How to install iOS simulators from command line

Question

It's a common case to run tests against different versions of iOS simulators/SDKs on CI. However, only the latest iOS simulator is installed by Xcode on default.

So I need install other missing iOS simulators from command line in CI environment. But I cannot find a way to install those simulators from command line.

Answer 1

For iOS 8.1 Simulator: http://devimages.apple.com/downloads/xcode/simulators/com.apple.pkg.iPhoneSimulatorSDK8_1-8.1.1.1434581536.dmg

For iOS 8.2 Simulator: http://devimages.apple.com/downloads/xcode/simulators/com.apple.pkg.iPhoneSimulatorSDK8_2-8.2.1.1434581536.dmg

For iOS 8.3 Simulator: http://devimages.apple.com/downloads/xcode/simulators/com.apple.pkg.iPhoneSimulatorSDK8_3-8.3.1.1434581536.dmg

For iOS 8.4 Simulator: http://devimages.apple.com/downloads/xcode/simulators/com.apple.pkg.iPhoneSimulatorSDK8_4-8.4.1.1435785476.dmg

I don't know where these URLs come from, but I found some clues

• https://gist.github.com/masbog/bf6e2d6fce80447396eb

Answer 2

xcrun simctl create <name> <device type> <runtime>

For example:

xcrun simctl create "ry" "iPhone 11 Pro Max" iOS13.3  

xcrun simctl is command utils to control iOS simulator, just like adb for Android. You can also run xcrun simctl help, there are a bundle of useful subcommands. When successful, most of these commands exit with 0; when failed, most exit with a non-zero number.

Personally, I have an article about how to use simulator from terminal.

Answer 3

FYI

All simulators are packed with Xcode app. Instead of installing simulators you can just install the specific Xcode versions. Xcode7.0 has iOS9 Simulators Xcode6.4 has iOS8.x Simulators

In your CI testing if you want to test you app for a specific simulator just select xcode version before you do the xcodebuild command

xcode-select -switch <path to your xcode app>

This will set your default xcode to run the xcodebuild Then run the xcodebuild with your respective simulator.

xcodebuild -configuration ${BUILD_TYPE} -target ${TARGET_NAME} -arch ${CPU_ARCHITECTURE} -sdk ${SIMULATOR_OR_IOS_SDK} 

In the place of SIMULATOR_OR_IOS_SDK give your simulator value.

You can find the simulator value by running

xcodebuild -showsdks

This will show like

OS X SDKs:
    OS X 10.11                      -sdk macosx10.11

iOS SDKs:
    iOS 9.1                         -sdk iphoneos9.1

iOS Simulator SDKs:
    Simulator - iOS 9.1             -sdk iphonesimulator9.1

tvOS SDKs:
    tvOS 9.0                        -sdk appletvos9.0

tvOS Simulator SDKs:
    Simulator - tvOS 9.0            -sdk appletvsimulator9.0

watchOS SDKs:
    watchOS 2.0                     -sdk watchos2.0

watchOS Simulator SDKs:
    Simulator - watchOS 2.0         -sdk watchsimulator2.0

This way you can build your project on any specific device/simulator/os.

Hope this helps :)