Check iOS Simulator type and version

Question

I have following code snip to detect the iOS Device.

NSString * platformNSString () {
    size_t size;
    sysctlbyname("hw.machine", NULL, &size, NULL, 0);
    char *machine = malloc(size);
    sysctlbyname("hw.machine", machine, &size, NULL, 0);
    NSString *platform = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:machine];
    free(machine);
    return platform;
}

NSString * platformString () {
    NSString *platform = platformNSString();

    // iphones
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone1,1"]) return @"iPhone 2G";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone1,2"]) return @"iPhone 3G";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone2,1"]) return @"iPhone 3GS";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone3,1"]) return @"iPhone 4";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone3,2"]) return @"iPhone 4";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone3,3"]) return @"iPhone 4 (CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone4,1"]) return @"iPhone 4S";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone5,1"]) return @"iPhone 5";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone5,2"]) return @"iPhone 5 (GSM+CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone5,3"]) return @"iPhone 5c (GSM+CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone5,4"]) return @"iPhone 5c (UK+Europe+Asis+China)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone6,1"]) return @"iPhone 5s (GSM+CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone6,2"]) return @"iPhone 5s (UK+Europe+Asis+China)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone7,1"]) return @"iPhone 6";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPhone7,2"]) return @"iPhone 6 Plus";

    // ipods
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPod1,1"]) return @"iPod Touch (1 Gen)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPod2,1"]) return @"iPod Touch (2 Gen)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPod3,1"]) return @"iPod Touch (3 Gen)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPod4,1"]) return @"iPod Touch (4 Gen)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPod5,1"]) return @"iPod Touch (5 Gen)";

    // ipads
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad1,1"]) return @"iPad";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad1,2"]) return @"iPad 3G";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad2,1"]) return @"iPad 2 (WiFi)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad2,2"]) return @"iPad 2";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad2,3"]) return @"iPad 2 (CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad2,4"]) return @"iPad 2";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad2,5"]) return @"iPad Mini (WiFi)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad2,6"]) return @"iPad Mini";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad2,7"]) return @"iPad Mini (GSM+CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad3,1"]) return @"iPad 3 (WiFi)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad3,2"]) return @"iPad 3 (GSM+CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad3,3"]) return @"iPad 3";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad3,4"]) return @"iPad 4 (WiFi)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad3,5"]) return @"iPad 4";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad3,6"]) return @"iPad 4 (GSM+CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad4,1"]) return @"iPad Air (WiFi)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad4,2"]) return @"iPad Air (GSM+CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad4,4"]) return @"iPad Mini Retina (WiFi)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad4,5"]) return @"iPad Mini Retina (GSM+CDMA)";
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"iPad4,5"]) return @"iPad Mini Retina (GSM+CDMA)";
    // iPad5,3

    // simulators
    if ([platform isEqualToString:@"i386"] || [platform isEqualToString:@"x86_64"] || [platform isEqualToString:@"ppc"] || [platform isEqualToString:@"ppc64"]) {

    }

    else return @"Unknown";
    return platform;
}

What I am also expecting is to have list of iOS Simulators as well?

See following image.

In short, I also want to detect what type of simulator with what iOS version is being used run-time as we detect the device.

Here is the code block of which indicates my efforts on same.

// simulators
if ([platform isEqualToString:@"i386"] || [platform isEqualToString:@"x86_64"] || [platform isEqualToString:@"ppc"] || [platform isEqualToString:@"ppc64"]) {
    CGSize size = [[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds].size;
    CGFloat simulatorHeight = (size.height>size.width)?size.height:size.width;
    if(simulatorHeight>=2048) {
        return @"Retina iPad Simulator";
    } else if(simulatorHeight>=1920) {
        return @"Retina iPhone 6+ Simulator";
    } else if(simulatorHeight>=1334) {
        return @"Retina iPhone 6 Simulator";
    } else if(simulatorHeight>=1136) {
        return @"Retina iPhone 5/5S/5C Simulator";
    } else if(simulatorHeight>=960) {
        return @"Retina iPhone 4/4S Simulator";
    } else if(simulatorHeight>=480) {
        return @"Retina iPhone 4/4S Simulator";
    }
}

Answer 1

As indicated in my comment above, you really shouldn't need this information.

But in the interest of at least providing an answer, with Xcode 6, you can use getenv("SIMULATOR_MODEL_IDENTIFIER") instead of sysctlbyname("hw.machine", ...). There's no guarantee that this will work in future releases.