installation and works with iOS Simulator 4.2 at least. You cannot reach the home menu, though.
There are other unpublished command line parameters, like switching the SDK. Happy hunting for those...
This thread discusses how to install the binary on the simulator. I've done it and it works: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=547557
From the thread:
Look inside your
~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications/
directory and see what happens inside this directory when you install and run apps using XCode, and also when you delete apps using the Simulator.
You can run the Simulator by itself (without starting XCode).
If you start the Simulator, delete an app, quit the Simulator, put back copies of the files that were deleted from the support directory, and restart the Simulator, the app will reappear in the Simulator. Email those files with instructions about how to copy them into the appropriate support directory.
You can install apps in simulator from Xcode 8.2
From Xcode 8.2,You can install an app (*.app) by dragging any previously built app bundle into the simulator window.
Note: You cannot install apps from the App Store in simulation environments.
If you're looking to do this XCode 5+, I found this is the easiest method:
Install ios-sim:
npm install -g ios-sim
Then simply execute:
ios-sim launch ./mySample.app --devicetypeid com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-6
In which you can switch up your device type. Simple, fast, and it actually works.
From Xcode v4.3, it is being installed as application.
The simulator is available at
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iOS\
Simulator.app/
Enter the following in the terminal:
$/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone\ Simulator.app/Contents/MacOS/iPhone\ Simulator -SimulateApplication path/to/your/file/projectname.app/projectname
I see you have a problem. Try building your app as Release and then check out your source codes build folder. It may be called Release-iphonesimulator. Inside here will be the app. Then go to (home folder)/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator (if you can't find it, try pressing Command - J and choosing arrange by name). Go to an OS that has apps in it in the iPhone sim, like 4.1. In that folder there should be an Applications folder. Open that, and there should be folders with random lettering. Pick any one, and replace it with the app you have. Make sure to delete anything in the little folders!
If it doesn't work, then I'm dumbfounded.
Select the platform to be iPhone Simulator then click Build and Go. If it builds correctly then it will launch the simulator and run. If it does not build ok then it will indicate errors at the bottom of the window on the right hand side.
If you only have the app file then you would need to manually install that into the simulator. The simulator was not designed to be used this way, but I'm sure it would be possible, even if it was incredibly difficult.
If you have the source code (.proj .m .h etc) files then it should be a simple case of build and go.
This worked for me on iOS 5.0 simulator.
Run the app on the simulator.
Go to the path where you can see something like this:
/Users/arshad/Library/Application\ Support/iPhone\ Simulator/5.0/Applications/34BC3FDC-7398-42D4-9114-D5FEFC737512/…
Copy all the package contents including the app, lib, temp and Documents.
Clear all the applications installed on the simulator so that it is easier to see what is happening.
Run a pre-existing app you have on your simulator.
Look for the same package content for that application as in step 3 and delete all.
Paste the package contents that you have previously copied.
Close the simulator and start it again. The new app icon of the intended app will replace the old one.
The Short Answer
For those who can't wait, the following command installs an iOS app bundle to the specified simulator.
xcrun simctl install 2A3F00EE-F412-4999-8109-ED3D4E70D266 ./YOURAPP.app
The Long Version
The full story is in this Quip doc.
xcrun
Apple has a command-line tool called xcrun that looks for the named command-line tool in the active developer directory and runs it. We will use xcrun simctl in this article.
Active Developer Directory
A user of macOS could install more than one version of Xcode and use the xcode-select command to choose which one to use. Each Xcode bundle that has been installed has a folder called Developer. The following command shows the developer directory that is currently being used.
$ xcode-select -p
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
List Simulator Types
The xcrun simctl list devicetypes command shows all of the simulator types that are installed on the macOS system. Think of simulators as virtual machines (VMs). Each type is like a VM specification.
$ xcrun simctl list devicetypes
== Device Types ==
iPhone 4s (com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-4s)
...
iPhone 12 (com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-12)
...
Create a Simulator
The following command creates a simulator named yi-iphone12-sim that is of the type com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-12, as shown above.
$ xcrun simctl create yi-phone12-sim com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-12
No runtime specified, using 'iOS 16.2 (16.2 - 20C52) - com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-16-2'
2A3F00EE-F412-4999-8109-ED3D4E70D266
It prints the ID of the new simulator.
List Created Simulators
The following commands lists simulators.
$ xcrun simctl list devices
== Devices ==
-- iOS 16.2 --
yi-phone12-sim (2A3F00EE-F412-4999-8109-ED3D4E70D266) (Shutdown)
We can see that it lists the simulator yi-iphone12-sim, and its status is Shutdown.
Boot a Simulator
The following command boots the simulator yi-iphone12-sim.
$ xcrun simctl boot 2A3F00EE-F412-4999-8109-ED3D4E70D266
Please note that we can't use the name yi-iphone12-sim. Instead, we'll use the ID.
After the home screen is shown on the simulator window, the xcrun simctl list devices command shows that the simulator is Booted.
$ xcrun simctl list devices
== Devices ==
-- iOS 16.2 --
yi-phone12-sim (2A3F00EE-F412-4999-8109-ED3D4E70D266) (Booted)
Install an App to the Simulator
I checked out this project at https://github.com/sheldonth/ios-cmake/tree/master and built it with CMake. The result is an iOS bundle called ./build.sim64/Release-iphonesimulator/YOURAPP.app.
This app will be installed on the simulator with the following command.
xcrun simctl install 2A3F00EE-F412-4999-8109-ED3D4E70D266 build.sim64/Release-iphonesimulator/YOURAPP.app